Gigantic!

An intelligent crowning system and 120 tons of clamping pressure ensure perfect folded parts on 6 mm mild steel or 4 mm stainless.

Straight bends are essential for perfectly folded parts. A sturdy and solid machine design is the biggest contributor in producing straight bends. The heavily built folding beam powerfully resists bending forces using a deep and rigid box design. Bending forces vary significantly depending on material thickness, material quality and part length. In addition, the machine deflection near the side frames is less than in the center of the machine.

RAS Reinhardt Maschinenbau GmbH now offers the patented intelligent crowning system on its line of FLEXIbend folding machines. Integrated sensors measure the actual beam deflection during the first couple of degrees of the folding beam movement. Using this information, the CNC control activates the crowning system, which automatically compensates for beam deflection during the folding beam movement. The CNC writes the adjustment value for each bend into the program so there is no need for additional measuring cycles for the remaining parts.

Without test bends or additional programming, the crowning system creates perfectly straight parts. So, if the material is thick or thin, mild steel or stainless, short or long flanges, or whether the part will be folded in the center of the machine or to one side, the results are straight and accurate parts.

Here some RAS GIGAbend highlights:

The RAS GIGAbend is the fastest, easiest, most sophisticated heavy duty metal folding systems in the world.

Touch & More

NC in the world can outperform it for sheer functional simplicity. State of the art technology made incredibly simple to use. Key in the size of the flange, the thickness of the material, and the Touch & More draws the part perfectly and displays it on the screen. Using your finger as a pencil, you can paint a flange and size it to the right dimension and angle. The CADalyzer is able to display the real metal thickness, the correct bend radius and the tools and machine components with their real dimensions, simultaneously. The GIGAbend with Touch & More delivers absolute RAS perfection.

Upper Beam

• Servo-regulated hybrid drive with two hydraulic PowerBoosters
• Three axis drive for quick machine movements
• 130 US tons clamping pressure

Folding Beam

The RAS folding beam automatically adjusts to material  thickness. The folding beam also offers an intelligent dynamic crowning system, which automatically measures and adjusts during the folding cycle.

Tool System

• Automatic tool clamping for the upper beam and folding beam
• Free space in front of the tools up to 68 mm (2.67″) for part design flexibility
• All tools made of high tensile steel (1000 N/mm2), plasma-hardened
• Sharp tools and 100V (3.94″) goats foot tools up to 6 mm (1/4″) thickness
• 200 V (7.87″) goats foot tools up to 4 mm (.157″) thickness
• Folding beam tools 36 mm (1.41″) up to 6 mm (1/4″) thickness
• Segmented lower beam tools, Height 40 mm (1.57″)

Backgauge and Sheet Support

The backstop fingers automatically position the part to the bend line. The stop finger can reach any position within the standard backstop dimension from 10 to 1550mm (.39 to 61″) in less than 2 seconds. For blanks larger than 61″ a J-shape or U-shape backgauge can be added with a gauging depth of up to 4050mm (159.5″).

Amazing clamping pressure

With 130 US tons of clamping pressure a single operator can bend perfect angles on 6 mm (1/4″) mild steel with record speed, and with absolute accuracy. No longer a dream in a fabricator’s mind, GIGAbend is the only name for speed, power, accuracy, and total crowning automation. GIGAbend does the crowning calculation, and delivers 85 tons more clamping pressure than any other 6 mm (1/4″) folder.

The GIGAbend requires only one operator for heavy, awkward metal parts, compared to two or three men on a press brake, because the heavy material rests on the back gauge sheet support system. Tooling to make 100 mm, 200 mm or 300 mm (4″, 8″ and 12″) deep boxes is also available, along with sharp tooling. GIGAbend is just one more example of the RAS engineering “Path to Perfection” in folding machines.