The Basic Guide To Press Brake Vs CNC Shear

Brief Of Press Brake

Press Brake is one of the modern sheet metal processing equipment;

It have various series and structures, Torsion bar, Electric hydraulic, Hybrid, Servo electric;

It has multi-axes control, up to 8+1-Axis, Y1,Y2,X1,X2,R1,R2,Z1,Z2 and Motorized crowning system;

It can use the clamping system to change upper punch and lower die，which can reach to different shapes and bending angles；

CNC Press Brake has an advanced control system, and the proportional valve can adjust the Ram stroke to achieve more accurate Y-axis positioning and repeat positioning;

CNC Press Brake are equipped with Automatic back gauge, with functions of back gauge back away, back gauge lifting and back gauge finger moving.

Brief Of CNC Shear

CNC shear is one of the efficient cutting equipment for sheet metal;

CNC shear is equipped with alignment device, shear stroke control, easy to adjust;

It made up of Body, Blade, Clamps, Control panel, Emergency stop, Back gauge；

The shears pressing cylinder fixes the material, and the shearing blade exerts a shearing force on the material to cut it into the required size;

The working angle of shearing machine blade is refer to shearing angle, between 0.5° to 4°, which can be adjusted manually or automatically;

There is a gap between the upper blade and the lower blade, Before cutting, it is necessary to set the gap according to the actual plate thickness to avoid cutting due to increased thickness;

The CNC shearing machine can be controlled digitally, and AC motor or Servo motor can be choosed for positioning.

The Types Of Shearing Machine

Shearing machine has many types，According structure can divide into Guillotine, Swing beam shearing machine; According drive mode can divide into Hydraulic shearing machine, Power shear; According control system divide into CNC Shearing machine;

The Guillotine shear belongs to the second generation hydraulic shearing machine. Its structure ensures good stability during cutting and better cutting straightness; it can be equipped with P40T, DAC360T control system;

The Swing beam shearing machine has faster cutting speed and return speed, higher cutting efficiency, and is suitable for batch cutting; E21S and DAC-310T control systems can be selected;

Mechanical shearing machine adopts gear transmission, with fast stroke times, suitable for batch cutting of thin plates, but the cutting thickness is limited;

Hydraulic shearing machine is mainly driven by the hydraulic system, which produces greater shearing force, excellent performance and stable quality;

Power shear includes mechanical-type and electric-type, gear driven or electric, the shearing method is simpler, suitable for small plate, thin plate processing.

Press Brake Vs CNC Shear: Advantages & Disadvantages

Press Brake Advantages

•   Bend complex shapes, different angles and easy to operation.

•   Advanced CNC control for multi-step programming and 2D, 3D simulation.

•   Avoiding sheet metal defects, bending angle and straightness compensation.

•   Manufacture a wide range of sheet metal parts, Press brake tool easy to change, meet standard or non-standard moulding.

•   It has upgraded options to realise automated bending cells, in line with the Industry 4.0 trend.

Press Brake Disadvantages

•   Operation and programming requires the operator to have some experience in sheet metal calculation.

•   Unique structure of press brake makes the machine heavy on front side with lifting risk.

•   During downward pressure of press brake tooling is a risk of injury to the human body.

•   The complexity of the components makes maintenance not easy.

CNC Shear Advantages

• CNC Shears is fast and suitable for mass shearing.

• CNC Shears can quick to set Back gauge distance.

• Shearing machine blades are straight, so straight cutting results are accurate.

• Shearing machine cuts a wide range of thicknesses, cuts various materials and is low cost to use it.

Shear Disadvantages

• CNC shears are simple in structure, therefore, have a single function, performing only repetitive linear shearing motions.

• Cannot perform complex cuts such as curves and irregular shapes.

• Not suitable for cutting special materials, such as high hardness materials.

• Shear blades require regular maintenance and replacement.

• Shearing machine have low cutting efficiency compared to laser cutting machines.

What Are The Differences Between Press Brake And CNC Shear?

1.  Application

CNC shears

•   Steel structure shearing production line: Steel plate, Steel Flat, Flat bar cutting;

•   Cold roll forming line shearing: suitable for automotive side panels, automotive longitudinal beam shearing lines, color steel tile shearing, special forming line shearing work in the automotive industry, etc;

•   Steel coil leveling line: used for cold coil uncoiling and leveling production line, meeting higher speed, matching with hydraulic and pneumatic shearing machine, continuous production, high efficiency.

Press Brake

The application industry of Press Brake is wider than that of Shears, not only in manufacturing industry, but also in construction industry, decoration industry, consumer goods, light industry, food industry, etc., a large of sheet metal bending parts.

2.  Working principle

The shear machine generates strong shear force through the upward and downward action of the blade, which reduces the deformation of the plate and obtains high-quality workpieces;

The Guillotine adopts a gate type shear method, which uses a hydraulic cylinder to drive the movement of the gate plate to achieve shear. It has the characteristics of high shear accuracy and flat cut;

The swing-beam shearing machine adopts a swing arm type shearing method, and the hydraulic cylinder drives the tool holder to work, resulting in faster shearing speed and high mass production efficiency.

The press brake bends and forms the sheet metal by squeezing between the molds.

3.  Structure

The shearing machine upper blade is fixed on the wall panel, and the lower blade is fixed on the workbench. The pressing cylinder presses the board tightly to prevent it from moving. The return stroke of the shearing machine uses nitrogen gas, which is fast and has less impact; Guardrails serve as safety devices to protect safety.

Press brake includes a frame, control system, crowning system, electrical system, hydraulic system, clamping system, mold, and optional devices.

4.  Operation And Maintenance

Shear

•   Upper and lower blade gap adjustment: blade gap is appropriate or not is an important factor affecting the quality of shear and blade life; the blade gap value is converted to the value of plate thickness, read directly on the gap dial;

•   The use of shear angle: adjust the range of 0.5 ° to 4 °, according to the plate thickness and material strength selection, plate thin take the minimum value, can improve the quality of shear and work efficiency. When the plate is thick, take the minimum value to avoid overloading the machine;

•   Hydraulic system maximum use pressure is 20Mpa;

•   Regularly check the oil filter to keep it clean, clogging of the oil filter reduces the oil throughput, affecting the service life of the oil pump and increasing energy consumption;

•  Check the fuel level in the tank, low levels cause air to enter, increasing noise and high temperatures.

Press brake

•   After machine is installed, it needs to be filled with No.46 anti-wear hydraulic oil and connected to three-phase AC power supply;

•   Start the electrical cabinet power switch, enter the system operation interface, start the main motor and confirm that the motor rotates in a clockwise direction;

•   Depressing the footswitch, Ram runs down to the lower stop and then returns to the upper stop to ensure that the machine is in proper working order;

•   When occur an emergency, press the emergency button immediately. The bending machine is distributed with several emergency buttons;

•   Regular lubrication of equipment, the number of lubrication points has been less and the locations are easily accessible;

•   Checks all mechanical spare parts, drive condition and linear guides.

Conclusion

Shearing machine and press brake are both metal processing equipment that serve the sheet metal working industry;

Shearing machine and press brake end use is different, the main difference between the two areas of shearing and bending;

Shearing machine processing attributes more basic, applicable to the product simple cutting stage;

Press Brake work in a wider range, from basic bending to final forming;

Plates first need to be cut by a shear and then bent to shape by a bender machine;

Generally, both shears and brake are needed together to create a complete sheet metal production capacity;

ZFY offers complete sheet metal machinery solutions since 1995, nearly 30 years of design and development have made our machines more solid quality, excellent performance and affordable price, suitable for both individual workshop and mass production;

We never recommend expensive machines, we customize solutions to each customer's actual requests, producing the suitable machine for you, giving you the cost-effective, improving your productivity as a priority, and ensuring that your investment will bring you exponential gains in the future!