Bending Aluminum Sheet Metal

Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations.

Bending aluminum sheet metal.

Depending on designation alloys go through different heat treatment procedures during production. Then place the clamp bar back down on top of the aluminum crosswise. For most applications with stainless steel or aluminum you can get away with a zero radius bend on anything under 0 050 thick. If you have any questions or want to discuss your design contact us.

If you re bending 0 020 thick material use a 0 020 radius. A cutout or the edge of your flange to your bend. Monkeys spinning monkeys by kevin macleod. Choose a bend radius that matches your minimum bend.

Simple sheet metal bender using a hand roller clamps and plywood. Mark your bend lines. Determine your minimum bend by measuring the distance from your closest feature i e. In other words if you re bending 1 8 sheet use a tool with a 1 8 radius to form the inside of the bend.

Now that you know your bend allowance take your protractor and draw a clear line with your marker across the point at which you will bend your sheet metal. Likewise when you are trying to develop a flat pattern you will have to make a deduction from your desired part size to get the correct flat size. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. 6061 t6 aluminum is tempered and notorious for not bending easily.

Bending is a delicate and demanding process most of the time and common fabricating processes require a degree of formability that make your choice of proper alloy critical. As this happens you gain a small amount of total length in your part. Insert your aluminum sheet into the brake beneath the removable clamp bar. 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.

That s the ideal anyway but the reality is that many parts arrive at the press brake in a less than ideal state. Make sure the bar is seated firmly inside the frame. From a bending perspective it s always best to bend these parts in an annealed state and then temper them to the correct condition. Then use your bend allowance to draw your second bend line the intervening distance between your bend lines bend radius.