You do not get to choose your parts. Here is how to buy capacity for a mix you cannot predict — starting with why a panel bender is usually the wrong first machine.
A job shop is defined by a mix it does not control: one-off brackets alongside batches of fifty, 0.8 mm enclosure panels alongside 8 mm structural plate, and drawings that arrive the same week they are due. That rules out most dedicated automation. The three machines that actually earn their keep are a волоконный лазер for tooling-free blanking across every thickness, a CNC press brake for forming anything the laser cuts, and — once repeat work builds up — a Револьверный вырубной пресс с ЧПУ for parts with dense repeating hole patterns.
A panel bender is usually the wrong first purchase for a job shop, and we say that as a company that manufactures them. Panel benders excel at flat panels folded on all four sides in 0.5 to 2.0 mm, repeated many times. A shop whose typical order quantity is under twenty pieces will spend more time programming than bending. The sensible sequence is laser, press brake, turret punch — and a panel bender only when a specific customer's repeat panel work justifies it on its own.
STON CNC (Qingdao Ston Mechanical Technology Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese original manufacturer of CNC panel benders and turret punch presses, founded in 2006 in Qingdao, China. All equipment described here is built inside STON CNC's own 20,000㎡ factory, from casting and heat treatment through machining, assembly and inspection. Machines carry ISO 9001 quality certification and CE marking under Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, and are exported to more than 80 countries. View certifications and patents →
Industry pages start from a part. A job shop cannot, so the buying criteria are structural rather than geometric. These are the eight we work through with contract fabricators.
On an order of ten parts, programming, tooling and first-article proving can exceed the machining time several times over. This is why tooling-free processes matter more in a job shop than raw cutting speed — a laser that needs no tooling and a press brake with fast clamp changes beat a faster machine that needs a die order.
Shops size machines against typical work and then subcontract everything thick or long, giving away margin on exactly the jobs that carry it. Press brakes from 63 t to 320 t and 1500 to 4100 mm exist so that the extremes stay in house. Deciding which extremes are worth owning is the actual purchasing question.
A panel bender, a coil line or a robot cell all reward repetition. In a shop with genuinely mixed work they become expensive floor space. The right sequence is to earn the repeat volume first, then automate the part families that have stabilised — which is a conversation we would rather have honestly than sell into.
Almost every successful job shop we supply has followed this order. Skipping ahead is the most common capital mistake in the sector.
A job shop buys range, so the numbers below are capacity envelopes rather than a single specification. The rows that matter are the ones covering your extremes.
| Параметр | Волоконный лазер | CNC press brake | Штабелевый перфоратор с ЧПУ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power / capacity | 1–6 kW | 63 t to 320 t | 300–400 kN |
| Working length | 3015 to 6025 formats | 1500 to 4100 mm | X 2500 mm, secondary to 5000 mm |
| Materials | Carbon, stainless, galvanised, aluminium | All, within tonnage | Sheet within tooling capacity |
| Tooling lead time | Нет | Standard tooling, fast change | Требуются комплекты пуансонов и матриц |
| Best batch size | 1 to any | 1 to any | Medium to large repeats |
| Accuracy | Fine kerf, burr-free | Grating ruler, closed loop | ±0,1 мм |
| Операции формовки | Только резка | Bending only | Louvres, ribs, embossing |
| Footprint | 4.5 × 2.6 m to 16 × 4.1 m | 2.0 × 1.6 m to 4.8 × 2.1 m | approx. 5.2 × 5.0 m |
| Электропитание | 3φ 380 V, 60–120 kVA by laser power | 3φ 380 V | 380 В ±5%, давление воздуха 0,55 МПа |
Unpredictable mix, small batches, wide thickness range and short lead times — handled by tooling-free cutting and flexible forming, with punching added as repeat work accumulates.
Buying a panel bender, a coil line or a robot cell as a first machine for genuinely mixed work. These reward repetition, and a job shop's defining characteristic is that it has none yet.
The press brake is not the fallback here — it is the core forming machine. The question for a job shop is how many, at what tonnage and length, not whether to keep one.
Risk assessment follows EN ISO 12100; safety-related control functions such as light-curtain interruption and emergency stop are specified to EN ISO 13849-1. Гидравлические листогибочные прессы, поставляемые в ЕС, созданы с учетом. Machines placed on the EU market carry CE marking under Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC with the accompanying technical file. Quality management is certified to ISO 9001, and machined structural tolerances follow ISO 2768. Hydraulic press brakes are built against Гидравлические листогибочные прессы, поставляемые в ЕС, созданы с учетом, and general dimensional tolerances on contract work are usually specified to ISO 2768 medium or fine class — worth agreeing with each customer in writing, because it is the most common source of contract disputes in fabrication.
On the machines this means fully enclosed rear fencing, protective covers on all protruding moving parts, laser guarding that halts motion when the protected zone is broken, over-tonnage protection on turret punch presses, and grating-ruler offset-load detection on panel benders.
For a contract shop this is a utilisation question rather than a technology question. The right answer changes as your repeat work grows.
| Волоконный лазер | Штабелевый перфоратор с ЧПУ | Punch-laser combined | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-off and prototype work | Best — no tooling | Limited to tooling library | Good |
| Repeating hole arrays | Slow — pierces each hole | Fastest | Fastest |
| Complex contours | Best | Limited | Good |
| Forming (louvres, ribs) | Нет | Yes | Yes |
| Thick material | Up to laser power | Tonnage limited | Mixed |
| Занимаемая площадь | Умеренная | Умеренная | approx. 40% less than both separately |
| Best time to buy | First machine | When repeats build | When mix genuinely needs both on one part |
| Does STON supply it? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
If a single customer's repeat panel work grows large enough to fill a machine on its own, that is the point to look at a panel bender — not before. We would rather tell you to wait than sell a machine that spends its life being programmed.
Figures below describe the direction and mechanism of the change. Actual results depend on your part mix, batch size and shift pattern — we model them against your own drawings before quoting.
| Item | Buying for the average part | Owning the range |
|---|---|---|
| Thick and long work | Subcontracted, margin given away | Retained in house |
| Lead time control | Dependent on a supplier's queue | Own scheduling |
| Quote win rate on mixed packages | Loses jobs that mix thin and thick | Quotes the whole package |
| Setup cost per small order | Doubled by external handling | Single setup in house |
| Quality accountability | Split across suppliers | Single point |
| Требуемые капиталовложения | Ниже | Выше |
| Right answer | Depends on how often the extremes appear — which is the calculation we build with your job history | |
Payback logic we use with customers: (annual labour released + reduction in rework and scrap + additional saleable output) ÷ installed equipment cost. We build this with your real numbers rather than publishing a headline figure that would not match your plant.

Exchange-table fiber laser in 3015 to 6025 formats, 1–6 kW. Rotating platform loads the next sheet while cutting, AutoCAD-compatible programming with a cutting parameter database, dual-circuit water cooling.
Посмотреть лазерный модуль →
63 t to 320 t, 1500 to 4100 mm. DELEM 53T/58T/66T/69T or optional ESA control, mechanical crowning compensation, high-precision grating ruler, multi-axis CNC back gauge, laser protection device.
View PBS series →
Added when repeat hole-pattern work builds up. Punching, trimming, louvring and rib forming in one clamping, ±0.1 mm accuracy, turret speed to 40 rpm, 16A/11B/3C/2D turret layout.
View SF series →
Direct-drive servo with no hydraulic oil, faster response and lower running cost on thinner precision work. Mechanical deflection compensation, full closed-loop grating ruler feedback.
View PBE series →
Punching, forming and laser cutting in a single clamping for parts that need both. Roughly 40% less floor space than separate machines, and no re-clamping between the hole array and the contour.
Посмотреть серию SFL →
Worth considering only once a specific part family has stabilised at volume. Four-sided panels in 0.5–2.0 mm, program-driven, one operator or none — excellent economics on repeats, poor economics on one-offs.
View press arm type →Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Qingdao, one hour from major export ports and the airport. Casting, heat treatment, machining, welding, assembly and inspection all happen inside our own 20,000㎡ factory. That is why a configuration change for a mixed-work fabrication shop does not become a six-month subcontracting problem.




A contract shop has no buffer stock and no second machine to fall back on. Uptime is the whole business case, which is why response time and spare parts availability belong in the purchase decision rather than after it.
Ten years working with sheet-metal manufacturers across Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America. Rather than quoting a machine from a catalogue, Vicky starts from your part drawings, material and thickness range and target output, then works with STON's engineering team to define the configuration — a single panel bender, a turret punch press, or a fully integrated cutting, punching and bending line with automated loading.
Specifications on this page verified against STON engineering documentation on 4 August 2026. Forming limits are confirmed against your own drawings before quotation. Published on 4 August 2026 · Last updated 4 August 2026 · Reviewed by Vicky Xu, Head of Overseas Sales.
Not your best parts — your real ones, including the awkward extremes. We size the machines against the mix you actually quote, and we will tell you where owning capacity does not pay.
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Если вы модернизируете существующую линию или начинаете новый проект, STON разработает решение с ЧПУ для вашего производства.