When your construction site has a horizontal bending center

In the construction industry, "rebar processing" has long been regarded as a labor-intensive process. However, the arrival of a horizontal CNC rebar bending center is rapidly changing this perception.
It is not a simple upgrade of the traditional bending machine; rather, it is an industrial processing unit that integrates automatic feeding, bidirectional bending, intelligent compensation, and data interconnection. For projects such as housing construction, bridges, high-speed railways, and subways that require a large amount of stirrups, hooks, and special-shaped components, this equipment is evolving from an "optional configuration" to a "standard solution".
1. What core issues does it solve?
The traditional process of steel bar processing is as follows: manual lifting of materials → mechanical cutting → manual bending → manual stacking. This chain has four unavoidable drawbacks:
Accuracy variation
Manual bending of hoops relies on the workers' eyesight and touch. The 135° seismic hooks are often made at 130° or 140°, with size deviations often exceeding 5 millimeters. If the inspection by the supervisor fails, the entire batch needs to be reworked.
2. Efficiency bottleneck
One skilled worker paired with a bending machine can produce approximately 400 reinforcing bars per day. This seems like a decent rate, but it is only the "pure processing time" - excluding the time for lifting materials, changing molds, clearing waste, and waiting.
3. Material Loss
For the initial section of manual bending, a 200mm handholding position needs to be reserved. At the end, there is often 30 to 50mm that cannot be utilized. In a large residential project, this single aspect of material loss can amount to several tens of tons.
4. Labor Shortage
The average age of the construction workers is over 45 years old, and young people have low willingness to enter the industry. It is difficult to recruit workers temporarily during peak project periods, and the quality of the workers varies greatly, making it difficult to maintain stability.
The entry logic for the horizontal bending center involves delegating these four issues to mechanics, hydraulics and algorithms.
II. How does this device work?
Taking mainstream domestic models as an example, the basic composition of the horizontal bending center includes:
Storage rack: Capable of supporting 3 to 8 tons of coil or straight bar reinforcing steel.
Automatic feeding mechanism: Driven by a servo motor, with feeding accuracy of ±1 millimeter.
Straightening unit: Multi-wheel bidirectional straightening to eliminate internal stress in the raw material
Bending mechanism: Dual or single head, adjustable within 0 to 180 degrees on the horizontal plane
Finished sliding landing gear: Automatically discharges upon bending, can be connected to the conveyor belt or the robot.
Operation Procedure:
The operator inputs the diameter, length, bending angle and quantity of the reinforcing bars on the touch screen.
The system automatically calculates the feeding length, the bending sequence and the avoidance trajectory.
One-click start, the equipment automatically completes feeding, cutting, bending and discharging.
The finished products are stacked in designated quantities, and manual handling or bundling is all that is required.
Key parameters (taking mainstream models as an example):
Processing diameter: φ6 to φ32 (welded rods / straight bars)
Maximum bending angle: ±180°
Bending speed: 45 - 60° per second
Single root processing cycle: 4 to 8 seconds (depending on the size)
Control axis count: 4 to 6-axis servo
Data interface: Supports USB drive import, local network transmission, and BIM integration.
III. The changes it brings are not merely "reducing labor".
1. Precision: From "±5 millimeters" to "±1 millimeter"
The equipment adopts a closed-loop control system, with encoders providing real-time feedback on the feeding and bending positions. The bending angle can have an elasticity compensation coefficient set, and the measured angle error after forming a 135° hook is ≤ 1°. For prefabricated components with strict requirements for protective layer thickness and high-speed railway box girders, this stability is beyond the reach of manual operations.
2. Efficiency: The daily production capacity of 12,000 pieces per machine is not the limit.
A horizontal bending center operating continuously for 8 hours can process 8,000 to 12,000 stirrups, equivalent to the output of 8 to 12 skilled workers. What's more, the equipment can operate 24 hours a day, and only one person is needed to be on duty during the night shift.
3. Material Utilization Rate: Over 98%
The numerical control feeding system can precisely control the lengths of the starting section and the leftover materials. When cutting multiple specifications of steel bars, it automatically optimizes the arrangement. In a certain bridge project, after the equipment was introduced, the steel bar loss rate decreased from 4.2% to 1.1%.
4. Product Changeover: From "Half an Hour" to "30 Seconds"
The traditional bending machine requires disassembling and assembling molds and adjusting limit positions, which takes 15 to 30 minutes. The horizontal bending center adopts a quick-change mold system, and by calling the preset program, the specifications can be switched, reducing the changeover time to within 30 seconds. This is particularly important for processing scenarios with small batches and multiple specifications (such as irregular columns and non-standard hoops).
IV. Which projects are most suitable for introduction?
Based on the equipment application data over the past three years, the following three types of projects have the most significant benefits:
High-rise residential buildings / large public buildings
The standard reinforcing bars require a large quantity and have relatively concentrated specifications. A single piece of equipment can meet the reinforcing bar demand for 50,000 to 100,000 square meters of volume, and the equipment cost can be recovered within 3 to 4 months.
2. High-speed Rail / Intercity Railway
The specifications of the box girder reinforcement bars are uniform, the quantity is huge, and the requirements for dimensional deviations are extremely high (usually ≤ 2 millimeters). Currently, the mainstream railway girder production sites have basically adopted the horizontal bending center.
3. Prefabricated Component Factory
The PC components have strict requirements for the consistency of stirrups, and an automated assembly line for connection is necessary. The equipment is equipped with communication interfaces, which can be linked with the composite slabs and stair formwork platforms for production.
V. What to Consider When Selecting?
The current market is mainly divided into two groups: domestic equipment and imported equipment. The selection recommendations are as follows:
Processing range
If the main processing material is small-sized threaded bars (φ12 and below), a lightweight machine can be selected; if processing straight bars with a diameter of φ25 or above is required, attention should be paid to the power of the main unit and the rigidity of the machine frame.
2. Curved Head Structure
The dual-head model is more efficient, but its price is approximately 30% higher. The single-head model has a smaller footprint and a lower failure rate, making it suitable for small and medium-sized projects.
3. Software Usability
Mainstream devices now support the direct import of CAD drawings and automatic recognition of dimensions. Some brands offer cloud platforms, allowing tasks to be remotely assigned and production outputs to be viewed from the office.
4. After-sales Service
The daily working hours of the steel processing equipment are long. The response speed of after-sales service directly affects the construction schedule. It is recommended to choose brands that have service outlets in the province where the project is located.
Six. What does the equipment arrival mean?
The price of a horizontal bending center ranges from 400,000 to 1.2 million yuan. For the general contractor, this is not only the purchase of fixed assets, but also a change in the production organization method.
Under the traditional processing mode, the steel frame is the "rear support". After the equipment arrives, the processing stage begins to exhibit the characteristics of standardization, digitization and replicability of industrial production. The project manager can manage the finished steel bars just like managing concrete, and the planner can arrange the order for hoop bars just like arranging production in a factory.
Steel workers no longer need to bend over to lift materials or estimate angles by experience. Instead, they start learning touchscreen operation, parameter adjustment, and equipment maintenance.
This is the change brought about by this equipment, and it is also the transformation currently taking place on the construction site.