HOW TO MAKE HINGES IN A PRESS BRAKE?
Indeed, you can make hinges on a press brake, but there are certain limitations. We must bear in mind that there is NO standard tool that can make them, but that a special specific tool must be made for each type of them, since the measures of the hinges are usually always different.
To begin with, we must know that in a press brake the bending is something very gradual, there is not a sharp blow, but it is soft, for that reason and for the hinge to be well shaped (with a round profile) it must be done in 3 operations, obviously in the same special tool and without releasing the metal sheet.
As you can see in the attached sketch, the bends are:
1 BEND
Shaping starts at the top of the tool
2 BEND
Continuing in the upper part of the tool and moving the metal sheet it closes a little more
3 BEND
The latter closes the hinge and is already done in the lower part of the tool
In the following video you can see the three bending steps in a special tool. At the end you can see the bended piece and its optimal result.
TYPES OF HINGES
The two most common forms of hinges as can be seen in the attached sketch are the off-center hinge and the centered hinge. But we must also say that both the production of the tool and the limitations of measures behave in a very similar way.
LIMITATIONS TO MAKE HINGES IN A PRESS BRAKE
The first limitation of making hinges in press brake is the thickness of the sheet, a maximum of 1,5 m/m can be made in Stainless. The other limitation is the inside diameter of the hinge, it must be equal to or greater than 7 m/m. Since if the external conformation were smaller it would not be completely round and we could not give the piece as valid.
CAN HINGES BE MADE WITH INSIDE DIAMETERS LESS THAN 7 m/m?
In metal sheet press brake no. The next question that many customers ask us is: “We have seen hinges with smaller diameters.” Indeed, but they have NOT been done in a press brake, most likely they have been done in a stamping PRESS and this is NOT a bend, it is a stamping!
The presses give a sharp blow and concentrate all the tonnage in that blow and the stamping tool embeds the sheet and conforms it with the force caused.
METALMAQ is an expert in tools for metal sheet press brakes and NOT in tools for Presses.
See the PRICES of the press brake tools and accessories..
