Press Brake CNC control - possible?

Hi All, 

Ive done a search and found a couple threads on this but it honestly goes over my head a little. Has anyone made a complete press brake control with GUI interface from LinuxCNC? Im currently looking at building a DIY press brake to suit my needs and would ideally like to have some control over it. Even a basic NC control that can save programs as I do repeat parts would be great. I know almost nothing when it comes to software and have been attempting to have AI write it for me (which is probably not going to work). I come from a mechanic/fabrication background so building the press for me is the easy part and the software part is where I will seriously struggle. Was hoping someone would have something that might suit? 
Currently on the fence between a torsion bar style press with a single Y1 on a glass scale or if it can be done I would rather run Y1, Y2 and a pair of scales to control it independantly. X axis backstop would also be needed. Other axis controls would be nice but really not needed for my application. Ideally tooling library, bend tables etc would be great to have stored inside software but is that  LinuxCNC thing or something seperate i need to make?
The threads ive seen on here seem to taper off with no conclusive result on them. If anyone has any input would be very much appreciated as I am a complete newbie to this type of thing. 

Thanks
Brad

I was involved in one of the threads, and I don't know if the chap with the machine ever got it going.

I confess that for me it was an exercise in making a LinuxCNC-controlled system that didn't require G-code. It might be simpler to actually use G-code.

forum.linuxcnc.org/30-cnc-machines/42100...ions?start=10#204844

During the development of that, one thing I realised is that using LinuxCNC axes gives you homing for free. Though I think that some kind of special handling for following-error on the press axis might be important.

The special component in that setup above was designed to be largely pressure-based.

Anyway, I think that the GUI might be a useful start, even if you end up changing the stuff behind the scenes.

Yes, It is possible. I am regularly using the press brake that I retrofitted in this thread.

forum.linuxcnc.org/30-cnc-machines/42100...ons?start=100#228476

The homing still has issues, but the ram functions good. I use the backstop only on occasion if I am bending a high quantity of parts. I just calculate the offset from the backstop's start position without homing it. I believe it could be fine tuned to work better, but for the low volume of parts that I bend at a time, it does the job.

EW_CNC wrote:

Yes, It is possible. I am regularly using the press brake that I retrofitted in this thread.

forum.linuxcnc.org/30-cnc-machines/42100...ons?start=100#228476

The homing still has issues, but the ram functions good. I use the backstop only on occasion if I am bending a high quantity of parts. I just calculate the offset from the backstop's start position without homing it. I believe it could be fine tuned to work better, but for the low volume of parts that I bend at a time, it does the job.

I don't have a press brake anymore, but the one I had was retrofitted with a commercial CNC bending controller. It was so awesome!
I'd love to see a solution where all the maths was applied to a bend list. eg, define  tool,  knife,  material for that list, then it would be a simple matter of setting the desired angle and backstop position for a list of bends. The maths is well known and every CAM program I used knew it.

rodw wrote:

I'd love to see a solution where all the maths was applied to a bend list. eg, define  tool,  knife,  material for that list, then it would be a simple matter of setting the desired angle and backstop position for a list of bends. The maths is well known and every CAM program I used knew it.
 

Agree!
I see the potential for an open source LinuxCNC press brake controller.

Thanks for the reply guys! It certainly would be awesome to build something open source that works. Ill admit, I am mechanically minded and certainly not smart when it comes to programming. I attempted to use AI to write something and whilst I got it to make some nice GUI screens they still werent how I would operate a press brake. Have been considering buying a stepper motor and some parts and seeing if i can make them 'function' before i invest the time into the steel to build the machine