Iowa fabricator adds a folding machine to relieve the backup on its press brakes.

      Above: A Shroeder MAK 4 Evolution folding machine with automatic tool change system and 20-in.-tall tool

November, 2023-What a difference a trade show makes. Compared with those at previous exhibitions, Fabtech 2023 attendees who fabricate sheet metal and visited Metalforming LLC’s booth have come full circle in fully accepting folding as a necessary part of their future, claims David Prokop, executive vice president for the Peachtree City, Georgia-based distributor of metal folding machines.

Previously, the majority continued to believe that a press brake was the best type of machine to bend parts. However, as labor shortages continue and more shops perform robotic welding requiring higher accuracy from their forming department, fabricators must reduce manual labor throughout the entire process stream. As a result, folders have become much more popular.

Prokop notes that 100 percent of the people “who came into our booth [at Fabtech] had the exact same complaint: the manufacturing sector is completely devoid of [next-generation] competent and skilled labor, and everyone is looking for solutions to improve their processes to eliminate reliance on labor.”

Press brakes have their role, he concedes, “but sustainably creating product of a consistently high accuracy that can always be welded, and provides for downstream improvements and labor reduction, that is where folders are staking their claim.”

MANAGING GROWTH

M3 Fabrication LLC in Bloomfield, Iowa, is one job shop that benefited from adding a folding machine to its operations, says Tyler McClure, co-owner. What started as a three-person shop nine years ago has grown into a 60-employee contract manufacturer housed in a 100,000-sq.-ft . facility.

Even though M3 Fabrication was running three shifts five days a week and one weekend shift , the shop’s two press brakes were getting backed up, McClure says. “We wanted to either buy another press brake or see if we could offload some of the work.”

Then a customer wanted to have some large stainless steel panel parts produced that needed multiple hems on multiple planes and a couple of sharp return bends, he says. Also, the parts could not have any scratches. M3 produced a couple of prototypes on a press brake, which was a twoperson job. “It took a lot of tooling, a lot of setups and was not very fun. We had to find a different method and that’s when we got into the folding game.”

McClure says M3 selected four potential suppliers and asked them to program 20 unique parts to see if they had a folding machine that could do them yea or nay. That step whittled the list to three, with the next task being the development of virtual demonstrations to show M3 how a part is programmed and if any limitations occurred. With two suppliers left , M3 sent them workpieces and visited the suppliers to watch the parts being folded.

       This mar-free aluminum panel with watertight fitment was folded on a MAK 4 Evolution machine

As a result, M3 selected the Shroeder MAK 4 Evolution folding machine from Metalforming LLC. “Those stainless panels really drove the purchase of that machine,” McClure says.

M3 could not take possession of the machine until Fabtech 2022 finished because Metalforming was exhibiting it there, McClure notes. “They had a lot of bells and whistles on it because, obviously, they’re bringing that to the show.”

TOOL CHANGING

The folding machine has an automatic tool change system to eliminate downtime during setup, Metalforming reports. With this system, an operator does not have to manually change tools, which are 15.75-in. tall or taller and weigh 35 lbs. or more, Prokop notes. “Our tool change is doing nothing more than changing the length of the tool station to accommodate the size of the part you need to form. We simply move the tools that are needed to [re-equip] the tool station to accommodate the part size.”

      A “battery box” with 22-in.-tall sides was folded on a MAK 4 Evolution machine

Some parts require a tool change in the middle of a run for clearance or flange placement. The automatic tool change system moves tools accordingly, further reducing part handling and production time. “We have stainless parts that we don’t want to scratch, so we’re trying to reduce the handling time as much as possible,” says McClure.

The machine also features stop dogs, which are located on the side of the machine and automatically move in or out, McClure explains, adding that they play a critical role for some parts. With parts that do not have a square point to gauge from, M3 cuts notches in a part to match the stop dogs. “I can use notches in my part and dial that in.”

THIN TO THICK

It took some time for M3 to become interested in folding because the shop considered it a process for thin sheet, McClure says, and it primarily works with material in the 11-gauge to 1-in. range. “We don’t do a whole lot of thin stuff . We wanted to be able to bend at least up to 3/16 in.”

With the folder up and running, McClure says M3 was able to move the “parts that weren’t very fun on the press brake,” such as long, tall parts and ones that require two workers, to the MAK 4 Evolution.

      M3 Fabrication was able to make multiple hems and bends on a stainless steel part using the MAK 4 Evolution folding machine, after struggling to produce a couple of prototypes on a press brake.

“With this machine, we were able to take a lot off of our press brakes a lot of parts that probably didn’t belong on the press brakes in the first place,” he adds. Because the folder took off so much capacity strain, the company also was able to eliminate its third shift .

       The MAK 4 Evolution folding machine at M3 Fabrication.

The folding machine operator on the day shift is considered the main operator and produces the higher risk, more complex parts and short-run parts, McClure says. Part volumes range from onesietwosies to 10 or more.

       A 6-in. by 8-in. box was precisely folded on a MAK 4 Evolution machine

“Every now and then, we get lucky [with] a 300- to 400-part run, but we do a lot of changeovers,” he adds. “We do one or two parts, switch over, do one or two parts, switch over, etc., so having that flexibility is what we need in our world.”

The night-shift operator, McClure says, is more of a basic operator who handles longer and repeat runs. “I can operate it as well.”

      A part for a weldment with 18 bump bends per side, folded on the MAK 4 Evolution machine. M3 Fabrication says this part was a “headache” to make on a press brake.

PERSONNEL PERK

With up-and-down folding technology to eliminate flipping potentially heavy parts, Prokop emphasizes that the physical prowess of the individual running the machine no longer matters. In addition, extensive bending experience is not required to produce good parts.

“When a machine can reduce operator requirements and simplify the environment in which the machine runs, you’re able to pull in from a much broader pool of possible employees. It changes your world and who you can put in front of it, and downstream from it,” Prokop says. “People say, ‘I don’t know why it’s so hard to find a press brake operator.’ I say, ‘Have you run a press brake?’ It’s horrible.’”

In addition to gains previously noted, the folding machine has enabled M3 Fabrication to attract new customers, McClure says. For example, a fab shop that makes electrical boxes and cabinets had one of its two folding machines go down. “We were one of [very few] in the area that had capacity and a folder that could fold their parts directly. That customer has come on for some pretty good highvolume project work since we’ve got this machine.”

And the list continues. “We have a new customer that came on where we’ve about $250,000 worth of work already. If we didn’t have the folding machine, we wouldn’t have been at the table with them,” McClure says.

M3 Fabrication LLC, 641/664-3993, http://m3fab.com/

Metalforming LLC, 770/631-0002, http://metalforming-usa.com/