Most often for work with metalblanks a person requires a machine for bending metal. This is a fairly simple device, but its benefits are hard to overestimate. In addition, to make it yourself is quite realistic. This will save a significant amount of material resources, but will also require certain knowledge, skills and, of course, time.
Станок для гибки металла, как понятно из его name, used to produce bent metal parts. It is worth adding that, in addition to this function, it can also have one additional - cutting material. Such machines are used most often to make metal strips. In addition to these two functions, the presence of such a machine will allow to produce various kinds of profiled metal. The advantage of using a machine for bending metal is that it allows you to change the shape of the material at any desired angle, but at the same time it does not harm the surface coating or the protective layer of the goods.
Работать на таком станке можно не только со steel products, but also with copper, brass, aluminum and iron. If the workpiece of any material is characterized by the fact that its thickness is less than 0.8 mm, then its width must necessarily be not less than 40 cm, but not more than 2.5 m. With such dimensions, the height of the shelf (for bending) must be no more than 2 cm. If it is necessary to cut blanks with the same thickness, then it is important that their width be from 80 mm to 40 cm and no more.
Еще одно важное условие, которое необходимо observe to work on the machine for bending metal is the absence of defects on the surface of the sheet, which will be bent. Compliance with this condition is important so that those parts and product samples that will be produced on a homemade machine with their own hands, are not inferior in quality to those blanks that are produced on an industrial scale in factories. In order to protect the polymer or paintwork on the material itself, it is recommended to install silicone or rubber substrates on the machine.
The homemade machine for bending metal products is quite simple, but very functional design, consisting of several basic elements.
Knife.Since the machine has an additional cutting function, this part is also the main one. It should be mounted on moving rollers, and is intended for cutting blanks. It is important to note here that this element should be made of very strong steel, on the Rockwell scale, the level of strength should be about 100. The service life of such a product is quite long, but it will be difficult to grind. But this disadvantage is completely leveled by the fact that the knife will allow to cut a huge amount of meters of material before blunting. To make it easier to move the rollers, they must be installed weighting.
A machine for bending metal, made by hand, must also have several of the following components:
It is recommended to begin work with drawing up the schemeunit. It is also necessary to purchase and manufacture all the necessary elements and parts before proceeding to assembly. The first thing to buy is two pieces of channel number 5 and number 6 with the same length. Also, these two elements must have a straight edge. These elements are used to prepare the base. Piece number 5 is used for clamping, and number 6 for the base arrangement. To choose the length of the channels, it is necessary to build on the length of the workpieces with which you plan to work, this parameter must match. Most often, experts recommend taking a length of about half a meter. This is enough to make almost any part that can be useful in everyday life.
Next for the manufacture of machine for manual bending.metal need to make holes on the channel, which is presser. The number of holes should be from 2 to 4, and their diameter should be equal to 9 mm. The hole closest to the end of the workpiece blank must be located 3 cm from the edge. Another important point is that the clamping device should be about 5-10 cm shorter than the base. In order to make a punch for crimping, you must have a corner at your disposal, the profile thickness of which will be greater than that of future blanks. The lever handle is best made from materials such as fittings or timber. If a timber is used, its cross section must be not less than 15 mm, and if a timber is taken, then its dimensions must be not less than 50x50. The shape of the lever is recommended to do U-shaped. This element is attached to the corner by welding or bolts.
After all previousmanipulation, you can begin to manufacture such an element as the cheeks. They are made of rolled steel, and the thickness of the parts should be about 5 mm. It is important that these elements have chamfers, the thickness of which should be equal to 0.6 cm. The length of this area should be from 3 to 3.3 cm. 3 cm length. They must be removed from the punch to ensure the installation axis. The production of such an element as an axis is carried out from metal rods, whose diameter is equal to 1 cm. The axis is fixed by welding. When installing it is necessary to ensure the parallelism of the axis line with respect to the edges of the corner. All this ready-made construction, together with the punch, is connected using a vice. When combining it is important to ensure that the free shelf of the corners is located in the same horizontal plane in which the free channel shelf is located.
After this, the assembly work can be consideredcomplete. To test the machine’s performance, it is recommended to take a mild steel blank with a thickness of up to 1.5 mm It should be noted that the price of the machine for bending metal purchased can reach up to $ 2000.
The design of the homemade machine can alsoconsist of parts such as bed, nut-flywheel, sheet for bending, clamping, clamp, punch for crimping. In order to work on this type of machine, certain knowledge and skills are needed. The advantage of using this unit is that it allows you to keep the metal intact, in contrast to the same welding.
In the process of bending the metal, the following occurs:the outer layers of the metal billet are stretched, but the inner ones, on the contrary, are compressed. It is important that for the bending of the metal billet it is necessary to apply such force, which will be greater than the ultimate elasticity of the material. With the help of metal bending machines, this condition can be achieved. The advantages of the finished product, that is, curved sheets, include the following factors:
The presence of such equipment at home significantlysimplifies work with metal blanks. However, when operating this device, it is extremely important to know and adhere to safety precautions. The price of the machine for bending sheet metal, made by hand, will also be significantly lower than the purchased one. You will have to spend money only on those materials that will not be available and will have to be bought.
