Machines for steel structure & construction fabrication
Structural steel is the heavy end of the trade: thick plate, full-length members, and tolerances measured in degrees rather than hundredths. The machines here are specified for load and rigidity first — because that is what the work punishes.
The parts this industry bends
- Base plates and sole plates — the heaviest flat parts in the shop, usually with holes. A shear-and-drill or shear-and-laser workflow feeds them.
- Gusset plates and connection plates — simple bends, high counts, batch production.
- Clip angles and stiffeners — small structural sections bent at length; backgauge repeatability is the whole job.
- Stair stringers and treads — long parts with repetitive geometry.
- Brackets and embed plates — mixed gauges, frequent changeovers.
What actually decides the machine
Plate thickness and length, in that order. Structural shops buy tonnage for the day a 1 in plate job lands. Our hydraulic plate press brakes are built for this: heavy frames, mechanical crowning, and bed lengths sized to full structural members. The standard hydraulic range (30-800 tons, beds to 8 m) covers everything below that.
Throat depth for deep members. A long member bent far from its edge needs clearance between the uprights — standard frames run out of throat long before they run out of tonnage. Deep-throat machines exist for this geometry. Tell us the part, not just the plate: the depth of the bend from the edge decides the frame.
Rigidity over accuracy claims. On thick plate, frame deflection under load is the error source that matters. Crowning compensation, bed and ram construction and cylinder synchronisation decide whether the angle is consistent across a 3 m bend — not the resolution of the control display.
The rest of the shop. No structural shop bends alone. Shears blank the plate,hydraulic presses pierce and form, plate rollers curve the members that are not straight, and heavy shears take the cutting load off everything else. Quote the set, not the machine.
Machine lines that fit
- Hydraulic plate press brakes — the default for 1/2 in and up: deflection control, crowning, full-length beds.
- Hydraulic press brakes — 30-800 tons across 39 model sizes for the mid-range structural work.
- Deep-throat press brakes — when the bend sits far from the edge of a long member.
- Guillotine shears — blanking base plates and gussets, up to 30 mm plate classes.
- Hydraulic press machines — piercing, forming and straightening in the same shop.
Specification mistakes we see
- Buying a precision CNC for plate work. The control is not what bends 1 in plate. Rigidity is. Spend on the frame, not the display.
- Ignoring throat depth until the part arrives. The part decides the frame; specify from the part drawing.
- No crowning on long beds. At structural lengths and thicknesses, uncrowned machines produce visibly wrong angles mid-bend.
- Treating angle tolerance as free. ±0.5° is a precision-shop number. Structural work at ±1° is normal and honest — and much cheaper to buy.
Frequently asked questions
What tonnage for bending 1 in structural plate?
Air bending 1 in (25 mm) mild steel needs a large V-opening and typically lands in the 600-1000 ton class depending on bend length — this is genuinely heavy work. Bottoming reduces the force needed but demands tight machine rigidity and accurate penetration control. If 1 in plate is routine, a dedicated plate press brake is the right conversation to have with us.
Do structural shops need CNC press brakes?
Usually not, and buying one is a common waste. Most structural bends are simple flanges on plate, where repeatability of the backgauge and rigidity of the frame matter far more than servo angle correction. CNC earns its place when the shop also does repetitive formed work — brackets, stiffeners — in batches. We will tell you which side of that line your mix sits on.
Why does throat depth keep coming up?
Because structural parts are long and the bend is often far from the edge. A member 500 mm deep bent at 400 mm from the edge needs a throat that clears it — otherwise the uprights hit the workpiece before the punch does. Deep-throat and custom-frame machines exist for exactly this geometry, and they are cheaper than discovering the problem with the machine on the floor.
Plate brake or standard press brake for heavy plate?
A dedicated plate press brake is built for the load: heavier frames, stronger crowning, larger strokes and a design that assumes thick plate and long parts. A standard press brake pushed to its limit on plate work deflects, loses angle and wears early. If most of your work is 1/2 in and up, the plate brake is not an upgrade — it is the correct machine.
What about punching and drilling holes in plate?
Holes in plate are a cutting operation, not a forming one. Our hydraulic presses handle piercing and forming in thicker stock, and for production hole patterns a laser or punch is the productive route. A structural shop typically pairs a shear, a brake and either a press or a drilling line — tell us your part mix and we will size the set.
Where to go next
Heavy work starts with the number: the tonnage calculator converts plate, bend length and V-opening into force. Read how to read a spec sheet before comparing machines — it separates the numbers that matter from the ones written for the brochure — and the size guide explains why bed length and tonnage cannot be chosen independently at these sizes.
Send us the member, not just the plate
Material, thickness, bend length and how far the bend sits from the edge — that last number decides the frame, and we would rather size it before the machine ships.