Both bending machines and folding machines are commonly used equipment in industrial manufacturing and some processing fields. However, there are obvious differences between them in many aspects. The following will elaborate on the differences between the two from the perspectives of working principles, application ranges, structural characteristics and processing precision.
![What are the differences between bending machines and folding machines? 1]()
- Bending machines: Their working principles usually rely on mechanical transmission components or hydraulic systems to generate powerful pressure, which acts on the workpiece placed between the molds, causing the workpiece to undergo plastic deformation according to the shape of the mold, thus achieving the bending effect. For example, for a common hydraulic bending machine, the hydraulic pump provides power to drive the piston movement of the hydraulic cylinder, and then drives the upper die to apply pressure downward on materials such as plates located on the lower die, making them bend to the set angle.
- Folding machines: Generally, through a series of mechanical structures and transmission devices, they drive folding tools or folding components to perform folding operations on materials with relatively gentle and regular movements. It is more like simulating the action of manual paper folding, folding materials in an orderly manner according to the preset creases. They are mostly suitable for folding relatively soft materials such as paper, leather, and thin soft plastic sheets, and often complete the folding process through methods such as roller rotation and mechanical arm driving.
- Bending machines: They are mainly applied in the field of metal processing, such as the bending processing of various metal plates, pipes, and wires. For example, in the machinery manufacturing industry, they are used to bend metal plates for making machine shells, or in the construction industry, they are used to bend metal structural parts such as steel beams to meet the needs of different structural construction. They focus on processing materials with higher hardness that require greater bending force.
- Folding machines: They play a more important role in packaging, printing, leather products and some light industry fields. For example, in a carton production factory, folding machines are used to fold corrugated cardboard into the prototype of a carton according to the designed shape; in a leather products factory, leather is folded into a specific shape for making leather products such as wallets and handbags, focusing on folding materials with relatively soft textures and thin thicknesses into shapes.
- Bending machines: The overall structure is relatively solid and heavy, and often equipped with a powerful power system. Whether it is a hydraulic type or a mechanical type, it needs to have a fuselage frame that can withstand large pressure, high-precision molds and stable and reliable transmission components. Because it has to deal with the huge reaction force generated when metal materials are bent, its structure is more inclined to high strength and high rigidity.
- Folding machines: The structure is relatively delicate and flexible. Usually, there are multiple rollers that can be accurately adjusted, folding knife holders and mechanical arms that can flexibly control the movement trajectory and other components. The design purpose is to be able to accurately and gently handle soft materials and achieve diversified folding styles, so the overall structure pays more attention to the combination of flexibility and precision.
- Bending machines: When bending metal materials, although they can also meet relatively high precision requirements, due to the characteristics of metal materials themselves and the complexity of the bending operation, their precision is mainly reflected in the approximate accuracy of angles and dimensions, allowing a certain error range. For example, in the bending of some metal structural parts used in construction, an angle error within a few degrees is considered qualified.
- Folding machines: For the folding of soft materials, especially when paper is used in fine fields such as printing and packaging, extremely high precision is required. The positions of creases, folding angles and so on all need to be accurate to millimeters or even smaller units to ensure the appearance and performance of the final product.
In conclusion, although both bending machines and folding machines involve the operations of bending and folding materials, they each play an irreplaceable role in different industrial and manufacturing scenarios based on differences in principles, applications, structures and precision.
