In Australian metalworking shops, the Press Brake is one of the most common sheet metal working machines. An accurate, versatile and reliable machine is paramount to your workshops productivity.

When considering the correct size of a hydraulic Brake Press, the primary considerations are tensile strength of the material, material thickness and length of the piece to be bent.

Most Australian fabricators rely on air bending (three-point bending) in which case the punch presses the sheet metal into the vee, the deeper the punch penetrates the sharper the angle of bend.

On a quality CNC Press Brake, it is reasonable to achieve bending accuracy of better than +/- 0.5 of a degree. Using our tonnage calculator (link below), you can calculate tonnage per meter required to do your required work. The bigger the vee, the less tonnage required. The general rule of thumb is vee size is 8 x Material thickness. A little less on lighter material (<3mm) and more for heavy material (>10mm).

Presently, nearly every Press Brake we install is Computer Controlled and has a minimum of three CNC axes. Y1 & Y2 (left and right cylinder) and X-axis (backgauge in and out). Depending on your application, we would also strongly recommend R Axis (backgauge up and down) and CNC Controlled crowning (deflection compensation in the lower table).

Power Machinery has a long history selling and servicing Press Brakes, going back to the Australian made Hydrabends in the early ’80s through to the latest European Servo-Hydraulic machines available today.

Because there is no one size fits all, we look forward to discussing your requirements and tailoring a solution to your needs.