If a piece of material is bent too tightly problems can occur.
Minimum bend radius steel sheet.
Thick grade 350 and 400 may have a minimum bend radius of 2 5 times the material thickness when transverse bending while longitudinal bending may require a minimum bend radius that s 3 75 times the material thickness see figure 1.
This tool allows you to determine tonnage internal radius v die opening and minimum flange you just have to insert the characteristics of the sheet metal to be bent.
Bend radii minimum bend sizes.
Minimum inside bend radius for sheet metal recommended inside bend radius for sheet metal parts should be equal to material thickness.
The minimum bend radius data shown in these charts is measured to the inside of the bend.
Recommended minimum bend radii for steel and aluminum.
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The bend radii listed are standard minimum if manufacturing for aircraft and aerospace applications.
Use this document to choose values that are both manufacturable and meet your needs.
It is possible to choose other bends if you require but additional lead time and tooling charges may apply.
To keep it simple i also use a 2 mm inside radius.
The tool can calculate the required bending force for bending aluminum stainless steel mild steel and weldox or strenx high strength steels.
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.
We go beyond the general rules of sheet metal bending as our customers want tight bend radii for sheet metal parts.
The tables below show bend radii and minimum bend sizes for materials and tooling combinations stocked by protocase.
But for harder materials e g.
Sheet metal bend radii if these guidelines are not followed more research and or some form of analysis may be requried.
The problem with bending too tightly.
In steel between 0 5 and 0 8 in.
Table 1 preferred recommended 90 degree bend radii for various sheet metals.
Here again a minimum bend radius is not necessarily the same thing as a sharp bend.
I can now see that the minimum flange length is 8 5 mm for such a bend so i have to keep it in mind when designing.
It is most economical to use a single bend radius throughout the design but if necessary you can utilize multiple radii.
Each and every bend in a piece of sheet metal has a certain minimum internal radius that needs to be taken into account when planning the design of a sheet metal form.
This calculator predicts what the minimum bend radius should be to avoid chacking or orange peeling on the outside radius of the bend.
Aluminum where necessary 5052 h32 may be bent to 1t and 6061 t6 to 1 1 2t.
The minimum inside bend radius is even larger when bending with the grain.
