A Guide to Maintaining Press Brakes
If you work in the metal fabrication industry, you must be knowing that Press brakes are an important part of any equipment. Thin sheets of metal and sheet metals made to particular specifications using CD/CAM are widely in use in the construction and manufacturing industries. Press brakes help bend these sheets of metal in a number of different ways.
If you are just starting in the industry, here’s all you will need to know:
Types of Press Brakes
Mainly there are three different forms of Press Brakes. Hydraulic, mechanical, and pneumatic. In the market, a hydraulic press is a superior quality press brake providing best quality results. Because of the difference in trigger mechanisms. There are different types of parts in Amada press brake including precitec parts. Each part refers to a different use. In the mechanical brakes, it uses a spring-loaded trigger. Pneumatic brakes use an air trigger. When you press the trigger in these brakes, the machine will start working.
With the hydraulic press brake, you can stop it at any point even after its stroke. In this case, the operator will have a greater degree of control over what they are doing. Thus, it helps in achieving more precise results. You can also operate Hydraulic presses at a slower pace. It gives the operator time to fine-tune the piece to their liking.
Bends and Dies
You can change the parts of the press brake. You can take them out and replace it with precitec nozzles or any other required part. Just as you changing the function and capabilities of a drill by changing the type of drill bit, changing the bends and dies in the press brake will change what it is supposed to be doing.
Precision Control
In order to run the press brake efficiently, a skilled operator is a must-have. When it comes to CAD and CAM, they have their made place in manufacturing and construction. But even when you implement them in your system, you will need a skilled operator to monitor the work and make sure that there is no defect in the final outcome.
Maintenance
If you as a fabricator are considering to buy your own press brake, it is important to understand the steps of maintenance. The good thing is, the maintenance is not that complicated compared to other machinery. Make sure to follow the manuals and keep checking the machinery on a regular interval, you might not get many issues.
Regularly clean the press brake. Make sure to remove any oil and dust which might have made their place. Doing it on a weekly basis is a great thing. All the oil filters will need changing on a yearly basis at least.
Make Sure to Take Precautions
Before performing any operations using press brake, it is necessary to support the ram of the machine. You can place the ram on two equal size wooden blocks. You can also lower the ram by the tooling.
Review it Mechanically
It is important to review piston bolts, chain sprockets, precitec nozzles, and guides of the press brake. Make sure to check the connection between the pistons and ram on a regular base. Also, to calibrate or realign the back gauge and stops.
Lubrication at a minimum number of points in modern press brake is also important. Keep moving components such as back gauge, guiding systems, and ball screws clean. Don’t forget to grease them to extend the press brake’s function and life.
Here are the components which require weekly lubrication:
Ram guiding system
Ball screws
Guide encoders, encoder guiding system
Gear segment
Rack and pinion system
Guides and rails
Press brakes are a simple piece of machinery. In order to maintain it and leverage the functionality over a long period, follow the right steps to maintain it. Even the highest quality press brakes like Amada press brake need maintenance on a regular basis. It is a common equipment for a variety of reasons. It soon will be working with materials like graphene and other synthetic metamaterials. Make sure you make it an excellent investment for your metal projects.