i have been running our press brake for 2 years now with mach3.before that with turbocnc. drives are gecko 201 driving vexta 34 stepper motors.5 tpi ball screws each side of machine, 2x6x.25 aluminum tube with movable stops. steppers are reduced 3:1 to ballscrew. move speed is 1.5 ips.all you need is the demo version as all moves are 1 liners. just bring up an mdi box and enter your move. set up an oem trigger with a remote button, and you can move to next depth of bend by pushing remote button.
for instance
g0x1.5 z4750 " move to 1.5 inch z to 90 degree 12 ga. steel"
m00 "pause wait for remote button to advance to next move"
g0x3
m00
g0x20 z 4500 "move to 20 inches z to 45degree"
m00
m30
next week i am about to controll the angle of bends with mach. my brake has an ac motor drive that turns two depth stop nuts on the cylinders.has a mechanical number readout .has to be set with pushbutton control that is tedious to hold.replacing with dc servo, viper drive. this will be my z axis.having saved written records of different settings thicknesses of steel, aluminum, and the angles formed from the number readout, should be able to automate a lot of complex shapes.