I am often asked which press brake tooling type and style is best?

This can be a difficult question to answer: Which type of machine do you have?, What is your quality level are you building parts +/- .0015 high precision or here you manufacturing dumb truck boxes with +/- 1/16 (.062-in or 2mm).

If you are building the latter, traditional American Planed Tooling will no doubt be adequate. There’s no need to for expensive Precision Ground Tooling either European or the New Standard. On the other hand tight tolerances, high precision, small or large volumes the Precision Ground press brake tooling makes the most sense.

Which press brake tooling is best?

A few things to consider besides what was noted above:

1. European and New Standard tooling is through hardened and will explode if incorrectly used.
2. If un-abused through hardened will last longer than Traditional Planed but are much more expensive.
3. European and New Standard tooling require specialized holders for mounting into the press brake.
4. The European style is the most versatile but can be mounted incorrectly. The New Standards are quicker mounting and cannot be installed incorrectly.
5. Traditional American Planed tooling comes in sticks several feet long that you will the cut to length. The trick here is to always mount the tooling facing the same way and each “cut” must be re-mated to the original mating piece of press brake tooling.
6. Traditional press brake tooling does not require a special clamp or holder and fits most older machines.
7. Traditional press brake tools are well suited to bottoming operations.

Of course there are many more. So before you invest a small fortune on a new press brake or tooling you might want consider some professional press brake consulting. TheArtofPressBrake and our parent company Asma LLC can help you with selecting the correct size, type and style of your new press brake and the tooling for it.