A method of aligning a flat or profiled metal sheet with preformed notches on the two sides of the metal sheet when the sheet enters into a bender or folding machine directly from a roll forming machine linked or joined to the folder. The metal sheet has to be effectively aligned on the folder before folding to avoid potential damages to the metal sheet of not being properly squared or angled on bending while reducing the times to produce the folded products. Moreover, this method according to the invention allows the metal sheet to feed directly into the folder from the rollformer without having to pass through an intermediary transfer table or aligning device/machine before entering the folder for folding or manual alignment in the folder.

A method and a correspondingly configured bending machine are described, wherein a setting of the bending machine is first calculated on the basis of a mathematical model and subsequently corrected on the basis of stored data sets on previous bending operations and their correction values.

Provided is an auxiliary bending robot capable of processing two workpieces simultaneously, including a linear base slide rail, a slider, a movable major arm, a movable minor arm, a front arm, a swing link, and an additional seventh axis. The slider is slidably connected to the linear base slide rail, and a first axis is formed between the slider and the linear base slide rail. A top portion of the slider is directly or indirectly hinged to a rear end of the movable major arm through a second axis, a front end of the movable major arm is hinged to a rear end of the movable minor arm through a third axis, a front end of the movable minor arm is hinged to a rear end of the front arm through a fourth axis, and a front end of the front arm is rotatably connected to a middle portion of the swing link through a fifth axis. There are two additional seventh axes, the two additional seventh axes are symmetrically disposed on the swing link on two sides of the fifth axis, and each of the additional seventh axes is rotatably connected to the swing link. The present invention can bend two sheet metal plate parts at the same time, so that the efficiency is multiplied and the efficiency problem of automatic bending processing is practically resolved.

An apparatus for forming an oval shaped duct, as well as a round duct for all required sizes and thicknesses for an AC system, in one continuous operation where two driving rolls advance a flat metal sheet to at least one multi-positioning bending roll, where the at least one bending roll is moveable to a bending position for different curvatures and a non-bending position. The driving rolls advance the sheet through while the bending roll bends the sheet to form the curved sides, and the bending roll in the non-bending position form the flat sides of the oval shaped duct. A position sensor detects the position of the flat metal sheet in the rolls to control the location along the sheet where the bending roll is moved to either of the bending or non-bending positions while the driving rolls are stopped. An adhesive dispenser joins both ends of the sheet, resulting in a complete duct.

Roll-forming machine for forming, from a flat sheet metal strip (5), a hat beam which has a profile that varies along its length. The machine comprises several consecutively arranged forming stations, each of which comprising a first pair of clamping rollers (22a, 22b) for clamping a side flange (3a) of the hat beam and a second pair of clamping rollers (23a, 23b) for clamping a central flange (2) thereof. The clamping rollers of said second pair are individually displaceable in vertical direction and horizontally in the feeding direction of the sheet metal strip. The displacement of the clamping rollers (23a, 23b) of said second pair is controlled by an electronic control device during a forming operation such that a plane that goes through the centre axes (CA3, CA4) of both these clamping rollers is maintained perpendicular to the part of the central flange (2) received in the nip (31) between these clamping rollers.

A machine integrated positioning system shows an operator where to place a raw part in the press brake or other machinery. Further, the operator is informed if the dimensions associated with the raw part are, or are not, correct to produce the planned finished part. The operator is visually shown how the raw part is to be oriented. The operator is informed if the raw part is right-side-up, along with other pre-final placement information. If these and other conditions are not met, the machine integrated positioning system may prevent the press brake and other machinery from cycling.

A display device for punching and/or pressing machines. The display device can be constructed to be modular and of compact size so as to be positioned as desired on new and existing machine designs. The display device is formed with displays, which are configurable to provide a plurality of qualitative and quantitative information. The display device can be configured to be function with consoles of punching and pressing machines so as to be one or more of a supplemental device, an interfacing device, and an interactive device.

A method for deriving the position of a pushing roll, applied even when there is a difference between the actual processed shape and a theoretical solution (a numerical analysis solution) due to changes in a state of a processing machine or the bending characteristic of the material to be processed. The rolls have a pyramid-like shape, and the operation amount of a pushing roll is changed while continuously feeding a material, thereby bending the material. Also, for each position of the fixed pushing roll, the radius of curvature of the material is measured and the bending characteristic is grasped in advance. From the design shape, the radius of curvature and the operation amount for bringing the pushing roll into contact are obtained. The operation amount of the pushing roll is then determined.

A method of creating a configurable, uni-member, bended frame chassis comprising the steps of having a single sheet of material; forming holes at predetermined locations in said single sheet of material; using the single sheet of material and forming a base, a first side, a second side, a first top plate and a second top plate by; bending the material lengthwise and upwardly and forming the first side; bending the material lengthwise and upwardly and forming the second side; and having the base formed between the first side and the second side; bending the material lengthwise at a top of the first side and forming the first top plate; and bending the material lengthwise at a top of the second side and forming the second top plate.

Methods and apparatus to control roll-forming processes are disclosed. A disclosed example roll-forming apparatus includes an inlet portion to receive material, an outlet portion from which the material exits the roll-forming apparatus, a plurality of rollers extending between the inlet and outlet portions, a sensor to measure at least one dimension of the material as the material moves through the roll-forming apparatus, the material measured by the sensor between the inlet and outlet portions, and material adjuster circuitry to adjust roll-forming of the material by moving at least one of the plurality of rollers based on the at least one dimension.