Panel Bending Redefined

In Booth S-1701, TRUMPF Inc. (Farmington, CT) will introduce the new TruBend Center 5030 to the North American market as the company’s first panel bending machine and a perfect complement to the well-established TruBend product line that will also be on display. With a bending length of 10 ft the TruBend Center 5030 is a thin-sheet processing specialist. In panel bending, the sheet is inserted horizontally and fixed in place while the bending tool moves to form each bend.

This system boosts productivity and has ergonomic benefits, especially when processing components with large surface areas. The TruBend Center panel bending technology is able to produce positive and negative bends, folds and circular bends with a variety of radii – a significant advantage which reduces set up times and tooling costs. Fabricators are able to process an extremely wide variety of parts that reach far beyond the traditional range of panel bending and can form complex components with great productivity and precision.

The new TruBend Center 5030 is a semi-automatic bending center. Operators insert the material against the backgauge and the 2-axis part manipulator performs all additional material handling required for bending steps along that edge. The machine operator then turns the sheet and the process begins again. TRUMPF is the only manufacturer to offer a panel bending machine with an additional vertical axis for the part manipulator. Since the part manipulator can fix parts at a range of positions, this enables exceptional flexibility and the ability to manufacture parts there were impossible before. The vertical axis also provides for easy removal of parts with downward edges.

The machine also automatically changes tools and eliminates setup time using the ToolMaster Bend. At the completion of one job, it quickly and reliably adjusts the blank holders while operators are free to prepare the material or perform other tasks. The result is a user-friendly, extremely fast and economical machine for small and medium-sized batches and even when producing a single part.

With the standard tools, the TruBend Center allows for a range of shapes and formats: for aluminum and mild steel sheets up to 0.120 in thick and stainless steel sheets up to 0.090 in thick. Possibilities include short side lengths, deep boxes and small profiles, as well as parts with formed sections, recesses, and diverse radii. The machine can also productively process galvanized and painted sheet metal. For parts with challenging geometries, such as very small profiles, formed sections near the bending line, flanges or staggered bends, additional blank holders and bending tools are available and provide users an unusually large degree of freedom to shape their components.

The machine’s optical angle assistant ensures accuracy and is particularly helpful when setting up new parts. An integrated camera displays the current and desired angle at the control so the operator can monitor the angle and adjust as necessary. In addition, the robust angle drive that generates the tool’s movement is ideally designed to protect the component’s surface as much as possible during the bending process.

TRUMPF Inc., Farmington Industrial Park, 111 Hyde Road, Farmington, CT 06032, 860-255-6000, www.us.trumpf.com.