Slotted Clampbar: Accessory for JDC BEND Sheetmetal Bending Machines

The Slotted Clampbar is ideal for making shallow trays and pans quickly and accurately.

Slotted Clampbar accessory for JDC BEND sheetmetal

The advantages of the slotted clampbar over the set of short clampbars for making trays are that the bending edge is automatically aligned to the rest of the machine, and the clampbar automatically lifts to facilitate the insertion or removal of the workpiece. (Never-the-less, the short clampbars can be used to form trays of unlimited depth, and of course, are better for making complex shapes.)

In use, the slots are equivalent to gaps left between the fingers of a conventional box & pan folding machine. The width of the slots is such that any two slots will fit trays over a size range of 10 mm, and the number and locations of the slots are such that for all sizes of tray, there can always be found two slots that will fit it.

To fold up a shallow tray:

Fold-up the first two opposite sides and the corner tabs using the slotted clampbar but ignoring the presence of the slots. These slots will not have any discernible effect on the finished folds.

Now select two slots between which to fold-up the remaining two sides. This is actually very easy and surprisingly quick. Just line-up the left side of the partly made tray with the left most slot and see if there is a slot for the right side to push into; if not, slide the tray along till the left side is at the next slot and try again. Typically, it takes about 4 such tries to find two suitable slots.

Finally, with the edge of the tray under the clampbar and between the two chosen slots, fold up the remaining sides. The previously formed sides go into the selected slots as the final folds are completed.