press brake cnc conversion

[bearracecars]

hi there
was wondering if anybody has done a cnc conversion on a press brake using mach 3 or similar?
thanks
bear

[diycnc]

i am sure it could be done it wouldnt be too user friendly thou.

most modern brakes take into account the tooling and thickness and figure the depths and bend deduction. you would have to do this manually.

[bearracecars]

I totally agree. i've got a few jobs that require multiple bends at all different angles on a single piece of material. so setting up a library wouldn't be that hard. i've already got one for my tube bender. i would like it to be able to move my back gauge automatically and my stroke limit stop. that way i could bend my part from start to finish with out it being removed from the machine. even to control when it strokes. I've searched this out but haven't come up with anything yet.
thanks bear

[Al_The_Man]

Are you talking one or two axis?
I have retrofitted a few of the older Dynabends and Automecs and others.
If it is not presently automated you will need a way of mechanically transporting the Back Gauge.
I like the method on some of the Dynabends, they use a rolling ring method and linear scale, you also need a linear scale for the stroke limit.
I have used the older Galil DMC1000 motion cards, they can be now had cheap in some cases due to them being ISA bus, but Galil had some older software for these that made design a breeze.
I have been using this for over 20 years on back gauges and point to point machines, Rolling m/c's, CutOff m/c's etc.
You do not need the overblown WinXP for something like this.
I have some pics posted here on an earlier post.
Want to build a cnc Backguage
Al.

[PhoenixMetal]

I have also retrofitted two press brakes - one using a Galil controller, and the other using a control from Anaheim Automation. Galil gear is really high end and may be overkill for this application, but if you can get the gear for cheap on Ebay like Al said, that's the way to go. Galil's programming language is pretty easy to learn too.

The setups I've made aren't exactly user friendly though. Only me and one other person know how to modify the part programs to change the bend locations, etc. However, if you know how to program with ActiveX or C++, you can buy a SDK from Galil and make your own nice graphical user interface.

Don't worry about having making your software calculate bend deductions, etc. The best way to do that sort of thing is to calculate where the bend lines belong in your CAD/CAM software so that you just enter the predetermined positions for the press brake.