A machine for bending sheet metal provides at least one sheet metal resting tool, at least one sheet metal pressing tool, and at least one sheet metal bending tool, parallel to one another; for moving the tools along a first and a second axis perpendicular to one another at least two electric motors are provided for moving the sheet metal pressing tool along the second axis, at least two electric motors for moving the sheet metal bending tool along the first axis and at least two electric motors for moving the sheet metal bending tool along the second axis; a command and control unit connected to the electric motors commands and controls the driving of the electric motors to maintain the parallelism between the tools in the operating step. In this manner, using hydraulic drives is avoided.