Bending machine and method for bending a workpiece out of a flat material

A bending machine for bending a workpiece out of a flat material, a section to be bent being reshapable relative to a clamped section of the workpiece about at least one bending axis, the bending machine comprising:

• a machine frame;
• a first side clamping wall;
• a second side clamping wall which is movable relative to the first side clamping wall;
• at least one bending unit comprising at least one bending tool, the bending tool comprising a hook-shaped bending section;
• the first side clamping wall and the second side clamping wall being designed to clamp the workpiece in a clamping plane;
• and
• the bending unit being arranged on at least one of the first and second side clamping walls;
• wherein the bending unit has at least one linear guide, by means of which the bending tool is linearly guided in order to be moved in an advancement plane to bend the section of the workpiece to be bent relative to the clamped section of the workpiece about at least one bending axis, the bending unit comprising a base element mounted movably on the side clamping wall associated with the base element, the bending tool mounted to the base element so as to be linearly movable with respect to the base element;
• and
• wherein the bending unit is designed to move the bending tool in a push bending mode in a first direction and in a pull bending mode in a second direction, which is substantially opposite the first direction, wherein in the push bending mode, the hook-shaped bending section is pressed against the section to be bent, and the section to be bent is pushed away from the bending unit about the bending axis, and wherein in the pull bending mode the hook-shaped bending section is pressed against the section to be bent, and the section to be bent is pulled towards the bending unit about the bending axis, wherein the bending unit is designed to first partially reshape the section to be bent in the push bending mode and then further reshape the section to be bent in the pull bending mode.