Sheet bending can be divided into:

• Circular sheet bending

• Angular sheet bending

• Profile sheet bending

Generally, sheet bending is the most commonly used sheet and metal processing procedure by a plastic deformation. Sheets and metals are most often cold, and if they are thicker, they must be heated.

The bending sheet, during the bending process, is under the influence of plastic and elastic strain, which results in:

• The material absorbing the desired shape
• The material expanding due to the cessation of the elastic stress

Because of the elasticity, the sheet, or the metal, has to be subjected to greater bending, in order to obtain the desired angle.

Circular sheet bending

Circular sheet and metal bending is carried out using a 3-roller bender, ie. 4 roller bender. The first and the second roller serve as the support to which the sheet is leaning, while the third roller, unlike the first two, is larger and hasn’t got its own drive. The large, that is, the first roller can move and thus controls the bending. Most circular bending machines have parallel rollers, but there are also machines where the rollers are horizontally spaced, which allows the cylindrical bending.

The four roller sheet and metal bending machines, provide different bending modes. Three rollers serve only as a support, while one roller is working. The rollers that serve as a support can move or change their position. The mode of operation alone, with the four roller bender, is almost identical to the three roller bender mode.

The advanced technology has enabled the development of numerically controlled metal and sheet bending machines, making them more precise and better at bending.

Angular sheet bending

Angular sheet bending is used to bend long and thin sheets. The machine used in this operation consists of two fundamental parts. This bending mode uses a bending force of 25 tons.

The following presses can be used for angular sheet bending:

• Manual mechanical bending presses – the machine consists of a work table where a sheet or a metal that needs to be bent is put. In this way, sheets up to 2 mm thick can be bent
• Mechanical bender – such a bender consists of a desk with a matrix mounted on it. The drive of such a bender is an electric motor (three-phase electric motor). The sheet, that is, the metal that is being bent, is placed manually on the work desk. Once all the parameters are set, the bending parameter control is automatic.

• Hydraulic benders – If bending requirements cannot be met by the above-mentioned benders, the hydraulic bending is needed. This bender uses  considerably larger bending pressures, which allows it to bend thicker and harder materials.

Profile sheet bending

By profile sheet bending, products of relatively large lengths are obtained. In this bending process, we are usually talking about the polygonal bending. Profile metal and sheet bending, leads the sheet, ie, the metal through a series of rollers where each roller performs a gradual bending. Machines that perform profile bending, can bend up to 200 meters of metal ie, sheet per minute.

Metal and sheet bending is a process of cold (hot in some cases) metal processing, during which, the benders that weigh up to several tons are used.

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Machine metal processing is performed on a machine that has predefined tools which are used in processing. One of the main advantages of the machine metal processing, is the precision and the processing speed. As machines replace the man, the processing error is reduced to a minimum.

Machine metal processing can be divided into:

I. Processing with predefined tool geometry

• Turning
• Milling
• Sawing
• Drilling

II. Metal processing without a defined cutting tool blade

• Grinding

III. Metal processing by using a free blade

• Lapping
• Polishing
• Honing

IV. Processing without using a blade

• Ultrasonic treatment
• Plasma treatment
• Laser treatment
• Water jet treatment

Each of the above metal processing techniques has its advantages and disadvantages.

The choice of the metal processing technique depends to a great extent on the future use of the metal being processed, that is, on the precision and the processing quality.

On the other hand, manual metal processing is carried out using hand tools such as blades, shreds or abrasive paper.

This method of metal processing requires the strength of human muscles.

Manual metalworking can be divided according to tools

• Filing
• Sawing
• Drilling
• Grinding
• Scraping

Sheet processing can also be carried out using the aforesaid techniques and methods.

Metal processing division

Metal processing can be divided into:

• Treatment of the formless shape – eg waste material processing
• Metal processing without separating particles – eg minting
• Processing by particle removal – eg turning
• Metal processing by joining: eg welding
• Metal protection – eg coloring
• Metal processing by changing properties – eg hardening

Heat metal processing

Heat metal processing implies the effect of the heat on the metal to change the metal properties and thus affect the microstructure.

The most common metals that are heat treated are steels, and the main reasons why metal processing is used are in the first place an increase in strength, followed by an increase in toughness and/or reshaping.

Heat metal processing takes place:

• Before approaching to the deformation shaping
• After formatting, to remove residual stresses
• When an increase in strength is needed

Metal processing by using a CNC machine

The CNC lathe is a machine tool used to process metals and sheets by separating the particles. The application of the CNC technology in processing brings numerous advantages, primarily related to speed and precision. One of the main advantages of using the CNC technology in metal and sheet machine processing  is the ability to complete demanding projects using CAD-CAM technology where 3D drawings commands are used. However, one of the major drawbacks of this type of metalworking and breakage is the large amount of scrap forming . However, this disadvantage is compensated by high processing quality and small refinement requirements.

Metal and sheet machine processing, provides great precision and quality with little need for further refinement. By using the CNC technology, more demanding projects are transferred directly to CNC machines thanks to the CAD-CAM technology, and then processed.

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