Determine Natural Bend Of Sheet Aluminum

Determine the angle at which you want to brake the metal and mark it on the protractor.

Determine natural bend of sheet aluminum.

You will use the protractor to gauge the brake as you bend the metal little by little. The bend allowance describes the length of the neutral axis between the bend lines or in other words the arc length of the bend. The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications. The bend allowance formula takes into account the geometries of bending and the properties of your metal to determine the bend allowance.

Bend allowance calculator the bend allowance and bend deduction are two measures that relate the bent length of a piece of sheet metal to the flat length. General advice on aluminum. If you re bending 0 020 thick material use a 0 020 radius. You can use a tape measure or ruler to measure the thickness of your sheet metal.

You will need to know your material thickness mt the bend angle b the inside radius ir and the k factor k. For most applications with stainless steel or aluminum you can get away with a zero radius bend on anything under 0 050 thick. A cutout or the edge of your flange to your bend. 90 degrees bend angle.

The material thickness will be measured in decimal form not by the gauge number. When bending aluminum know that the smaller your inside bend radius the larger the chance that cracking will occur in the part. In other words if you re bending 1 8 sheet use a tool with a 1 8 radius to form the inside of the bend. Also know that for the best results and fewer cracks on the outside of the bend the bend line should go across or diagonal to the material grain when and where possible.

With this free online tool we quickly get the sheet metal bend deduction and therefore the sheet metal blank initial flat length from the finished part measurements. You only have to insert interior angle flange lengths k factor inside radius and material thickness. The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend. Determine the thickness of your sheet.

Determine your minimum bend by measuring the distance from your closest feature i e. Figure 2 illustrates the sheet that is bent with the bend angle of 90 degrees. Cells on the right will output the desired values. If your sheet metal is too thick you may need special machinery like a brake or a torch to bend your sheet into the desired shape.

Since commercial sheet metal bending can be done with less concern for stresses caused during forming operation the radius can be near zero for thin sheet metal. Cut the section of metal out or otherwise prepare the metal to be bent by removing any burrs or sharp edges. If you have any questions or want to discuss your design contact us. Choose a bend radius that matches your minimum bend.

From there we can calculate the k factor and the bend deduction.