Bending thicker or high strength steel requires equipment that can handle heavy loads. WILA offers Tool Holders and tooling for Heavy Duty bending.
Bending heavy duty plate materials requires large V-dies. Traditionally, these V-dies are heavy, requiring multiple operators to load them into the press brake. However, WILA's segmented dies are designed to be loaded and unloaded by a single operator.
WILA's large V-dies for heavy duty applications can sustain high loads and are segmented for quick and safe single operator loading and unloading.
If you're using large V-dies and punches to bend heavy plate material, consider using WILA's E2M bearing system for quick and safe loading and unloading of heavy top/bottom tools.
WILA's top and bottom Heavy Duty Tool Holders offer more stability and loads of up to 800 ton/meter.
As a rough guideline, at WILA we talk about Heavy Duty bending when bending 6mm mild steel or thicker. These thicknesses require V-openings starting at 60 mm (V = 10 x sheet thickness or more).
When bending thicker, higher tensile strength plate, you will need bottom tools with a V-opening that is more than 8 times the sheet thickness to prevent cracking. Make sure your press brake can supply the required bending force for the bend operation. Allow for springback of the plate when selecting the V-angle of the bottom tool. Make sure your tip radius matches the natural inside radius as close as possible but does not exceed it. This will give the best and most consistent results and prevent excessive wear of your top tools.
WILA dealers have the knowledge and expertise to support your press brake tooling needs. There is always a WILA dealer near you.
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