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Press brake Training - Best cheap materials to use

jacob.frostSE

Plastic
Joined
May 10, 2021
I'm currently an engineer for a fabrication plant in Hopkins, SC. We have several press brake machines and used those to form quarter inch thick copper. Because of the cost of the copper, training new operators can get expensive fast especially when they're making a lot of mistakes. Is there other materials beside sheet metal that would be beneficial for training? (I was thinking something like like plastic and after forming it, heat it up for plastic to go back to its original shape.
 
The fundamentals of operating a press brake can be taught with cheap sheet metal, but most any plastic I know of will spring back or break.
Exactly what are you trying to teach? Are you expecting operators to calculate their own bend allowances? Bend to a sharpie line? CNC back gauge? Or teaching them to plan bending order?
 
Well you pretty much always have to train them on a blank, so just get some cheap sheet metal laser cut.
 








 
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