Sheet Metal Forming - Bending

Sheet Metal Forming - Bending
Bending metal forming processes are applied to a piece of sheet metal that makes it bend at the corner and forms the shape you want. The bending deformation along the a axis. But the order of execution can do different to create the complex The bend is very small, such as seizure or increased to 20 feet in length, such as a large cabinet or chassis. Bend can be characterized by several different parameters.

• Bend line - The straight line on the surface of the sheet, on either side of the bend, that defines the end of the level flange and the start of the bend.

Sheet Metal Forming Bending

• Outside mold line - The straight line where the outside surfaces of the two flanges would meet, were they to continue. This line defines the edge of a mold that would bound the bent sheet metal.

• Flange length - The length of either of the two flanges, extending from the edge of the sheet to the bend line.

• Mold line distance - The distance from either end of the sheet to the outside mold line.

• Setback - The distance from either bend line to the outside mold line. Also equal to the difference between the mold line distance and the flange length.

• Bend axis - The straight line that defines the center around which the sheet metal is bent.

• Bend length - The length of the bend, measured along the bend axis.

• Bend radius - The distance from the bend axis to the inside surface of the material, between the bend lines. Sometimes specified as the inside bend radius. The outside bend radius is equal to the inside bend radius plus the sheet thickness.

• Bend angle - The angle of the bend, measured between the bent flange and its original position, or as the included angle between perpendicular lines drawn from the bend lines.

• Bevel angle - The complimentary angle to the bend angle.

Four Effective Ways of Bending Metal

Chances are that you would bending metal as a child.

You might have been making pipe-cleaner people. Or you might have found paper clips fascinating. One thing is for certain, the metal you were bending as a child was not steel beams or tubes, and it never had to be strong enough to hold up a stadium roof or a roller coaster.

As adults, we rely on curved metal beams, pipe, tubes, and angles in everything from a simple park bench to spiral staircases to some parts of modern skyscrapers. Visit any airport or museum built in the past couple decades and count the number of curved metal structures you find.

Have you ever wondered how they do it? I mean, how can you bend a steel beam and still keep the strength to support an airport roofing? Well, there are four ways.

Roller Metal Bending Machine

Roller metal

Roller is the best known way to bend metal, perhaps because it is the least costly. Roller uses an appropriate size die that adjusts to the steel tube, angle, pipe, channel, bar or steel beam and revolves at the same peripheral speed, turning in opposite directions. As the metal passes through the roll, the machine applies pressure to bending the tube or the beam to the desired radius.

Rolling is effective when the material – metal, plastic, glass, whatever - must be bent a great deal. For instance, it can produce bends up to 360 degrees. This method is ideal for producing steel coils, spiral staircases and the like.

There are different kinds of rolling processes. Hot rolling (above the recrystallization temperature) mostly produces sheet metal. Most non-ferrous metal structures are rolled cold, but steel is usually rolled hot.

Because rolling requires less set-up work and uses pre-made dies, the cost is less than other ways to bend and form steel, so companies often choose this when it suits their specifications.