The benefits of bending software

BendSim Pro provides improved off-line programming efficiency and ready-to-run programs so fabricators can operate more productively with standardized operations and less manual set up. Users can make accurate simulations off-line, cut and bend more precisely, and manage workflows more efficiently.

As more workers are retiring and fewer young people are taking up the mantel, the tribal knowledge that has been handed down through generations of fabricators is being lost.

Experienced press brake operators have collected years and often decades worth of application notes, bend calculations, and general best practices to help ensure that any job that comes through the shop’s doors can be done effectively and efficiently. These operators have experience reading drawings, selecting the correct punch and die, and understanding the best bend sequence, and it’s that experience that makes them so valuable.

There are so many variables that go into setting up a press brake, including choosing the tools and their orientation along the brake bed. Long gone are the days of paper setup sheets detailing all of this information, and new employees often have been left to gather those details, in some cases through trial and error, for themselves.

Press brakes today are packed with features and technology to help make them more efficient, user friendly, and intuitive. And while there are many great tech advancements out there to help alleviate the skilled trades gap in the bending department, off-line programming proves to be especially helpful by ensuring that the knowledge needed to make parts is documented for anyone to access.

Bending Software Benefits

For simple parts, the benefit of using bending software is that it can use a combination of predetermined rules and machine and tool configurations to produce a functional program automatically with minimal to no user input.

For complex parts, bending software can be used to assist with tool selection and station development. This allows the programmer to identify points of interference and changes in part geometry, as two examples, before a single piece of metal is cut in production.

Today’s software can work with both simple and complex parts and has batch mode programming capability, where a collection of parts can be assigned to program automatically during off hours. This increases the programmer’s productivity by automating the programming of simple parts while freeing the programmer to focus on more complex and difficult parts.

Off-line Bending Optimization

Optimization of effort is a primary factor in metal fabrication. In forming specifically, parts (revenue) are only being produced when the ram is moving.

To optimize press brake production, many manufacturers choose to move the programming of parts off-line. This leaves the press brake and operator 100 per cent available for production.

It also assists with the challenge of finding and retaining experienced press brake operators. Again, if the ram is not moving, parts (revenue) are not being generated. With off-line programming, less experienced operators can be hired and trained to operate the press brake since they are not required to create programs.

BendSim Pro provides the ability to simulate parts for press brake forming operations off-line without interrupting the press brake’s productivity.

Bending Consistency and Knowledge

Individuals are unique; therefore, every press brake operator will program a part in a way that is comfortable for them.

At times in fabrication, the operator’s knowledge may far exceed that of the programmer. Experience is valuable and should be utilized wherever possible.

In some cases, the experienced operator may be able to move into the programmer’s role because of the skill and knowledge that years of experience has provided. In other cases, the skilled operator may like working on the press brake because personally producing a quality part gives them a sense of accomplishment that using software at a desk does not. In either case, the skilled operator’s knowledge can be utilized, directly or indirectly, to assist in the development of the rules base that will be followed in the programming of parts for production.

When off-line programming software is used, rules-based calculations are used to program the parts. By minimizing the individual operator’s uniqueness and maximizing a consistent set of rules, fabricators can be assured that parts bent by different operators will use the exact same program.

This also is important with new or less skilled operators as it eliminates the knowledge gap by having all the knowledge and sequencing built right into the software.

Maximize the Software Capabilities

The primary mistake that occurs when using off-line programming software is not using the software to its fullest capabilities. As an example, many fabricators do not use off-line programming because they do not trust the bend deductions derived by the calculation in the software. In most cases, this all leads back to what is being used as the k-factor in the calculations.

However, the software can determine bend deduction in a variety of ways. It can use a value for the k-factor, the ISO (DIN 6935) method, or use a bend compensation table that the user fills in with numbers achieved with a specific machine and material to estimate future results.

Taking advantage of the full capabilities of the software may require a change in procedure or not doing things “the way we have always done it.” New programmers and operators coming into the shop may be open to a new way because they haven’t known anything different. And while this may be challenging at first for some fabricators who are rooted in the traditional methods, seeing the advantages and benefits of off-line programming first-hand and standardizing across the board may lead to better, more accurate bends, leading to higher quality part production.

Mark Watson is software products manager at Cincinnati Incorporated, 7420 Kilby Rd., Harrison, OH 45030, www.e-ci.com.

With off-line programming software, such as BendSim Pro, the user can determine how the part is going to be manufactured and how this might vary from the original drawing.