Quick Change Tooling
Productivity of press brakes is too often neglected and it’s taken for granted that it takes a really long time to set-up. Productivity packages are now available on press brakes to drastically improve set-up times and consequently make a press brake more productive.
A feature such as quick change tooling for instance is a must. A safety mechanism (often referred to as Safety-Click®) is part of the top tool. This enables to vertically changeover tool segments by simply clicking them in and out of the holder vertically. Combined with hydraulic clamping systems makes fast tool change possible. In fact in most cases, 80% faster than conventional tool holders. Moreover, upper and lower hydraulic tool clamping systems can seat, align and clamp the complete upper and lower set of tools by the push of a button.
Finding Lost Press Brake Bending Time
While simple parts are most certainly easy to program at the brake, one has to consider the lost bending time when programming directly at the press brake control. If you are wondering how you can get more productivity out of your current press brake and you are not currently off-line programming, this is a great opportunity. People often see press brakes as the bottle neck of production and this should not be the case. With Lasers cutting parts faster than ever before, it is even more important that your downstream processes adapt to this increasing volume of parts.
A good off-line programming system can automatically take 3D models and convert them directly to 2D part programs. During the conversion the software automatically selects the correct tooling based on the material and the radius of the bend and automatically applies the correct bend deduction. The software now has a correct flat blank which will be used at the laser and the bend program which will be used at the brake. This is critical in reducing setup times because often an incorrect flat blank causes the press brake operator to again make programming changes to the flange lengths in order to compensate for the incorrect blank. Again this takes time away from the press brake actually bending parts.
Benefits of Offline Programming
Good Off-line programming will not only select the correct tools and generate bend deductions, but will also setup your tool mapping and automatically set up additional tool stations along the table to accommodate all of the required bends. In addition, the back-gauge is automatically programmed as each bend is programmed.
As a programmer you can choose to change any bend sequence that the software has calculated automatically and then also simulate the final program as it will be used at the brake. During the simulation the software will automatically check for collisions of the part against the tooling, the table or the ram. Corrections can be made before the program is sent to the press brake for final production, reducing the overall non-productive bending time.
Keeping the Pace in the Manufacturing Process
Press brake technologies have evolved just as quickly as cutting technologies so that they can keep up with the higher throughput from high-speed lasers. Keeping the pace in the manufacturing process is critical to reducing the amount of work-in- process inventory (WIP).
By Frank Arteaga, Head of Product Marketing, NAFTA Region
Bystronic Inc., Elgin, IL – Voice.bystronic@bystronic.com