A 500 and 600 ton press brake sits in the very heavy class. Tonnage is the force the machine can apply, and it decides how thick and how long a part you can bend. This guide covers what that force buys you, where these machines earn their keep, and how to choose the right size without over or under buying.
Bending force depends on thickness, bend length, material strength and die opening. As a rough air-bending guide for mild steel, with a die opening about eight times the thickness, a press brake needs roughly 7 to 8 tons per metre of bend for each millimetre of thickness. In practice a 500 and 600 ton machine handles around 15 mm mild steel over a 5 m bed, and more on shorter bends. Treat that as a starting point and confirm with a tonnage chart.
A machine in this class works comfortably in heavy mild steel and stainless plate. Capacity falls on stainless, which needs more force than mild steel, and rises on short bends, where the force is concentrated. Die opening and punch radius matter as much as raw tonnage, so size the tooling to the job.
The standard VICLA SUPERIOR hybrid range runs up to around 320 tons, so at this capacity the VICLA route is a synchronised tandem press brake solution for very long, heavy parts. For single machines above this tonnage, ask your VICLA contact what can be built. Pair the tonnage with a bed length that fits your longest real part.
The VICLA tandem is built from SUPERIOR machines. It runs two press brakes synchronised from a single NC control, needs no foundations, and uses the Flex and Clever Crowning systems for consistent bends along the full length.
500 to 600 tons covers the heaviest single-machine work most shops will meet. Beyond the length these frames offer, a tandem pair of smaller machines is often the better answer than an even larger single brake. Start from your heaviest and longest real bend, add a sensible margin, and confirm the numbers with a tonnage chart or your VICLA contact rather than guessing.
As a guide, around 15 mm mild steel over a 5 m bed, and more on shorter bends, in heavy mild steel and stainless plate. Always confirm against a tonnage chart for your exact material, thickness and die.
No. Oversizing wastes money and gives no benefit on thinner parts, while undersizing limits the work you can take. Match tonnage to your real part mix.
Force is spread along the whole bend, so a longer bend needs more tonnage. The same machine bends thicker material on a short bend than on a full-length one.