The future of folding
Weser-Kant relies on PowerBend Professional folding machine
Customer
Weser-Kant is a three-person sheet metal processing company in the town of Bodenwerder in Lower Saxony. Joachim Kersting and his colleagues have built up an excellent reputation in the Münchhausen town and beyond by specializing in precisely folded
sheet metal products. The company produces chimney caps and covers, window sills, eaves, ridge and verge sheets and standing seam sheets. On request, other building materials such as trapezoidal sheets, sandwich elements and light panels with the
corresponding fastening materials can also be supplied. Zinc, copper, aluminum and steel sheets in many different colors, stainless steel sheets, perforated sheets and foil sheets are used. (www.weser-kant.de)
Success
Joachim Kersting was looking for a motorized press brake that would enable him to set up his bending business for future growth in the long term. The decision was made at EuroBlech 2022, where he spent three hours at the Schröder Group stand and was impressed by the PowerBend Professional UD. The machine has been in his workshop in Bodenwerder since the beginning of this year and is boosting the company‘s performance.
Gladly oversized
As his son, who is currently at master craftsman school, will be taking over the business, Joachim Kersting is thinking long-term and looking for a machine that offers reserves in every respect. Since setting up his own business in 2002, he has always followed the principle of treating his machines with care and not pushing them to their mechanical limits. But getting a particularly robust machine was not the main reason why Kersting came to the Schröder Group‘s EuroBlech stand. His wish list included a bidirectional machine with an up-and-down folding function and a rotating clamping beam – two features that his previous folding machine supplier was unable to offer him. “When I was looking at the PowerBend Professional at EuroBlech, the Schröder employee spontaneously programmed test parts according to my specifications,” recalls Kersting. “This immediately gave me a good impression of the machine‘s graphic control and the company‘s positive service attitude. The latter has been confirmed since the machine was delivered in January of this year. The service is very fast and direct.” In order to have a contact person for several machines, Kersting decided to also purchase a guillotine shear with motorized stop from Schröder, the PDC 3200×3.0.
Relief
The up-and-down folding beam offers exactly the ease of use that was hoped for: when folding against edges, there is no need to turn the large sheets, which takes a lot of effort, and the function also saves time. This also applies to the innovative suction plate stop option. Once the machine has been stopped, it automatically performs all bends on one side. “We are very flexible here, because we have three ways to stop sheets: the fingers, the lengthwise stop and the horizontal folding beam – then the suction plate stop takes over,” says Kersting. The rotating clamping beam is also a real advance. This makes it possible to switch between the sharpnose blade and goat‘s foot tools in no time at all. “We now fold chimney covers in one go. Previously, we had to process the last side with the manual folding machine.”
Precise and robust
The Schröder folding machine is very robust and torsion-resistant and is almost six tons heavier than Kersting‘s previous machine. He greatly appreciates the motorized central crowning, and another aspect also promotes accuracy. The machine‘s “POS 2000 Professional” control system accesses a material database when creating the folding program in order to adjust the bending angle with the appropriate springback compensation. Due to the precision gain and the angles that fit straight away, setting up this database is a worthwhile effort. Weser-Kant has already stored 75 percent of the materials used in the system. “We are still learning to exploit the machine‘s full potential. One function that I think is great, for example, is folding at the touch of a button. You can even choose between open and closed envelopes,” says Kersting happily.
Machine in operation
PowerBend Professional
- Folding machine up to 3.0 mm sheet thickness
- Working length 3,240 mm
- Graphic control POS 3000 3D
- Clamping beam stroke 540 mm
- Rotating clamping beam (48°/180°) for 2 tool stations
- Up-and-Down folding beam
- Suction plates in gauge table
- Motorized central crowning
- Remote maintenance
