Sustainable, compact bending solution

Conventional bending is characterized by an average OEE of 30%, and flexibility depends on the tool change system, which is often costly and time-consuming, with longer times compared to panel benders, or on the installation of more than one press brake. The P1 compact electric panel bender natively combines productivity, with its automatic bending and handling cycles, and flexibility, with its universal bending tools.

The P1 doesn’t require re-tooling: the upper and lower blades, the counterblade and the blankholder are universal tools that are able to process the whole range of thicknesses and machinable materials.

Loading and unloading are performed by the operator, who positions the sheet metal on the worktable and collects the product after bending. The P1's cycle minimizes the impact of these activities on total cycle time, as it allows the product to be unloaded after positioning the sheet on the worktable, thus combining two operations in a single action. 

The set-up has minimal impact on the panel bender's productivity: when the program is loaded, the blankholder automatically adapts in masked time, and the manipulator gets into position for gripping and handling the sheet. 

The P1 is equipped with the ABA automatic blankholder, which automatically adapts the length of the tool according to the size of the part to be produced without the need for machine downtime or manual re-tooling even in-cycle: the ideal solution for batch-one and kit production.

The very small masses involved and the optimized dimensions of the panel bender allow the bladeholder to reach a greater degree of freedom in its movements, and positions from where it can even make bends that would not be feasible on other panel benders. Furthermore, the electric drives and patented kinematics allow bending in less than 2 seconds.

MAC2.0 is the set of integrated technologies – sensors, formulas and algorithms – that make the panel bender intelligent: it eliminates waste and reduces corrections, measuring in-cycle and automatically compensating any variability in the material being machined.

The P1 integrates advanced sensors that measure the effective size of the part to be machined. The data are fed in real time into the bending formula, which defines the correct force to apply to the sheet metal, guaranteeing the precision, repeatability and quality of the finished product. 

With the bending unit's patented kinematics, the P1 panel bender can achieve bends and geometries that cannot be made on any other bending machine.

The P1 can be equipped with proprietary OPS software, which ensures communication between the panel bender and the factory ERP: depending on needs, OPS manages the production of sequences of different parts. Universal bending tools, in-cycle set-up and automatic handling allow the system to respond to any requests immediately.

The sheet metal is centered, just once at the start of the process, against controlled reference stops: this minimizes the cycle time as well as any precision errors, which are all absorbed by the first bend. The bending formula automatically optimizes the bending parameters to reduce waste, while MAC2.0 detects and automatically compensates any variability in the material to guarantee precise, high-quality bends.