Custom corrugated sheet steel panels for home DIY project. Brake job anyone?

[John S]

I think you are posting on the wrong forum, this is a DIY- CNC build forum.
You need to play with the big boys on the production forums, however being willing to help fund the cost won't get you membership.

Sorry.

[Peter Dow]

Here is a new diagram I have drawn to show the range of profile sizes I am interested in.


1 millimetre = 0.0394 inch
5 millimetres = 0.197 inch

[Peter Dow]

I have extracted the above image from the R-K Press Brake Dies Inc., Alsip, Illinois, USA, catalogue. PDF download - Right-click, Save target as ..

R-K Press Brake Dies Inc., website - C-5 Corrugation Die Set
The C-5 die set is used to form continuous corrugations in a sheet. After the first operation the spring loaded pressure pad locates the sheet and becomes self-gauging.

I had previously seen a diagram showing the principle of how such corrugating dies work.



Now I am pleased to find a company who do seem to be offering to custom-make the dies themselves from a few customer-provided parameters.

I wonder if there is a British company similarly capable of producing such corrugating dies to order?

I guess it will probably cost me too much for a 2.5 m length of such corrugating dies for my modest corrugating requirements.

[Peter Dow]

Maybe a cheaper route to a corrugating die set can be had by modifying one of an press brake offset die pair?


Press brake offset dies (YouTube)
Video shows a press brake offset die pair being used to create an offset, joggle or narrow return bend in a sheet of metal.

The offset dies are not suitable for corrugating as they are off the shelf because if you try to make an offset bend pair too close to a previous offset bend pair the previous bends foul the tool.

Maybe though a simple modification by grinding or machining one of the offset dies would allow offset bends to be placed right next to each other, forming corrugations?

The Italian firm "Rolleri" have a catalogue of press brake dies and their range of offset dies is in handy 0.5 mm increment sizes of interest.



So selecting their 5.5 mm "CEZ 5,5" offset die as an example to plan a modification for, here could be the grinding or machining modification required for corrugating.



The basic idea is shown in this diagram with

• the yellow colour indicating the position of the sheet and raised position of the standard offset die top tool before the press action, and
  
• the purple colour indicating the new bend on the sheet and the position of the top tool when the press brake presses it down.

If modifying the Rolleri offset tools there would be a further problem with the descending sheet at 45 degrees not clearing bottom tool holder.



I suggest that this problem might be solved by soldering, brazing or welding a base to the bottom modified offset tool as shown here.



For wider sheets that I would like to have made, the fact that the sheet descends at 45 degrees at both the front and the back of the press brake could cause a problem of the sheet fouling some press brake's back-gauge, though perhaps that could be overcome by removing the back-gauge?

One other possibility might be to swap the top and bottom offset dies around and have the 45 degrees going upwards, though this would require a more difficult task to position the sheet for bending.

[Peter Dow]

One other possibility might be to swap the top and bottom offset dies around and have the 45 degrees going upwards, though this would require a more difficult task to position the sheet for bending.

Yes on second thoughts, it looks a much better solution with the modified offset die as the top die.



The yellow line indicates the positioning of the sheet against a back-gauge for a down-stroking press brake, before the press action.

The green line indicates the positioning of the sheet against a back-gauge for an up-stroking press brake, before the press action.



Here instead of adding a base to the modified die, the red area indicates the edge of the top die holder which must be machined off to stop fouling the sheet at a 45 degree up angle.

Here note the edge of the die labelled "L" is at a sloping angle to the vertical. The reason for this is to provide a positioning stop for the sheet (as an alternative or additional stop to the use of a back-gauge stop) to allow space between the corner of the previous bend in the sheet and the edge of the die, to allow for the sheet being pulled in by the bend. The "L" angle shown is for illustrative purposes only. I have not worked out what the angle should be for best results yet.

[Peter Dow]

The "L" angle shown is for illustrative purposes only. I have not worked out what the angle should be for best results yet.

OK, this is what I have now.



Here's a tidier wide-angle diagram.

[Peter Dow]

The press brake double V-die tool, the Amada 12206, can be custom modified by grinding to allow the tool to "revisit" previously formed corrugations to allow the bends to be selectively increased to curve or straighten panels.

With the standard V-die, you get one chance to get the bend right because you can't go back and re-do a bend. This modified versatile V-die solves that issue I think.







Amada quoted £226 or $350 extra for the modification in addition to the £127 or $200 for the cost of the standard tool.

[black5f]

Hi. My mate makes scale corrugated sheets for the model industry, he made dies to do it. He currently sells 7mm / ft scale sheets and is working on the tooling to make Guage 1 (10mm / ft) and 16m/ ft scale sheets? Maybe worth having a chat with him?

Tom

[Peter Dow]

I have extracted the above image from the R-K Press Brake Dies Inc., Alsip, Illinois, USA, catalogue. PDF download - Right-click, Save target as ..



I had previously seen a diagram showing the principle of how such corrugating dies work.



Now I am pleased to find a company who do seem to be offering to custom-make the dies themselves from a few customer-provided parameters.

I wonder if there is a British company similarly capable of producing such corrugating dies to order?

I guess it will probably cost me too much for a 2.5 m length of such corrugating dies for my modest corrugating requirements.

I've found a video of a press brake fitted with a corrugation die set.




.

[ChrisG]

I thought rollers were used as per this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrugated_galvanised_iron