The P1 panel bender shown at EuroBLECH incorporates the very best of Salvagnini panel bending technology.

Originally conceived as an entry-level panel bender, the space-saving, energy-efficient P1, with its high productivity and extreme repeatability accuracy, was shown at EuroBLECH 2016 in an enhanced version ready for the new challenges of digitization laid down by Industry 4.0.

“Just like the other larger models in the range – explains Pierandrea Bello, Salvagnini Product Manager – the P1 panel bender now features the ABA automatic blankholder and CLAN negative auxiliary blades that effectively boost the machine’s already impressive versatility and mean it can process different parts in sequence with set-up in masked time.”

Salvagnini has actually endeavoured to extend the range of parts that can feasibly be produced on all the panel benders in the range. There are industrial sectors that wouldn’t have contemplated a panel bender as a technological solution in the past, whereas they are now opting for this very machine.

With the introduction of the automatic ABA blankholder, P1 has actually become an ideal solution for producing kits as it lets you bend parts that are both complicated and different to each other in sequence. Nonetheless, P1 is still the entry-level model as, even in this automated configuration, the price is basically the same as before, namely affordable to all businesses with a tight budget looking for a smart solution and competitive running costs.

P1, like the other panel benders in the Salvagnini range, implements MAC 2.0 adaptive technology, which means it is not dependent on the quality of the material being processed. In terms of operation, the panel bender measures any variations in the material being processed in masked time and, if these variations turn out to be outside the acceptable tolerance range, they are compensated for automatically by adjusting blade movements, resulting in consistent bend quality even when dealing with variations in the material within the batch and thus reducing waste, even when producing batches of limited quantity.

Rapid return on investment

Now more than ever, P1 is an ideal solution for producing panels of any kind, whether featuring simple profiles or elaborate bends. So much so, in fact, that it makes a viable alternative to traditional bending.

“Given the interest we were seeing – Pierandrea Bello goes on to say – we conducted a survey of customers who have installed the machine to give users their say and thus get some real feedback from the people using the machine in their everyday operations. We got some really interesting answers: apart from the usual benefits you would expect from a panel bender, the factor that everyone identified as the clearest and most unexpected benefit was the rapid return on investment. This is a machine that pays for itself in no time for two reasons: the low initial investment, given that this is a fairly small machine in the end, and the fact that it offsets operator costs. In the former case, the automatic tool change feature means it can do jobs that would traditionally involve using a number of pressbrakes with different set-ups. While in the latter, since part handling is fully automatic, the operator can get on with other things while the machine is working on its own, and this really drives productivity. Moreover, none of this would be possible if we were contending with a standalone press-brake.”

P1 makes the bending of panels with a maximum bending length of 1,250 mm and a maximum height of 127 mm possible. It features average power consumption not exceeding 3 kW, silent running and a footprint of less than 8 m2, a trait that makes it easy to ship and install.

But the P1’s most important plus point is the minimum thickness that it can handle, which, in this specific case, is 0.4 mm (maximum 1.6 mm): generally a major issue for any machine, yet P1 manages to handle it stably and efficiently. This machine truly opens up hitherto unthinkable application scenarios in terms of the type of panels that can be produced.