Inexperienced metal fabricators who are planning to start their own fabrication shops may sometimes find it hard to select the best equipment that they should acquire from the huge variety of fabrication equipment available on the market. This article discusses some of the key benefits of having a CNC folding machine in a fabrication shop. Use this information to make an informed decision about whether you should include this equipment on your priority list when you go shopping for metal fabrication equipment for your new fabrication shop.

Employee Safety

CNC folding machines have a mechanism (the back-gauging system) that handles a work-piece during the folding process. This eliminates the need for a machine operator to handle or support the material as the machine is folding it. Consequently, the operator will face a lower risk of being injured accidentally by the equipment. Similarly, that operator will not be as fatigued at the end of his or her shift in the same way that another operator can be if he or she used another piece of equipment that required that operator to support the material as it was being fabricated. Chances of suffering from lower back pain will also be low since the material requires minimal handling on the part of the operator.

Protection of Material Integrity

Another key benefit of having a CNC folding machine in your fabrication shop is that you can comfortably fabricate materials whose surface has already been finished or pre-treated. For instance, the CNC folding machine can work on sheet metal that has been pre-painted. This surface protection is possible because the material hardly moves as the CNC machine is folding it. Instead, sections of the folding equipment move in order to perform different folding operations on the material. This limited movement of the material helps to reduce the likelihood that the surface of that material will be adversely affected during the fabrication process.

Easy Set Up

Many CNC folding machines have a touch-screen onto which a library of different shapes and folding parameters can be displayed. This feature enables the operator to tweak the available shapes so that the machine can be programmed quickly to start working on the material that has been loaded onto its work surface. This ease of operation enables inexperienced operators to produce high quality work after a brief orientation session on how to use the CNC folding machine.

As you can see, a CNC folding machine can be a valuable addition to your new fabrication shop. However, you may need to talk to an expert so that you can be guided on what type of jobs are best suited for processing using the folding machine. It will then be possible for you to decide on the best time to acquire the CNC folding machine as your fabrication shop grows.