TOLERANCE REASONING AND SET-UP PLANNING FOR BRAKEFORMING

Brakeforming is widely applied in high-variety small-batch manufacturi ng of sheet metal components to form bends that have a straight axis a nd a constant radius. The process typically involves a relatively larg e number of set-ups. The paper describes tile appropriate search techn ique to solve the set-up planning problem as well as some of the manuf acturing rules that can be applied. Special attention is paid to the a ccuracy aspect in the selection of set-ups for non-90 degrees bend ang les. As all example, the set-rip planning procedure is demonstrated fo r a sheet metal bracket.