Bending Steel Sheet Metal

The process delivers highly accurate forming maintenance of thickness and tremendous finished component strength.

Bending steel sheet metal.

As an example if you want to bend 24 gauge sheet metal at a 90 angle the calculation would be. Stainless steel 1 20 ga. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape.

Determine your minimum bend by measuring the distance from your closest feature i e. Mild steel 1 brake shear slip roll 1 metal forming 1. Mild steel 2 12 ga. A cutout or the edge of your flange to your bend.

Choose a bend radius that matches your minimum bend. Most sheet metal materials will conform to the calculations. This page also includes a link to a on line sheet metal bend allowance calculator. 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.

Otherwise the sheet metal is almost certain to shift as you bend it resulting in a bad bend. If you re bending 0 020 thick material use a 0 020 radius. If you have any questions or want to discuss your design contact us. For most applications with stainless steel or aluminum you can get away with a zero radius bend on anything under 0 050 thick.

Clamping your sheet metal to the straightedge is a must. Bending a brittle metal beyond its limits could cause the metal to snap and break. Stainless steel 1 14 ga. To clamp efficiently lay your sheet metal on the top surface of your straightedge with the drawn line perfectly aligned with the outside edge of the sheet metal.

The following illustration shows the equation calculation for determining the bend allowance when forming sheet metal. Hot metal forming offers tighter bend radii in high carbon steel in degrees that might break the material in cold forming. Sheet metal calculator bend allowance equations and calculator.