Press brakes have been around in some form for centuries. They might not seem very exciting, but it’s pretty amazing what you can do with these machines – especially when you have multi-axis, computer-controlled backguages.

In our latest video blogs, we take a look at two of the four press brakes in the shop at bo-mar. The first video shows metal forming in action. You’ll see our metal fabricators operating the Gasparini PSG 500 – a 550-ton, 100-horsepower monster machine – while I talk about the machine. In the second video, I show you the smaller Gasparini X-press 25 machine and explain the reasons why we might use it instead of the big one. Enjoy!

Gasparini PSG 500 press brake

Gasparini X-press 25 press brake

Transcripts

Gasparini PSG 500 press brake:

This is our 14-foot, 550-ton press brake. It has 7 axis of back gauging. Backgauges are the fingers on the back side of the machine – you push the material up to them to get the bend gauge. You push the material back to where it touches – once the back edge comes forward, you know you’re at the exact point of bending. The top part is called the punch and the bottom part is called the die. It goes through a series of bends and in the end you have your part.

There are two flips in this project. They’re going to make a flip now. Again there will be a bending die. After this they will do the other half.

It’s an extremely accurate machine. And it’s quite powerful – one of the biggest machines in the Indianapolis area, power wise. This machine is so large it goes down in the ground 6 feet so the front ram does not have any deflection because it bends such thick parts. The machine is probably 14 feet tall, then another 6 feet goes down in the ground, so it’s about 20 feet tall overall.

One more bend and the part will be done.

Gasparini X-press 25 press brake:

This is a 25-ton machine. It weighs probably 2,000 pounds, so you can pick it up with a fork truck. You can plug it in to 220 volts anywhere in the shop. And it’s nice because it has the same sophisticated programming power that the big Gasparini has, yet it’s 25 ton and extremely portable. It’s really good on small parts. This has a 3½-horsepower motor. [The Gasparini 500] has a 100 horsepower motor. So this is much more economical to operate.