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Press brake tooling and sequencing · Lesson 1 of 4

Press brake tooling and sequencing: principles and terminology

What a press brake is, its punch, die and backgauge, the three ways it bends, how a folding machine differs, why AFS forms on a folder, and the OSHA rules for press brakes.

You will be able to: Name the parts and tooling of a press brake, define air bending, bottoming, coining, springback and crowning, tell a press brake from a folder, and state the safety rules that apply.

10 min · 11 slides · 7 questions

All lessons in this module
Slide 1 of 11

What a press brake is

A press brake forms parts with dies: a punch on the moving ram drives the sheet into a die on the bed. OSHA notes that press brakes may be mechanical or hydraulic.

This module teaches the press brake as industry knowledge: its tooling, its terms and how bends are ordered on it.

Sources

Videos for this lesson

What this video shows: Wilson Tool, a tooling maker, shows how air bending lets one tool set make a range of bends, using standard offset tools.

Video: Air Bending with Offset Tools | Bending | Technically Speaking by Wilson Tool International, on YouTube. Chosen from the video's published description.

Glossary

Press brake
A machine that forms sheet by driving a punch on its ram into a die on its bed; mechanical or hydraulic.
Punch
The upper tool, on the ram, whose nose contacts the inside of the bend.
Die opening (V)
The width of the V in the lower tool; it governs the air-bent radius and the tonnage.
Air bending
Pushing the sheet into the V without bottoming it, so the inside radius floats as a percentage of the die opening.
Backgauge
Stops behind the die that the sheet edge is pushed against to place the bend line.
Crowning
An opposing curve built into the bed or ram that cancels deflection along the length.
Folding machine
A machine whose upper and lower beams clamp the blank while a folding beam swings around a pivot to bend it.