Fabricators are involved in a variety of tasks. These range from cutting to bending to stamping. When it comes to folding (bending) metal, the most common tool is a brake. These can be as simple as a cornice brake or more complex such as a box and pan brake.
What Are Brakes?
Brakes are benders of metal. The simplest types can only take a metal sheet and produce parallel folds. In other words, it may take the sheet and fold up the two opposite edges. The result is a flat-bottomed, U-shaped tray.
A simple brake is not capable of taking the other two sides, folding them up and creating an open pan or box. If it endeavored to do so, the folds already executed would strike the machinery.
What Is a Box and Pan Brake?
As the name reveals, this is a type of brake. However, this version allows the metalworker to produce a box or pan. It accomplishes this action in an ingenious but simple manner. The upper bar of the brake or folder has removable fingers – pieces of metal of various widths.
The operator selects the appropriate fingers – ones that match the width of the interior of the box. He or she then removes them as well as any that may interfere with the movement of the machine and the bending of these sides. These actions allow the bending of all four sides of the sheet metal to create the desired box or pan shape without interfering with the ongoing operation of the machine.
Box and Pan Brake
Box and pan brakes are tools necessary to bend metals into boxes and pan shapes. While the box and pan brake may prove to be more expensive than other brake types, it does have its advantages. Allowing a fabricator the capability to fold not two but all four edges is a very useful skill.
