As a team leader for this collaborative project, I lead the design and build of an automated hydraulic press brake capable of bending steel plate over 1/4″ thick and up to 37″ wide. Such a tool is commonly used in fabrication shops.
The main structure is 1″ plate steel that was plasma cut with 1.5″ pin holes that were precision machined. Power comes from a 32-ton air-over-hydraulic jack that is controlled via a custom computer and bend angles are measured using proprietary sensors.