Sheet Metal Bending Minimum Flange Length

From a bend the minimum distance is 3 times material length plus the bend radius.

Sheet metal bending minimum flange length.

In low carbon steel sheet metal the minimum radius of a bend should be one half the material thickness or 0 80 mm 0 03 inch whichever is larger. The tool can calculate the required bending force for bending aluminum stainless steel mild steel and weldox or strenx high strength steels. Let s say i have a 2 mm thick sheet and i want to bend it. This tool allows you to determine tonnage internal radius v die opening and minimum flange you just have to insert the characteristics of the sheet metal to be bent.

Avoid large sheet metal parts with small bent flanges. D 2 5t r. In the fab shop the v die width in the press brake limits the size of the flange that can be bent. The v die is usually selected to be 5x to 8x the workpiece thickness.

If it s not supported on both sides the sheet slides into the v opening and the bend line will slide with it. Determine your minimum bend by measuring the distance from your closest feature i e. Discover all our calculation tools in the calculators section of the top menu. When using a punch press or laser cutting holes should never be less than that of the material thickness.

The required die width is 12 mm and tonnage per meter is 22. During bending the sheet metal must bridge fully across the v die see figure 2. Minimum sheet metal flange bend length 3 x sheet thickness bend radius minimum hole diameter guidelines small sized punch are more prone to failure during sheetmetal punching operation. Minimum flange length b the minimum flange length is sometimes the most difficult limitation for new brake operators and engineers to understand.

I can now see that the minimum flange length is 8 5 mm for such a bend so i have to keep it in mind when designing. As a rule of thumb the distance from the outside of the material to the bottom of the cutout should be equal to the minimum flange length as prescribed by the air bend force chart. Therefore for softer materials the recommended minimum hole diameter is equal to sheet thickness. Until the bend is completed the sheet metal must be supported on both sides of the v opening.

A cutout or the edge of your flange to your bend. To keep it simple i also use a 2 mm inside radius. When fabricating with a punch press the minimum space between two notches should be at least 2 time material thickness and at least 125. Choose a bend radius that matches your minimum bend.