- Silicone liners to prevent witness marking
- Latest sectional tooling spreads wear
- Rollers on dies reduce friction and prevent contamination
- Neoprene tooling
- Special non marking plate clamps
Whether it is to prevent witness marking and appear as smooth as possible or prevent carbon contamination we have the tooling solution.
To create gentle arcs or curves we have dies that press into a neoprene cushion. Because we are pressing into neoprene rubber and not steel there is no marking from the bottom tooling or outside of the workpiece. This gives a near rolled finish in the right application and is ideal for architectural applications where aesthetics are important.
The latest sectional tooling is used on press brakes. Each section of tooling measures 835mm long and is carefully machined to be interchangeable down the length. Older style tooling that ran the length of the press, was prone to wear in the centre producing an uneven fold.
Another advantage of sectional tooling is the ability to replace any damaged sections of tooling without replacing the whole.
If pressure allows we use a silicone liner to prevent direct contact between the tool and workpiece. This stops marking and prevents “pick up” from the tooling.
Using silicone is not always possible, because the huge forces required to bend thick plates. Here we use tooling with rollers that reduces friction and consequently marking and it has the added advantage of allowing us to fold thicker plates.