Sheet metal bending is crucial for fabricating a wide range of parts. Having three different bending technologies gives the All Metals Fabricating team the freedom to meet a wide variety of customer needs, from electrical boxes to fighter jets.
Our investments in lights-out manufacturing stepped up our bending game to the next level. With automated loading and unloading, we shorten lead times and decrease labor costs. Plus, using robots and automation means we can repeat the same bend with higher-than-ever accuracy.
In this blog, we'll explain the benefits of AMF’s bending methods and how our versatility ensures we deliver the parts you need when you need them—or even before.
Our sheet metal shop balances manual and automated bending operations to give customers precision parts with a reasonable production timeline.
Here’s a breakdown of our three sheet metal bending technologies:
Press brakes are manually operated, offering versatility and efficiency in sheet metal bending. We use press brakes for a wide range of applications, from telecommunications faceplates to cash sorting equipment.
We have six press brakes in addition to our panel bender and robotic bending cell. Our press brake operations stand out due to our exceptional operators — their average experience is 25 years! Our largest press brake can bend up to 144” and is 130 tons. You can use the tonnage chart to the right to determine how much tonnage is required to bend your part, and we have included a link to a helpful article as well.
As the number of high volume jobs has increased, we invested in our fully automated robotic bending cell, the Trumpf TruBend 7036. This machine is well-suited for smaller, lightweight parts up to 3.3 pounds and provides much higher repeatability compared to our manual press brakes. Our robotic bending cell can perform five small, precise bends in just 20 seconds. The max flange length that it can bend is 20”, and the max material thickness is .315”.
The TruBend 7036’s robotic arm automatically loads tooling using advanced tool recognition technology. Once programmed, the machine can run completely unattended. Its streamlined nature enables faster setups and changeovers, which shortens lead times.
Our most recent investment was a Trumpf TruBend Center 7030, which has fully automated loading and bending. The panel bender is twice as fast as a press brake in terms of bending, and the automated loading and tooling changes also greatly increases the efficiency and throughput of the parts.
The entire process, including part loading, can be completed automatically, reducing the labor costs and safety risks associated with manually handling large panels. Once we add an offloading solution, the machine will be able run automatically overnight.
Here is a list of specifications for our panel bender:
The TruBend Center 7030 is an ideal solution for any sheet metal part with panels, including commercial refrigerator doors, electrical enclosures, and radio frequency (RF) testing chambers.
We’re not stopping with our robotic bending cell and panel bender. AMF has an ambitious goal to become the most automated job shop in the world by 2032. In the near future, we will further automate our shop for lights-out manufacturing with new punch, laser, and bending equipment.
But why are we so committed to automating our sheet metal services?
Simply put, automation allows us to offer our customers:
Join us on our journey to automate our shop and improve the customer experience. Request a quote today.
