Laser system allows press brake to check work

A new precise measuring system using laser technology to check sheet metal components during bending on press brakes has been developed by LVD to account for different material types.

A new precise measuring system using laser technology to check sheet metal components during bending on press brakes has been developed by LVD to account for different material types and thicknesses.

The system is able to position the ram of the machine in 'real time' using captured digital data to perform the exact angle of bend between 45 degrees and 150 degrees.

Now available on the PPEB range of multi-axis press brakes through LVD UK of Marlow, the new patented Easy Form Laser system guarantees the desired bending angle from the first bend.

It comprises a laser and beam splitter which projects multiple straight lines of light onto the workpiece and the vertical portion of the vee die.

The resulting measurement is analysed every 20 milliseconds and correction data fed back to the control of the PPEB to provide an instantaneous adjustment to the process.

This is achieved via the precise hydraulic system control of the machine and linear encoder technology which avoids any extension to the bending cycle time and is suitable for a wide range of materials including steel, stainless steel, aluminium, pre-painted and coated materials.

Easy Form Laser follows LVD's experience from the previous leading edge technology system of Easy Form software developed in 1993.

Easy Form used a mechanical system and sensor for angle measurement and has been highly successful to increase bending productivity and take the 'hit and miss' out of setting up first time bends.

Now with Easy Form Laser, LVD has built on the success of Easy Form to overcome the costly and time consuming problems associated with material variance which can influence different batches of material.

Individual sheets or even the same sheet can result in differing bend angles, due to the grain or thickness of the material being presented in a different manner to the tooling.

Easy Form Laser also overcomes one of the major problem areas when the elastic rebound factor of the material measured at the deformation stage can be very different to the definitive value used to determine the final bend.

This will save the need for multiple test bends on the machine and wasted material.

Central to Easy Form Laser is the material database built into the PPEB control which spans over 20 years of LVD's bending experience.

The database contains a full range of values for springback or elastic rebound of a wide variety of material types and thickness covering aluminium, steels, stainless, pre-painted and coated materials.

When new materials are folded, the pertinent values are automatically recorded and added to the database.

This data is then recalled by the operating software to interact with the laser generated data in order to accurately determine the exact position of the upper beam to achieve the programmed bend angle.

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