CleanBend™ Dies Overcome Some Common Problems

Bending Challenges

Bending sheet metal in a press brake definitely has its challenges. Holes, cutouts, and edges that distort because they are too close to a bend can force you into costly secondary operations. Conventional V-dies work well for most bends, but some applications work far better with CleanBend™ dies. One of the many benefits to using Mate’s CleanBend technology is the ability to form distortion free holes that are close to a bend.

What’s the difference?

Conventional V-dies have two points of contact at the die shoulders as the part is being formed. Unacceptable die marks can result from all the bending force across that small area of contact.

Cutouts close to a bend

The material between the die shoulders is unsupported in a conventional V-die. When edges of holes or cutouts fall between the die shoulders, the edges will usually be deformed while bending because there is nothing there to support it. The unsupported edges try to stay flat. The bigger the cutout is and the closer it is to the bend, the worse the deformation will be.

Tapered edges

Because tapered edges are not fully supported on both sides of the bend, they too will show distortion. The unsupported edge tends to bulge out.

CleanBend dies fully support the part as it bends, thus eliminating, or at least minimizing distorted edges and die marks.

In most cases CleanBend dies make it possible to form distortion free cutouts with edges as close as one material thickness from the start of the bend radius (tangent point).

Diamond plate

Materials with an uneven surface like diamond plate are easy to form accurately with CleanBend. The wide area of contact with the CleanBend die assures that you are always forming evenly on the thickest part of the material.

To learn more about Mate’s CleanBend™ dies download the latest CleanBend catalog.

CleanBend™ is a trade name of Mate Precision Technologies.