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Xeon NC / Engineering toolsPressing Force

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Pressing
force.

Plan the bend.
Understand the load.

See how your material, bend length, and die opening affect the force required to air bend a part.

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01 / Air bending estimate

From bend setup to pressing force.

Enter your material and tooling dimensions. Calculate the total load and force per foot of bend.

Example UTS values in ksi. Use your material certificate or supplier’s tensile strength for your actual stock.
Auto uses the catalog’s 6–12× thickness window and selects the closest opening to 8× thickness.

Length engaged by the tooling for this bend.
Use the opening of your selected die.
Starts at 1.33. Change only to a validated coefficient for your air-bending setup.

This estimate applies to air bending. Bottoming, coining, and wipe bending need separate process-specific calculations.

Estimated total force

—US tons

1 US short ton = 2,000 pounds-force

Catalog die profiles ↗30° · R1
EV002 V-die side profile and enlarged opening detailThe actual EV002 catalog outline is shown at full height and enlarged at the working face. Its opening is 8 mm. The punch and sheet illustrate first contact and are schematic. FULL PROFILEOPENING DETAIL EV002 Force 8 mm V-openingWorking face enlarged · body continues below
Die outline from the tooling catalog. Punch and sheet are schematic.

V opening

Select a thickness to match your catalog tooling.

Force · lbf
—
Force · kN
—
US tons per foot of bend
—
V opening / thickness
— × T

The math behind the load.

The calculation uses inch dimensions and tensile strength in ksi internally. Metric inputs are converted before calculating.

Force (lbf) = C × T² × UTS × 1,000 × L / V
US tons = force (lbf) / 2,000

Doubling the bend length doubles the estimate. Thickness enters the formula squared; a larger die opening reduces the calculated force.

Check the complete setup.

This is a load estimate, not approval of a machine or tool setup. Check the press brake’s capacity, concentrated-load limits, and the punch and die ratings over the engaged length. No capacity reserve is included in the result.

For process guidance, see WILA’s air-bending tonnage reference ↗. For Xeon tooling and material setup, explore our tooling library and Bend Inner Radius tool.

Plan the bend.
Make the part.

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