Metal Bending
Tr Metalworks' metal folding services use electric and hydraulic press brakes to perform jobs large and small according to your designs. Getting a quote from us takes a few second with the use of 3D models.
Our capabilities are suitable for large-scale manufacturing but we also accept one-off small jobs.
Sheet metal folding is a very common forming method used to give the desired shape to structural steel, stainless steel, aluminium, etc. parts. A press brake is used to give the final shape to a part. It is important to bear in mind that bending is done after the cutting process. Therefore, you have to keep some design tips in mind.
While welding is inevitable in many cases and bending cannot substitute it everywhere, we recommend choosing metal bending services whenever possible. The advantages of metal folding are:
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Aesthetics – Although in engineering functionality comes first, design follows closely behind. The lack of weldments guarantees on nice visual for your project.
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Coating – A smooth surface is a great canvas for coating procedures, leaving a better result.
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Fewer mistakes – Welding needs more manual labour. Manual labour, in turn, leaves more room for mistakes. Automatic bending systems provide accurate results.
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Fewer parts – It is more convenient to re-work your parts in CAD, if needed. But it’s also easier to keep your workfloor nice and tidy with a smaller number of parts laying around.
A variety of bending methods exist to do the job. Although most of them are suitable for the average job, each has some specific use-cases and needs different press brake tooling. Here’s a list of possibilities to make your life easier when looking for a metal folding service.
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V-bending – The most widely spread folding method where a punch presses the sheet metal onto a die. V-bending has 3 divisions – air bending, bottoming and coining. Air bending is the most common of them. There, the sheet is not pressed onto the die but rather some way towards it until the desired angle is achieved.
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U-bending – Quite similar in terms of using a punch and die. Instead of a V-shape, it uses a U-shape. Thus, its main use is to produce U-channels.
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Step bending – Uses successive V-bending to achieve large-radius bends. Smaller steps assure better and smoother quality.
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Roll bending – A bending method that uses rolls instead of punches and dies. Great for producing parts with large radii or conical sheet metal details.
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Rotary bending – Another bending technique to produce angular bends. The big advantage over other methods is the lack of bending marks (usually left by the V-shaped die) on the part.