Curls can be fabricated through kinds of types, including roll forming, stamping, leaf bending, and on a traditional press brake.Curling on a panel or leaf bender is often limited to off center curls because most panel benders do not have tooling profiles which can create the necessary down bend to put the curl on center.

The smaller radius is formed first to allow the material to finish inside itself. The process of step bending involves producing very small bends which are very close to each other, and while the finished bend is technically a polygon, it’s often impossible to detect the steps if they are formed correctly.

For lighter gauges parts, a hand operated panel bender can be the most affordable method for creating a curl.

Forming a Curl on Brake Press

Most curls can be formed in three stages and some setups require two tooling setups with specialized tooling for each stage.  The first 2 stages form the curves which are required to form the curl, and the third stage is to close the curl.  A locating notch is typical for this type of tooling is needed to ensure that the first 2 stages are bent in the correct location.  Below is a typical two setup, three stage tooling.