How is sheet metal bending carried out? How to bend sheet metal yourself? Bending closed sheet metal profiles technology

Many people ask the question: how to bend a sheet of metal evenly? And it is not surprising, because when carrying out construction work it may be necessary to perform a similar procedure.

Small diameter pipes are bent using a vice. Very often during construction processes there is a need to bend pipes of quite large diameter. For such work, special machines are needed that bend metal sheets and pipes. The bendable component is not deformed.

How to bend a sheet of metal evenly? Stages:

	General technology, principles and features of bending metal sheets.
	What metal can be bent? The best materials for processing and shaping are brass, copper and aluminum.
	Bending tools. Before starting work, you should prepare a diagram of the future product and calculate the required angle. After this, you need to acquire tools and materials.
	Handmade production of a machine for bending sheet metal. Materials and action plan.

Tip: when bending parts, its thickness, ductility are taken into account and the radius of curvature is determined.

Metal bending technology

Bending sheet metal involves performing certain actions that cause the material to take the desired shape. The process of bending metal is performed without the help of welding or other connections that reduce the durability and strength of the material.

When folded, the outer layers of the product are stretched, and the inner layers are compressed. The technology is to bend one part relative to the other at the required angle.

During bending, the metal sheet undergoes deformation. Its value depends on the thickness of the product, ductility, bending angle and bending speed. The process itself is performed on equipment, due to which no damage is caused. If a part is bent incorrectly, various defects may occur on its surface, as a result of which the metal receives various damage along the bending line, which can lead to its breakage.

The bending stress must be greater than its stiffness limit. Plastic deformation may occur as a result of bending. Moreover, after the bending operation, the finished structure will retain the shape that was given to it.

Advantages of the process of smooth bending of metal sheets:

1. High process productivity.
2. As a result of bending, you can obtain a workpiece without a seam.
3. The finished structure is highly resistant to corrosion.
4. No rust will form at the bend.
5. The design is solid.
6. High strength.

Flaws:

1. Special equipment is quite expensive.
2. Manual bending is quite labor-intensive.

Unlike structures made by bending metal, welded structures have a weld that is susceptible to rust and corrosion.

Product bending is done manually or using special devices. Manual bending is a complex and time-consuming procedure that is performed using pliers and a hammer. If you need to evenly bend a sheet of metal of small thickness, use a mallet.

Bending of sheet metal is carried out using rollers, roller machines or a press. To shape the material into a cylinder, hydraulic, manual or electrically conductive rollers are used. Pipes are produced using a similar method.

Sheet metal bending is used for home construction purposes to produce gutters, metal frames, profiles, pipes and other structures. When bending the material with your own hands, you can make pipes of different diameters. Using machines, zinc-coated products are bent. To do this, you should make a machine, preferably using a template.

When bending any product, its parameters should be determined. The length of the structure is calculated taking into account the radius. For workpieces that are bent at right angles, without the formation of roundings, the allowance should be 0.6 mm of the total thickness of the sheet.

You can bend the following metals with your own hands:

• copper;

• brass;

• aluminum.

The bending radius will depend on the quality of the metal and the bending option.

How to bend a sheet of metal evenly with your own hands?

To make brackets using the bending method, the following tools and materials are used:

• vice;
• a metal sheet;
• frame;
• hammer;
• power saw for metal;
• bar.

In advance, according to the scheme, the length of the workpiece strip is calculated and the bending of the metal sheet is calculated. For each bend, a reserve of 0.5 mm of thickness is made and 1 mm for bending the ends to the side. According to a pre-drawn diagram, the workpiece is cut out and the bending point is marked. In order to bend the material, use a vice with squares.

First, at the bending level, you need to clamp the workpiece in a vice. Then the first bend is made using a hammer. The workpiece is rearranged in a vice and clamped by the frame together with the block, after which a second bend is performed.

The workpiece is removed and the length of the staple legs is marked. It, together with the block and frame, is bent and both of its legs are simultaneously bent. The triangle is used to clarify the bend. If it is not done correctly, the bend should be corrected using a frame block and a hammer. When the bending procedure is completed, the structure is filed to the required parameters.

How to bend a sheet of metal evenly: making a machine with your own hands

In order to create a device that allows you to bend a metal sheet at home, you need to prepare the following materials and tools:

• corner 80 mm;
• bolts;
• metal beam I-beam 80 mm;
• loops;
• welding machine;
• clamps;
• handles;
• table.

All work begins with preparing the base of a homemade machine from a profile - an 80 mm I-beam. After this, an 80 mm corner is screwed onto the top of the I-beam with two bolts. During bending, it will secure the workpiece. Three hinges from steel doors are welded under the corner, the other halves of which are welded to the corner itself.

To perform bending, two 800 mm handles are welded to the corner, with which you can turn the machine. The sheet bender is pressed to the table using two clamps. The clamping angle is unscrewed. Then the workpiece is laid, and the corner is moved into place.

If necessary, it can be raised without removing it. After this, the material is threaded between the I-beam and the angle. The metal sheet is carefully aligned. The bolts are tightened and by turning the workpiece is bent to the required angle.

A homemade machine is not a universal device, since it is used for bending sheets of small thickness. If there is a need to bend material with a large thickness, you should use machines made in production.

Metal bending is a method of changing the shape of a workpiece. Such a change is carried out without any sampling of material, namely cutting or electric welding.

The required result is obtained by using metal deformation. When bending, the inner layer of the material is compressed and the outer one is stretched. In some ways, the bending operation is akin to straightening, the use of which eliminates defects - convexity and waviness.

Types and design of bending machines

Bending of sheet metal is carried out using specialized equipment - sheet bending machines. According to the operating principle, metal bending machines can be divided into several types:

Universal. When this machine operates, the sheet is placed in a fixed matrix and, with the assistance of a punch, it is given the required shape. Punches are made in several designs, which differ from each other in shape and size, for example, in angle. As a rule, a groove in the shape of an angle is made on the matrix.

Universal presses are easily reconfigurable and can solve many technological problems.

Turning. This machine consists of a traverse, as the bending beam is called, a bending beam and a back stop. A clamping beam is necessary to secure the sheet of metal to the frame. The bending of the sheet is carried out by a bending beam. In fact, it is the main working element of this machine.

Rotary. The design of such equipment may include several shafts (rolls). They rotate around their axis. In addition, the work rolls can move in a vertical plane. A sheet of metal is placed in the space between the shafts and by moving them vertically the future bending radius is adjusted. After the sheet passes between the rotating shafts, it receives the required shape.

A metal bending machine can be powered by human muscle power, hydraulic, pneumatic, electric (electromechanical) or mechanical drive.

To work with metal of small thickness, folding or folding machines are used. They are widely used when working with roofing sheets, creating ventilation ducts, etc.

Types of bending machines

To get a complete picture of how a sheet bending machine works, you need to understand how it works. This equipment includes components such as a table on which workpieces are placed. The workpiece will move along its surface in a given direction. In addition, a cutter can be installed on the table, cutting off the finished parts from the sheet of source material. A roller knife or saber guillotine can be used as a cutter.

The bending machines include a protractor. It is used to set the angle at which the sheet should be bent. In addition to this unit, limiters that regulate the maximum height of the resulting product play an important role.
The working bending length and maximum metal thickness for each type of machine are strictly individual.

In practice, the following types of bending machines are used.

Manual equipment is small in size and can be easily transported from one place to another. It is used in single production. Manual machines are used to produce parts made of different materials, for example, aluminum, copper, galvanized steel. Operating such a machine does not require any special training.

Mechanical equipment uses the energy of a flywheel in its operation, which is spun specifically for this purpose. Machines with an electromechanical drive operate through a drive station, which includes an electric motor, gearbox, belts or chains. Hydraulic units operate from energy received from a hydraulic cylinder.

By the way, for gentle bending of sheets, especially those coated, sheet benders using compressed air are used.
There are also devices such as electromagnetic ones. They are quite often used in the manufacture of boxes and boxes. The working tools in such equipment are powerful electromagnets, under the influence of which the sheet bends.

A separate class of bending equipment is portable (mobile); as a rule, they are used directly at the workplace, for example, at a construction site.

Advantages and disadvantages of bending machines

Like any bending equipment, it has a number of advantages. These include the strength of the resulting finished parts. The use of bending machines allows you to form parts without the use of welding and cutting. After the bending operation is completed, the likelihood of corrosion phenomena occurring at the site where it is performed is reduced.

The use of bending machines makes it possible to create integral structures, and as part of such a product it is possible to obtain versatile bends and angles.
But you also need to understand that bending equipment is quite expensive. Sheet bending operations are highly labor-intensive, especially if this work is performed on equipment designed for manual work.
But the listed shortcomings are more than compensated by the quality of the resulting products.

Operating principle of various sheet metal bending machines

The technological equipment used in modern production for the creation of metal structures makes it possible to obtain finished parts with different dimensions and shapes from sheet material.

Manual sheet benders

These designs have a number of features, in particular, they have restrictions on the depth of the workpiece, the maximum thickness of the metal, its width, or more precisely the bending length. The thinner the metal, the longer the bending length. Most often, they are used for bending thin sheet metal.

The manual installation works as follows:
The upper beam presses the sheet against the work table. The required bending angle is obtained by lifting the lower, rotating beam. When using this machine, it is necessary to keep in mind that the thickness of the sheet that can be processed should not exceed 2 mm.

Manual sheet benders are lightweight, and this allows them to be used both in stationary conditions and directly at the workplace, for example, on a construction site.

These machines use liquid as an energy source. The pump, built into the system, creates excess pressure, under the influence of which the plunger moves the movable transverse beam.
The sheet to be processed is pressed against the work table, and the movement of the cross beam performs straightening and bending of the sheet.

Sheet benders of this class are used to process workpieces along the entire length of the work table; in addition, they are used to deep draw metal.
The hydraulic cylinders feature positioning accuracy and high operating efficiency. Their use allows you to control the amount of movement, speed and movement of parts of the hydraulic system.

Hydraulically driven machines are used for the production of additional components, air ducts, and roofing parts. This equipment is used to make advertising structures and perform external and internal finishing of buildings and structures.
The use of hydraulic equipment makes it possible to process sheets with greater thickness, for example, up to 4 – 8 mm. Of course, this value depends on the brand of material being processed.

The design of this equipment consists of a frame and a rotating beam for bending the sheet. In addition to the rotary beam, a beam assembled from profile sentiments is installed on the machine, which presses the sheet. For operator safety, this type of machine has pedal control.

This type of sheet bending machine allows you to bend long lengths of metal. They are used for processing various materials, including galvanized steel and cold-rolled steel 2.5 mm thick.

Machines of this type are used in the production of sills, window sills, and structures for ventilation systems.

Metal bending and its main methods

Sheet bending

It should be understood that metal bending operations are not limited to working with sheet metal. When creating metal structures for various purposes, there is a need to use bent pipes or profiles.

Radial bending of sheet metal is performed using the equipment described above. When performing it, it is important to choose the correct linear size of the workpiece. The designer must remember that the length of the workpiece should be slightly longer than the length of the finished part. This is due to the specifics of the bending operation. The fact is that when the position of one part of the sheet changes relative to another, the inner layers of the metal are compressed, and the outer ones are stretched. That is, before performing radius bending of metal, it is necessary to carefully calculate the geometric parameters of the workpiece.

To calculate the bending radius, it is enough to use tabular data that can be found in almost any engineering reference book.

Pipe bending

Pipes can also be bent in accordance with the requirements of the working documentation. There are several methods - manual and mechanized. By the way, in everyday life, bent pipes can be found on fences and railings installed in residential buildings and premises for other purposes.

Most often, pipes are bent along a radius. This process allows the pipe to be bent either partially or completely. Moreover, it will not depend on the shape and size of the section. The process of pipe deformation looks something like this: when bending a hollow profile, several forces act on the workpiece, one affects the surface of the inner wall, and the second affects the outer side of the profile.

When bending a pipe, there is a danger that the interaction of these forces may deform the pipe profile. As a result, loss of alignment may occur. Moreover, if a number of technological rules are not followed, the pipe may rupture. If the bend is uneven, folds may form at the bend. The reason for this is the influence of tangential forces arising during pipe deformation.

To avoid such phenomena, cold and hot pipe bending is used. The first method is used for processing pipes with a small diameter. But in this case, it is necessary to know the minimum permissible bend radius, which runs along the center line. It should be noted that the use of local heating of the pipe creates more comfortable conditions for bending the pipe. After heating, the metal acquires plasticity sufficient to perform a given deformation. The hot bending method is used on large diameter pipes.

Metal bending on CNC machines advantages

More and more, the use of computer-controlled equipment is becoming the norm rather than the exception. Such machines can be seen in almost any production, regardless of its scale. The use of specialized software allows not only to increase the processing speed of parts, but also leads to noticeable savings in metal and increased accuracy of workpiece processing.

The work of processing workpieces on bending machines under CNC control is as follows:

• using storage media or via a LAN, a control program is entered into the control system.
• it encodes the signals necessary for the operation of the equipment, on the basis of which the workpiece will be processed. That is, the actuators, receiving the appropriate commands, set in motion the working body (punch) that presses the workpiece into the matrix.

The use of control systems allows you to achieve certain advantages over other metal processing methods:

1. The quality of the finished product is ensured, including the fact that during CNC operation the influence of the human factor is completely eliminated.
2. The dimensions and shape of the resulting product fully comply with the requirements of the working documentation.

In addition to the mentioned parameters, it is impossible not to mention the fact that the work on manufacturing products can be carried out 7/24 without the involvement of additional human resources.

Metal bending stages of the technological process

The metal bending process consists of several steps:

• Cutting sheet material and obtaining blanks that are subject to processing on bending equipment are obtained in a variety of ways. Almost all types of blanking equipment can be used for cutting.
• Then, the workpieces are transferred to the production site, where the operator, who must have all the necessary working documentation in hand, performs the appropriate operations and ultimately receives the finished part.

After receiving it, it is necessary to perform control and measurement operations. This work is performed either by a shift foreman or an employee of the technical control department. To perform this operation, you must use a certified measuring instrument - ruler, tape measure, protractor, etc.

If any defects are identified, it is necessary to make changes either to the equipment settings or to the text of the control program.

Only after passing technical control can the part be allowed for further use. Otherwise, substandard products must be sent either for rework or for disposal.

Metal bending and post-processing

In fact, bending operations are of an intermediate nature in the manufacture of certain components, for example, elements of metal stairs. That is, after bending, the resulting parts are sent to assembly production, where they are installed in the place specified in the working documentation for the product.

If the product will not be used as part of other structures, then a protective corrosion-resistant coating is applied to its surface. This can be a primer like GF 21, or powder paint. It all depends on the purpose and operating conditions of the finished product.

Why do you need a homemade sheet bender?

Bending sheet metal with your own hands is a completely feasible operation that can be performed at home. But many home craftsmen are stopped by the rather high price of sheet metal bending machines. For the needs of small-scale production or for work around the house, there is no need to install complex machines with hydraulic wires, but a manual machine will suffice.

In order to manufacture a machine of this kind, it is necessary to have at least draft documentation. It can always be found on the Internet, where you can either simply download or buy it. But it is best to study the operation of a working manual machine and implement the acquired knowledge in metal.

In fact, to build such a machine, you will need a certain amount of rolled metal, sheet material, a welding machine and metalworking tools.

Do-it-yourself sheet bender

The sheet metal bending machine consists of the following main components:

• beds;
• pressure beam;
• rotary bending beam;
• crimp beam;
• knife (roller, saber) for cutting workpieces;
• a receiving tray, which can be made of wood or sheet metal.

When making such a machine, the master must remember that it is controlled by muscular force and therefore count on the fact that it will be possible to process metal with a thickness of up to 2 mm.

Machine base

To manufacture the frame, you will need a certain amount of profiled metal. This can be a channel or an I-beam.

Bed - base for the machine

When assembling it, you must remember that the structure must be rigid. The quality of metal processing depends on this parameter.

Pressing device

Steel plates are used as clamping force in commercially produced equipment. In a homemade machine, you can use profile rolled products, for example, channel No. 12.

Roller knife

To cut the resulting part, you can use several types of knives, for example, saber or roller. Most often they are used to work with thin sheet material. When assembling a homemade sheet bender, it is advisable to purchase a roller blade from a company that supplies such equipment.

The thing is that for the manufacture of roller shears, as well as others, tool steels are used. To obtain working parts, it is necessary to use heat treatment, and this is unlikely to be done at home.

Maintenance and safety

Persons who have the qualification of an MSW mechanic may be allowed to work on sheet metal bending machines. Before starting work, personnel must undergo appropriate training and pass qualification exams.
Personnel who will work at the sheet bending machine must undergo initial safety training.
Meanwhile, on machines designed for bending sheet metal, certain safety measures are provided, for example, on some models, a rotary beam or plate can be set in motion only after the operator presses two control buttons. This solution will avoid injuries to the operator’s hands.

On some models, you also need to press the pedal to start the mechanism.
The design of mechanical equipment provides for the presence of limit sensors that limit the stroke of the punch or rotary plate. In addition, work safety is ensured by various types of fencing that restrict operator access to the work area.

They are installed in such a way that even turning off one of them will result in the machine simply not turning on.

Sheet metal bending is a low-energy sheet metal forming operation. Therefore, in many cases where high productivity is not required, it is performed on manually driven equipment. This reduces the cost of preparing and organizing production areas, simplifies machine control, and reduces the cost of manufactured products.

At the same time, due to the high quality of sheet bending units, the bending accuracy remains at the same level.

Features of manual bending of flat sheet blanks

Any bendable metal has elastic properties. Therefore, in the process of applying a short-term deforming force to the workpiece, the plastic characteristics of the workpiece material do not have time to be realized properly. As a result, springing occurs - partial restoration of the shape of the bent workpiece after the working tool is retracted to its original position. Unfortunately, bending sheet metal processing using mechanical presses does not provide the opportunity to increase the contact time of the punch with the workpiece.

Sheet metal bending

The types of various design and technological methods that can be used to compensate for the springing of metal are as follows:

Bending machines equipped with a manual drive do not create such problems, because the time the metal is held under pressure is set by the operator himself.

Rolling machine

In the practice of performing bending operations on such sheet-bending equipment, its varieties such as a bending and rolling unit are more common. The technological difference between them is that a bending machine produces consistent deformation over the entire surface of contact between the tool and the workpiece, while a rolling machine produces only part of this surface. Rolling requires less force for its implementation than bending, but its working cycle is longer.

Types of technological operations during manual bending

Since the torque using muscular force is limited by the physical capabilities of the operator, sheet metal bending is most often used according to the following process schemes:

Sheet metal processing using bending operations is selected depending on the following factors:

Equipment for manual bending of sheet metal

A manually driven bending machine is more often found in small-scale production, where rapid changeover of equipment from one standard size of manufactured products to another is often required. Processing sheet metal on manual sheet bending machines saves production space, and in most cases does not require the use of expensive specialized tools - stamps.

How to make a sheet bending machine with your own hands

Due to the sharp increase in applied force and torque, the thickness of sheet blanks for bending and subsequent cutting of steel should not exceed 1.2...1.5 mm, and for more ductile alloys, for example, aluminum - 2...3 mm. These restrictions allow this technology to be used in the production of steel building elements - bevels, gutters, junction boxes, as well as in the production of additional roofing elements for buildings. When producing these elements from strip, machines must have side knives for cutting defective edges of the product.

The advantage of manual sheet bending machines is that at low deformation rates the preliminary protective coating of the workpieces does not peel off. Therefore, manual bending technology fully allows for the presence of a zinc coating or a layer of paint on the original metal.

Types of cold bending machines are classified according to the following criteria:

It should be noted that leading manufacturers of manual sheet benders often equip them with additional options.

The American company Tapco is considered one of the most reputable manufacturers of this equipment. The machines of this company are positioned by the manufacturer as units that must produce external roofing elements of building structures, and therefore must work primarily outdoors. Therefore, the components of such equipment are made exclusively from steels with anti-corrosion coating.

The bending technology on the Tapco machine provides the ability to perform the following transitions:

• Cutting the original workpiece to size (all these machines are of the through type, in which the workpiece moves in only one direction).
• Subsequent profiled or segment bending (determined by the type of tool that is installed on the bending slide).
• Trimming edges while simultaneously calibrating the finished part.

The machines are easy to disassemble and maintain, since the manufacturer assembles them using a modular assembly method. For the same reason, machines from Tapko are easy to transport to a new place of use. At the same time, the use of high-quality metal for the manufacture of tools and parts of such machines has a corresponding effect on their price.

Video: Manual sheet bending machine

Bending of thin sheet metal makes it possible to create a product of the desired shape with little physical effort. An alternative to this method is the welding process, which takes a lot of time and requires higher financial costs.

Metal bending can be done manually or automatically, but the essence of the procedure does not change. If rolled metal with a large diameter is bent, the neutral layer is placed in the central part. At manufacturing plants, metal is bent using special equipment. First, preliminary calculations are carried out, taking into account GOST.

Bending workpieces made of thin sheet metal and wire has its own characteristics. They must be taken into account in order to avoid the creation of defective products.

Key principles of bending

In order to change the shape of rolled metal, it is possible to use different methods. Welding is often used, but such a high-temperature effect on a metal product significantly changes its structure, greatly reduces strength parameters, and reduces the service life.

When bending an aluminum sheet, the outer layers of the metal are stretched, and the inner layers are compressed. A piece of rolled metal is bent relative to another at a given angle. The bend angle can be determined by calculation.

Of course, due to the applied force, the product itself is deformed. The degree of deformation is within acceptable limits. In accordance with GOST, the maximum permissible deformation depends on the thickness of the sheet, bend angle, strength of the material, and speed of the procedure.

Types of bending

Sheet bending can be done either manually or using appropriate devices. The first is a rather complicated procedure that takes a lot of time, involving the use of pliers and a hammer. Bending of thin-sheet material is carried out using a special device - a mallet.

In order to mechanize the bending process, special devices are used - rollers, sheet benders, machine tools. In order to give the product a cylinder shape, hydraulic/manual/electrically driven rollers are used. Thanks to them, it is possible to create chimneys, pipe products, and gutters.

Sheet bending is one of the most common methods today that allows you to change the shape of rolled metal. Currently, modern equipment has reached such a level that it is possible to produce the most complex products on a sheet metal bending machine. The working tool is replaced quickly, thanks to this the machine device can be quickly reconfigured.

Bending equipment

Today there are many different machines for bending metal. The simplest machines can produce channels and angles. Manufacturing organizations usually use presses, which are divided into:

1. Rotary. These are roller devices that bend metal when moving between special rollers. They are divided into stationary and mobile. They are used to produce large-sized products in small batches.
2. Rotary. Metal plates are bent thanks to bending beams and 2 plates. There is a stationary plate at the bottom, and a rotary plate at the top. Such equipment is optimal for processing sheet metal products with a simple topography and small dimensions.
3. Ordinary presses using pneumatics or hydraulics. They are used for the production of mass and small-scale batches of parts made of stainless or other metal. Bending of products is carried out between the punch and the matrix. This allows you to process even those parts that are thick. Hydraulic press brakes are used more often than pneumatic press brakes.

The rotary equipment through which bending technology is implemented is the most modern. It operates automatically. You can get acquainted with the principle of its operation by watching the video. The worker does not need to calculate the optimal force.

Machine tools with a turning beam are also considered automated. The worker sends one galvanized or regular sheet into the device and positions the product as needed. Such equipment is often used in small enterprises that work with metal parts.

Hand bending

Any material has its own GOST. It must be taken into account when calculating the smallest bending radius of the sheet. In addition, bending a steel sheet involves taking into account the elasticity index and strength.

Using this procedure, you can make profiles of different configurations, prefabricated partitions, slopes, and many other parts. Aluminum/steel sheets are aligned and cut according to the drawing. Manual cutting is usually done with scissors. Marks are placed on the product in the required areas, along which the sheet metal can be bent with your own hands.

The sheet is securely fixed in a vice of the appropriate size (along the drawn bending line). Then, using a massive hammer, the first fold is made.

Then the metal product is moved to the next bending point and clamped tightly with a block of wood. A new bend is made. The iron legs are marked and, using a hammer and vice, bent in the required direction.

When radius bending of sheet metal is completed, you need to make sure that the product meets the established requirements. You can use a square for this. If any inaccuracies are found, they must be corrected immediately.

Creating a sheet metal bending machine

Bending sheet metal at home if you don’t have a machine can be problematic. Therefore, you can make a sheet metal bending machine yourself. For this you will need: a corner (80 millimeters), a metal beam (eighty millimeters), hinges, bolts, a welding machine, clamps, handles, a table.

1. First, make a metal base intended for a homemade apparatus. Use an I-beam profile.
2. Attach the angle to the top of the beam. Use bolts for this. When bent, the product will not budge due to reliable fixation.
3. Using a welding machine, weld three hinges under the corner. It is best to use hinges attached to steel doors. The second part of the loop must be welded with the corner facing the profile.
4. Now you can bend an aluminum sheet (or any other). To do this, turn the corner. To ensure the convenience of performing the procedure, weld 2 handles with a corner.
5. To tightly press the device, through which radius bending of metal will be carried out, to the table you will need 2 clamps. Unscrew the corner of the clamp. install the product. Return the corner to its original place.
6. There is no need to remove the corner. You can just lift it up. The product is placed between the profile and the corner. After this, the metal sheet is aligned along the corner edge.

Don't forget to check that all bolts are securely fastened. Turn the traverses, bend the product so that the angle you need is formed. This angle must be calculated in advance so as not to be distracted by calculations during the procedure.

If you need to bend tin on a machine you’ve made yourself, we’ll give you a couple of tips. Tinplate is a thin-sheet metal, so there should not be any problems with its bending. The bending technology on a home-made machine is such that it can only bend sheets of small thickness. To bend thick metal sheets, you need to use special machines that home craftsmen do not have at their disposal.

A machine for bending metal from thick sheets is used in industrial enterprises that produce a variety of parts. The cost of such devices is appropriate. Few home craftsmen can afford to purchase them. It is much easier to make a machine yourself; fortunately, for domestic purposes, bending thin-sheet material will be quite enough.

One of the most common methods of processing metal is bending it. This process also allows for the production of different products.

The technological process of metal bending is an operation in which a workpiece, using special equipment, is given the desired shape. This does not require welding, casting or stamping, and the workpiece is simply stretched and compressed from different sides.

This process can be manual or automated. At the same time, the bending method depends on the type of workpiece.

Working with sheet metal

The sheet is the simplest and lightest workpiece that does not require special attention when bending. It bends perfectly at different angles and can take any shape you like.

Roofing material, corners, profiles, various structural elements, etc. can be made from sheet metal. For this, manual sheet benders or special presses are used. The latter make work much easier and are usually used in factories. As a rule, they are now equipped with CNC.

Armature

This type of workpiece is quite durable and has a decent diameter. But mechanized presses for bending reinforcement are rarely used, more often using manual machines. This is explained by the need to carry out such an operation directly at the construction site.

The bending machine must be secured to the selected base, which must be strong, and the bending mechanism must be set in motion, and no special effort is required for this.

Metal pipes

It’s not so simple here because if the applied load is distributed incorrectly, the pipe may burst. It's all about its strength.

In addition, difficulties may arise with non-standard shapes and sizes of the product. There are a number of restrictions regarding the width and diameter of the section, as well as the length of the pipe, which do not allow it to be bent at all.

The operation is carried out in pipe benders, in which the workpiece is wound onto a rotating copier. The formation of corrugations is completely excluded. Sometimes heating with high frequency current is used.

Special approach

Non-standard workpieces can also be bent, but they should be treated carefully:

• thick and durable products - they can break;
• sheets with a small thickness - they are easily damaged;
• products that have different thicknesses in certain places and strength indicators;
• profiles and corners.

In all these cases, the permissible load will have to be accurately calculated before processing.

Watch the video to see how metal bending occurs: