FACULTY OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

PRACTICAL REPORT

SHEET METAL FOLDING

Course Code
Course Name
Section
Group

Group Members

Lecturer Name

Assessment

OVERALL ASSESSMENT PERCENTAGE /4%

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS................................................................................................................ii
LIST OF TABLES.....................................................................................................iii
LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................... iv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................1
1.1. Group Informat ion.............................................................................................. 1
1.2. Sheet Metal Fo lding............................................................................................ 2
1.3. Object ives............................................................................................................ 3
1.4. Scope................................................................................................................... 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................4

2.1. Introduction to Metal Fo lding Machine..............................................................4
2.2. Type of Metal fo lding Machine.......................................................................... 5
2.3. Folding Machine Tooling....................................................................................7

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY..............................................................................9
3.1. Personal Protective Equipment........................................................................... 9
3.2. Standard Operation Procedure...........................................................................11

CHAPTER 4 PROCESS AND PART ANALYSIS................................................14

4.1. Process Analysis................................................................................................ 14
4.2. Part Analysis......................................................................................................16

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS................................................................................17

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................18
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 3-1: Personal protective equipment....................................................................9

Table 3-2 shows the procedure of handling the fo lding machine..............................11
 LIST OF
FIGURES

Figure 2-0-1 : V-bending operation animat ion (Chandramouli, 2009)....................... 2

Figure 2-1 The schemat ic diagram o f fo lding machine (MachineMFG, 2018)..........5
Figure 2-2 The manual fo lding machine (MachineMFG, 2018)................................. 6
Figure 2-3 The hydraulic fo lding machine (MachineMFG, 2018)..............................6
Figure 2-4 The CNC fo lding machine (MachineMFG, 2018).....................................7
Figure 4-1: Example of metal sheet fo lding machine................................................15
Figure 4-2 : Example of V shape fo lding process......................................................15
Figure 4-3 : Metal sheet folding products..................................................................16
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Group Information

1. Name
Matric No.
Phone No.
Email

2. Name
Matric No.
Phone No.
Email

3. Name
Matric No.
Phone No.
Email

4. Name
Matric No.
Phone No.
Email
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1.2. Sheet Metal

Folding

Sheet metal forming is one of the most common metal manufacturing processes
that can be used to produce complex parts with a high degree of dimensional
accuracy. Moreover, it is also a process that can increased mechanical properties
along with good surface finish. Sheet metal folding is also known as sheet metal
bending where it is a commonly used process in manufacturing industry. Bending
or folding is defined as the plastic deformation of sheet metal along a straight
line. Bending of sheets is broadly used in forming parts such as flanges,
corrugations and many more. There are basically two types of bending which is “V”
bending and “U” bending. Compare the two types of bending, V- bending is the
most common type that used in industry (“Chapter 4 fundamentals of bending 4,”
2004).
Bending of sheet metal is a forming operation in which a sheet metal is
subjected to bending stress. The flat straight sheet is then made into a curved sheet.
In this process, the sheet metal is plastically deformed without change its thickness.
Tools that are used in bending process are die and punch. Die and punch are used for
bending. If a v shape die and punch are used, the bending is called as V-bending.
The degree of bending is usually up to 90o (Chandramouli, 2009). Figure 2-1
below shows the illustrations on how the bending process is done.

Figure 2-1 : V-bending operation animation (Chandramouli, 2009)

1.3. Objectives

The objectives of this practical

are:
1. To identify the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) that need to be
followed in order to operate folding machine and apply the theoretical of
sheet metal folding process in real life.
2. To show the skill to manage the planning, testing and refinements to
produce an outstanding quality of finished products.
3. To evaluates the process methods and product based on its quality and
identify the main cause of part defects if any defects happen during folding
process.

1.4. Scop
e

The scopes of this practical are to study and understand the bending operation
and procedure of sheet metal by applying the theoretical into real life situation.
There will be four part of sheet metal bending that will be produce by each of
group members. The type of bending that will be used in this practical are V-
bending. To bent the sheet metal, folding machine will be used and for all the part,
an angle of 90 o will be obtain.
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses about the related knowledge of the project which cover
the principle of tube bending process, tube materials, type of tube bending
process and tools that used in tube bending process.

2.1. Introduction to Metal Folding

Machine

Metal folding machine also known as press brake is a machine tool for bending
sheet and plate material especially for sheet metal. It formed by bending the
workpiece of metal sheet between the matching punch and die (Wikipedia, 2018).
This process of metal folding machine is producing several different shapes to the
metal sheet such as V-shape, U-shape, and channel shape. The metal sheet is
commonly from the carbon steel, galvanized sheet, stainless steel, aluminium plate,
copper plate and so on.
As shown in Figure 2.1, the metal folding machine is generally consisted
on four different main parts of mechanical parts, electrical parts, hydraulic part and
NC controller. Each of main parts plays the important roles in handling the folding
process. Furthermore, this folding machine also is widely used for application in
manufacturing, nuclear industry, construction, shipbuilding, aerospace,
machinery manufacturing and other industries (Gilde, 2018).
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Figure 2-1 The schematic diagram of folding machine (MachineMFG, 2018)

2.2. Type of Metal folding

Machine

There are three type of metal folding machine that can divided into manual
bending machine, hydraulic bending machine, and CNC bending machine. Each
type of machine is consisted on different process especially on the process of
bending and forces that applied.
For manual bending machine, the bending process is required the manual
setup on bending dimensions and angles when used as shown in Figure 2.2. The
manual bending machine also contains with the worktable, supporters, and
clamping plate. Furthermore, the worktable is also mounted on the supporters,
which consists of a base and pressure plate (MachineMFG, 2018). The manual
bending machine are also more complex in operation compare to the others folding
machine.
 Figure 2-2 The manual folding machine (MachineMFG, 2018)

Next, the hydraulic folding machine can be divided into two different
type based on movement which is up moving folding machine and down moving
folding machine as shown Figure 2.3. The hydraulic folding machine are consisted
of supporters, worktable, and clamping plate. The work table is placed on the
supporters that consist of base and pressure plate. Then, the base is connected with
the clamping plate also known as hinge and is composed of shell, coil, and cover
plate. The coil is placed in the recess of the shell while the top of the recess is
covered by the cover (MachineMFG, 2018).

Figure 2-3 The hydraulic folding machine (MachineMFG,

2018)
 Then, the Figure 2.4 shows the CNC folding machine that also known
as electro-hydraulic servo press brake is the machine that produce of bending
process with high precision and efficiency. This machine is consisting of machine
frame, ram, workbench, hydraulic servo system, CNC controller, and electrical
control system. The operation of CNC folding machine can be flexible, with the
bending angle can be set by the controller (MachineMFG, 2018). This will produce
the bending part with high accuracy and also reduce the energy consumption.

Figure 2-4 The CNC folding machine (MachineMFG, 2018)

2.3. Folding Machine

Tooling

The tooling of standard folding machine is including the punch and die. There is
three type of tooling that are commonly used in folding machine which is V-bend,
U-bend, and Z-bends as shown in Figure 2.5 (Gwangwava, Mugwagwa, & Ngoma,
2013). In order to extend the service life of tooling, the punch and dies is designed
with rounded corners as far as possible.
 Figure 2.5: Types of tooling (MachineMFG, 2018)

Mainly, the material for tooling of folding machine is need to required

high strength, high toughness, and high wear resistance. This to overcome
with high
pressure
88°, 86°,of60°,
bending 30°. Furthermore, the angle for standard dies is for 90°,
process.
45°, and
 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1. Personal Protective

Equipment

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is equipment that worn by a person or

workers to minimize the exposure to hazards that can cause the serious injury and
illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical,
physical, electrical, mechanical or any others workplace hazards (United States
Department of Labor, 2018). Table 3.1 below shows the PPE that uses during the
practical practice.

Table 3-1: Personal protective equipment

No. Figures

1.
 10

2.

3.
3.2. Standard Operation Procedure

Table 3-2 shows the procedure of handling the folding machine.

No Pictures

1
.

2
.

3.
4.

5.

6.

7.
8.

9.

10.

11.
 CHAPTER 4

PROCESS AND PART ANALYSIS

4.1. Process
Analysis

In folding process, there are few process analysis that can be made. In this
task Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) need to be followed in order to run the
process in a correct and safe condition. Generally, this process need the suitable
raw material to be prepared. The unsuitable material for the process might resulting
defects on the final product. Folding is one of the most important processes and
can also be called bending, edging, braking, die bending or flanging.
In preparing the raw material, the size of the metal sheet that want to be
fold need to be in correct parameter. This is including the width, length and
thickness of the raw material. Besides that, the size of the folding, fold radius,
angle of the fold, curvature of the fold and the folding location on the workpiece.
The maximum length and thickness of the raw material depend on the type the
machine used. Generally, the range of thickness are between 5mm until 25mm with
different press capacity of the machine (Rime, n.d.)
In this process, there are two main tools which is top tool called as punch
and the bottom tool called as die as shown in Figure 4.1. The punch tool is pressed
into the die in a controlled way. The metal sheet metal folding is performed cold but
sometimes the work may be heated, to either warm or hot working temperature.
Usually, sheet metal folding process involve a punch die setup. There are lot of
different punch die geometries, fixtures and setups. The type of tool can be
identify in specific folding
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process with desired angle of the fold. The material for the die typically gray iron
or carbon steel depending on the type of the workpiece material (The Library of
Manufacturing, n.d.).

Figure 4-1: Example of metal sheet folding

machine

One of the most common type of sheet metal folding process is “V” folding
as shown in figure 4.2. The “V” shape punch forces the work into the “V” shape die
and hence fold it (The Library of Manufacturing, n.d.).

Figure 4-2 : Example of V shape folding process

4.2. Part
Analysis

In part analysis, four (4) products have been produced with same folding angle
and same type of material. All product produced by different person with the
same machine. This shows that folding machine produced constant shape of
product even with different operators. The user-friendly machine which operator
just need to set the thickness of the material at the machine computer before folding
the workpiece. This method give the same result of the shape with 900 folding
angle.
Figure 4.3 (a) and Figure 4.3 (b) shows the finish product of the folding
process
which made by different person. The machine that operates with computer can
produced constant shape of the product.

(a) (b)

Figure 4-3 : Metal sheet folding products

 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS

At the end of this practical, we can conclude that there are few factors need to
be considered when bending the sheet metal. It is an easy process but if the
distance of the punch to the sheet metal or parts is not correctly calculated, it will
give an impact towards the final result. Moreover, students also need to slowly
push the pedal to moves the punch downward since the folding process is done
manually. It is because if the student does not control the speed, then maybe the
part will be not accurately bent at the position that students want.
The final result shows different angle for each of the part is obtained even
the angle is set equally which is 900 . This is because during setting the machine, the
length of the punch towards the sheet metal is not correctly calculated. Therefore, it
will affect the produced parts. Students need to be aware about the thickness of the
sheet metal that is used so that the distance between the punch and parts can be
easily calculated in order to overcome this problem.
The objectives of this practical are achieved where students correctly followed
the procedure and instruction and also aware of the safety precaution when
handling the folding machine. Students also be able to identify the main cause
of parts defects happen during folding process and able to identify the potential
solution to overcome the problem.
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REFERENCES

Chandramouli, R. (2009). Sheet metal operations - Cutting and related processes, 1–

9. Chapter 4 fundamentals of bending 4.1 introduction. (2004), (Tekiner), 40–49.

United States Department of Labor. (2018). Personal Protective Equipment. OSHA.

Rime. (n.d.). Sheet Metal Bending. Retrieved from

https://www.rime.de/en/sheet - metalworking/sheet-metal-bending/

The Library of Manufacturing. (n.d.). Sheet Metal Bending. Retrieved

from https://thelibraryofmanufacturing.com/sheetmetal_bending.html

Gilde. (2018). Hydraulic Press Brake. Retrieved from

http://www.gldma.co m/products/hydraulic-press-brake/

Gwangwava, N., Mugwagwa, L., & Ngoma, S. (2013). Design of a Dual

Operating Mode Sheet Folding Machine. International Journal of Mechanical
Engineering and Robotic Research, 2(4), 13.

MachineMFG. (2018a). How Does the Press Brake Hydraulic System Work?
Retrieved from https://www.machinemfg.co m/press-brake-hydraulic-
system- work/

MachineMFG. (2018b). The Ultimate Guide to Press Brake. Retrieved from

https://www.machinemfg.com/press-brake-ult imate-guide/
 19
Wikipedia. (2018). Bending (Metalworking). Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending_(metalworking)

Gilde. (2018). Hydraulic Press Brake. Retrieved from

http://www.gldma.co m/products/hydraulic-press-brake/

Gwangwava, N., Mugwagwa, L., & Ngoma, S. (2013). Design of a Dual

Operating Mode Sheet Folding Machine. International Journal of Mechanical
Engineering and Robotic Research, 2(4), 13.

MachineMFG. (2018a). How Does the Press Brake Hydraulic System Work?
Retrieved from https://www.machinemfg.co m/press-brake-hydraulic-
system- work/

MachineMFG. (2018b). The Ultimate Guide to Press Brake. Retrieved from

https://www.machinemfg.com/press-brake-ult imate-guide/

Wikipedia. (2018). Bending (Metalworking). Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending_(metalworking)