I want to design and manufacture a bent sheet metal part in the most accurate way possible. Once the design of the part is finished, I flatten the sheet, get a DXF file, and cut it with laser or punch. My goal is to find the correct sheet metal unfolding. When modeling bends in sheet metal, there are three different methods: “Bend Allowance”, “Bend Deduction”, and “K Factor”. How can I determine which of these methods I should design with, or do all three methods actually give the same result? Another issue is that when calculating the K factor, it also asks for the measurement of the sheet unfolding, but if the value I want to find is the sheet unfolding, how can I know this and write it in the formula? We have different dies and blades in our press brake machines used in manufacturing. Do I need to calculate separately for each die and blade? Or should I decide at the design stage that this part will be bent with this die and this blade, and create the bends in the design files according to the calculation we made earlier? In short, what steps should be followed to design and manufacture a bent sheet metal part?
(We generally use 2-3 mm sheets in manufacturing, and our blades have a radius of 0.8, press brake machines)