In a world of fierce competition, LVD North America announced a new product line of panel benders to help fabricators meet deadlines and take on even more work. While panel benders are in the same vein as a press brake, they serve different purposes on a shop floor.
To better understand the differences between the two types of machines, FAB Shop Magazine spoke with Eric Daehn, the company’s product sales manager for press brakes and now for panel benders.
FAB Shop Magazine: How do panel benders differ from press brakes?
Daehn: If anything, I would say that the relationship between panel benders and press brakes is more complementary than competitive. A press brake, within reason, can pretty much do anything that a panel bender can do and vice versa. With a press brake, there’s going to be a lot of versatility and capability. A part that only has one or a couple of bends is going to be very easy to make on a press brake with good efficiency.
A lot of the parts you’d want to process with a panel bender, however, could be more complex. Complex parts are certainly possible on a press brake, but you’d have to have a long table to stage the tooling or the bends would have to be made in tiers. In that scenario, you’d do the first couple of bends on all of the parts and then change the tooling to do the next series of bends. Complex bending like that can become a lengthy process on a press brake.
On a panel bender, however, you’re using a universal tool set. It’s still using upper and lower punches and dies, but they’re shaped differently. They have more of a foot to them and a long shaft, which allows for complex forming without changing the tooling. On a panel bender, you can do a quick up bend, fold that back over and then press it down to do a hem where that might take two or three different tool sets to process on a press brake.
With a press brake, unless you have a robot in front of it, you need an operator present for the entire process. With the panel bender, you only need the operator for loading and unloading. That’s because a panel bender is considered to be semi-automatic. After an operator places the part on the table, a plunger holds it down for the first bend and rotates it to where subsequent forming needs to happen.
The significant difference between a panel bender and press brake is the speed and efficiency at which they can produce the same part. Part volume, therefore, is a key component to a panel bender’s justification. If you’re doing batches of 20, 30, 40, 50 parts at a time, a panel bender could be a good fit, but you might not get the most efficiencies or benefit from that.
But, when you get into individual part runs in the hundreds or thousands, that’s when things get interesting. We have a general rule of thumb that if you were to make the same part on a panel bender versus a press brake, the panel bender has the capability to do that same part roughly two to three times faster than a press brake.
FSM: What does a panel bender operation look like?
Daehn: With a standard panel bending operation, an operator takes parts from a pallet, cart or table and places them one at a time onto the machine table. The panel bender then gauges the material to make sure it fits up with the part parameters. Once that’s done, it feeds the material into the machine where the actual forming is an automatic process. When it’s finished, the part is then pushed off to the side where the operator removes it and then places a new one.
This is great for shorter batch sizes, say 20 to 50 parts at a time, where an operator can get through them pretty quickly. But, for batches of hundreds or thousands of parts, that’s where optional loading automation comes into play. In this scenario, an operator positions flat pieces on a loading table or input station where a suction cup loader picks up an individual part, places it on the table and pushes it into the gauger.
Customers could have up to three or four separate input stations, which could be used for four separate parts or for a higher number of the same part on each input station. Once the parts are placed on the input stations, the loader arm picks them from the stacks and sets them on the table where they’re gauged and then slid into the machine.
With that automation, an operator will need to pull the finished parts off the backside of the machine to stack onto a cart or pallet. There are, however, plenty of options that can be added at the backside, such as rollers, to move parts away from the machine for it to continue uninterrupted until all the parts have been processed. If someone opts for automation, they can, of course, bypass it if they have short production runs when the press brake is tied up.
Typically, you use the automation to run longer jobs or for unattended processing. Before the first shift goes home, they can set up the loading tables, hit the start button and then leave for the day. When they come back the next morning, the finished parts are waiting for them.
The longer runs are where you really get the greatest benefit, but a panel bender can be incredibly beneficial for complex parts in smaller batches. Part complexity and low part volume is still just as good as a less complex part with more part volume.
FSM: Can you talk more about the automatic gauger?
Daehn: Whether the forming process is manual or automated, we always want the machine to do a verification to ensure the material thickness is correct. If the machine detects a discrepancy, a notification pops up on the controller and the procedure stops. A discrepancy could be the wrong part loaded onto the machine, two pieces stuck together or an incorrect program loaded where the thicknesses don’t match up. It’s a redundancy check to make sure that parts don’t get made incorrectly, that no damage happens to the tooling and to eliminate any type of unwanted waste.
FSM: What type of parts are best-suited for a panel bender?
Daehn: Anything with a general box or frame shape is in a panel bender’s wheelhouse. This includes industrial kitchen appliances, stainless steel tabletops and counters, and refrigerators and freezers, which have a lot of side and door panels with a lot of forms – and a large part volume. A panel bender also works well for companies that make elevators, electrical enclosures, file cabinets and storage lockers.
FSM: What is the learning curve on a panel bender?
Daehn: There’s typically more of a learning curve on a press brake because of the tooling changeovers, which aren’t required on a panel bender because the upper and lower tooling is incorporated into the machine. Based on the part program, a panel bender automatically recesses or retracts tooling to create the appropriate setup.
In terms of programming, operators only have to import a part file and then designate the type of bend it’s going to have. From a programming standpoint, it’s very simple. Overall, it’s a little easier to get somebody comfortable on a panel bender compared to a press brake.
FSM: Is there a significant price difference between the two types of machines?
Daehn: There’s some price difference, but if you’re looking at a panel bender and comparing it to a press brake that can do the same type of work, it’s going to be competitively priced. And again, this is where part volume comes into play. We always want to make sure that customers are going to have enough volume to keep that machine fed. If it’s just sitting there, it’s not making you any money.
In terms of ROI and the ability to remove some of the overhead costs associated with labor, shops can charge different rates when they can process parts on a panel bender. It can be a game changer in terms of margins and, in turn, quoting.
Another financial benefit is the ability to bring on more work. Because a panel bender can make parts faster, customers can potentially fit more work into their shop. The panel bender can absorb the work they’re struggling with when reliable operators are few and far between.
Investing in a panel bender can even reduce the costs associated with hiring and employee turnover. Before the pandemic, it wasn’t as difficult to find an operator to stand in front of a press brake day in and day out. But now, it’s hard to find people for that type of work. People want to do something that’s engaging, and automation is helping to fulfill those needs.
At the end of the day, the justifications for panel bending come down to labor shortages and shops wanting to take on more work. Traditionally, for bigger production runs, you needed more people and multiple shifts. But today, a panel bender can help you do more with less. Even though the technology isn’t necessarily new, panel benders are starting to leave a bigger imprint on the industry because of the needs that they fill.
