CNC Press Brakes for Sheet Metal

Press brakes: how the ranges in the catalog differ

A press brake bends sheet with a punch into a die, and four things decide everything: force, bending length, back-gauge axes and crowning. How to calculate the force for your material, choose the die and avoid paying for axes you do not need is set out step by step in “How to choose a press brake” and in the bending calculator. This page is about something else: what the catalog actually holds and how the ranges differ.

Five lines

All the vertical presses are in the CNC vertical press brakes section. Separately there is the NARGESA PP200CNC horizontal bending press: 20 t, a 250 mm stroke and an ESA S625 CNC. It bends and straightens bar, flat and angle in interchangeable tooling rather than sheet along its full length.

The TRtech model code reads like this: the first digits are the table length, the rest is the force. The TRtech Fortis-31135 is 3100 mm and 135 t, the TRtech Prime-101600 is 10,100 mm and 1600 t. On the LUNA Taurus the order is reversed: the LUNA Taurus 100/2500 is 100 t and 2500 mm.

What sets the ranges apart in practice

• Axes. The Fortis has four: Y1 and Y2 on the ram and two on the back gauge. The Prime has six, four of them on the gauge. On the Taurus the number is chosen: from Y1+Y2+X in the base version to Y1+Y2+X1+X2+R1+R2+Z1+Z2 fully equipped. What the R and Z axes actually do is explained in the article.
• Crowning. The Fortis has motorised hydraulic crowning, the Prime dynamic hydraulic crowning. Without it the angle in the middle of a long part comes out more open than at the ends.
• Control. The Fortis comes with a Cybelec Touch 8. For the Taurus you choose: Cybelec CybTouch 8, 12 or 15 PS and VP88, ESA VIS-840 and VIS-875, or Delem from the DA-53TX to the DA-69S. Take the one your operators know and already have programs for.
• Daylight and throat depth. The Fortis has 350–530 and 350–510 mm, the Prime 490–730 and 410–510 mm, the Taurus 390–420 and 300–400 mm. Daylight decides whether a deep box with high sides will come out, the throat whether a long edge of the part will pass inside the press.
• Speeds and accuracy. The Taurus cards state a closing speed of 180 mm/s, a return of 140 mm/s, an X axis at 400 mm/s and ±0.01 mm accuracy on the Y1/Y2 and X axes. On repeat parts that translates directly into cycle time.

What to allow for besides the press itself

• A foundation for the heavy models. The Prime cards from 600 t upwards state the foundation depth: 900 mm on the TRtech Prime-61600, 1600 mm on the Prime-81600 and 2500 mm on the Prime-101600, which weighs 220,000 kg. That is a design decision to be prepared in advance.
• Tooling. Punches and dies are a separate budget line, and the clamping system decides what you will be able to add later. Boxes need a segmented punch.
• Safety and commissioning. Laser guarding or light curtains, fencing and a foot pedal with an emergency stop are part of the project, as are a level floor, the connection and operator training.

Send drawings of two or three of your most difficult parts, the material and thickness range, the longest bend and the number of parts per shift — we will calculate the force, select the range, axes, control and tooling and offer several configurations for different budgets. The sheet can be cut beforehand on laser machines or guillotine shears, and rolled into a shell on plate rolls.