Every press brake is subject to normal deflection under load. This deflection is corrected by shimming. If you deflect behond design limits, you will put a permanent bend in the ram and this is known as ram upset. You cannot adjust to compensate for ram upset. Remachining of the ram is the only solution. To avoid causing ram upset be careful about bending loads above your tons per inch limit and only air bend if possible.

Many fabricators use fairly rudimentary methods to keep turret press punch tooling stored, but often tooling isn't really organized. A common method is to store tooling horizontally and group tooling by station (A-station tools a grouped together, B-station tools together, etc.). Storing them vertically and grouping them by size (all rounds go together, regardless of station) leads to an elegant and simple organization.

Robotic welding can improve your productivity, but only if your fixturing design lets you. When you're designing fixtures for your welding application, consider your fixture's material; welding circuit optimization; orientation and deposition rates; accessibility, repeatability, simplicity, and dependability; and alternatives to fixture design when design costs are prohibitive.

Two big tradeshows, Schweissen & Schneiden (Essen, Germany) and the FABTECH® International/AWS Welding Show (Chicago) highlighted several of the trends that have emerged in the welding industry during the last couple of years. Senior Editor Eric Lundin reviews many of the recent developments in arc and laser welding, and the growing use of another joining technology, adhesive bonding.