Bend-Tech EZ details

Bend-Tech EZ is our entry level product.  Bend-Tech EZ is an entry level tube bending software for the home hobbyist.  If your parts are simple 2D parts (parts that lay flat when completed) then EZ will most likely do the trick.

EZ provides dozens of predefined templates and has a custom part interface which allows for up to 6 bends.  Additional templates are available from download. 

There are dozens of pre-defined templates to choose from.  Most templates allow for center, outside and inside dimensions.  While scrolling down the list of templates, they graphically show up in the window on the right.

The templates are read in from a secondary file.  This allows us to periodically create new templates and have them available for download.

The below picture shows the values have been entered.  Notice how the input values can be fractions using the templates.  For this part our cut length is 101 9/16 and our bend locations are 20 7/8, 36 15/16, 60 and 76.  The results window can be in fractions with definable tolerances from 1/4 to 1/32 or use decimals up to 3 places.

Template Part Interface:

Let us show how parts can be created and observe the manufacturing instructions that become available.  After selecting your desired template you will find our typical 4 view port window.  The upper right corner is our "tabs" area.  This allows for settings and manufacturing manipulation.  The lower left corner is our "working" area.  The lower right corner is the "shaded model" and the upper right corner is the "results" area.

You will find your manufacturing information in the upper right had corner of the screen.  The values available are Cut Length, Weight, bend Location, Angle, Radius and bend Order.

Select the "print" command and a setup page will come rolling out of your printer.  You will find full detail information to make the part.

Before we go any further allow us to cover some of the issues of the material and tooling library.  The material library allows for diameter, wall thickness, weight and color.  The software does display the tube as round stock, however, calculations for square, rectangular and all other shapes are available and 100% accurate.  Bend-Tech has a few customers using it for sheet metal plate to help calculate the layout.

The Tooling library consists of CLR (radius), Calibrated CLR and Bend Location Offset.

The calibration is done with a simple to follow calibration interface.  The calibration allows users to hold the tightest of tolerances.  Customers using manual equipment will most often be able to get to a 1/32 of their target in the first try.

The Bend Location Offset defines the distance on some benders between the start of the bend and the reference location for lining up the bend marks.  

Results are what we describe as the information available to you for manufacturing the tube.  The "Cut Length" is the length to cut the tube to.  The chart shows A, B, Location, Rotation and Angle.  A is the design order, B is the bending order, Location is where to mark the tube for bending and the Angle is the number of degrees to bend the tube.

"Cut Off" allows to add extra material to the end of the tube for post bending cutting.  This is used largely for cutting to place one tube against another.  In this example we added 2 to our value so the cut length grew by 4 and each bend was moved 2.

We can change the "Decimal / Fraction" fields to allow for tolerances of 1/4 to 1/32 and decimal places from 0 to 0.000.  In this example we changed the fractions to 1/32.

We have 3 settings which can be used for the dimension location; Start, End & Center.  Typically a rotary draw bender will use start, a rotary compression bender will use end and a center compression will use center.  In some cases, NC or CNC benders which are rotary compression will also use end because they locate off of the back side.

You will also find an example of a center compression bender.  Some customers have been known to use the center choice for sheet metal fabrication.

Custom Part Interface:

We create a part by starting at one end and entering in the lengths and angles for each bend.  The dim type can be Apex or Tangent.  Apex is the intersection of the 2 tube sides as if they have a zero radius and zero diameter (basically 2 lines).

This part shows the 180 degree bend using a tangent dimension and the 90 degree bend uses an apex dimensions.  Note: a positive angle strokes counter clockwise and a negative angle dimension strokes clockwise.

All 3 of the parts are exactly the same.  The first one shows using 2 apex dimensions, the second shows using 2 tangent dimensions and the last has 1 apex and 1 tangent dimension.  In our case the CLR is 3.5