Die opening with a relieved profile.
Bending 3 16 aluminum sheet.
During air bending the workpiece contacts the v die at two points at the lead in radii.
Use the minimum bend dimension values in the charts below for your minimum closeness of cutout to a bend.
Bending 3 16 steel plate.
Material thickness as measured from the top of the diamond to the bottom of the material but only 1 8 in.
Step 3 heat part until black soot goes away.
Lift the clamp bar away from the rear of the brake frame and slide the sheet in perpendicularly to the direction you want to bend it.
If those points contact the material at the diamonds apex the metal thickness is 3 16 in.
Let s consider a challenging job.
Place the fracture line over the edge of a table and bend the overhang slightly downwards.
How wide you wish to form becomes the deciding issue.
Make sure the bar is seated firmly inside the frame.
But it s also likely the points could contact the metal between.
You can make something from some properly formed tool steel male and female dies and a hyd press.
Consider a material and brake set up for 3 16 in.
This is 3 16 thick plate that has been formed into a custom channel by being bent in two places to 90 degrees.
I have a piece of 8 5 wide 3 16 thick 5052 aluminium that needs several bends.
Material bend radii and minimum bend size charts please note.
You d probably air bend by using a 3 0 in.
Flip the sheet over and repeat.
Then place the clamp bar back down on top of the aluminum crosswise.
If your sheet metal is long ask a friend to stabilize the part hanging out from the form blocks so it doesn t affect the bend.
As measured from the flat portion between the diamonds to the bottom side of the sheet.
With care and patience full size sheets of aluminium can be cut using this method.
The aluminum is now as soft and bendable as it can be.
I think you ll want something on the order of a pressbrake if you plan to do much of it.
We also do plate rolling up to 1 0 thick and 10 feet in width.
Part gets bent from 180 degrees to 140 degrees i just tried this on a small sheet metal type brake but it was trying to pry open the brake.
To make this easier you d start with your 6061 material in the soft t 0 state.
After a few wiggles the sheet will fracture along the cut line leaving a clean break as shown in the above photos.
Next put your wooden or metal form blocks in the vice and clamp your sheet of metal between the forms.
The largest angle is only 40 degrees.
To bend sheet metal in a vice start by marking a line on the metal where you want to bend it.
Step 1 use just act.
You have now annealed your 6061 t whatever into t 0 and it should bend without cracking.
Say you re bending 0 25 in thick 6061 t6 aluminum to a 100 degree external angle 80 degree internal angle.
Our shop has the ability to do plate bending up to 10 feet in width and 3 8 plate bending up to 18 feet in width using our 500 ton press brake.
