The Benefits of a Steel Roll Forming Machine

Roll forming is a metal fabrication process that pulls coiled strip through a series of roll dies that bend, mold, and punch the steel into your desired cross-sectional shape. Unlike other metal fabrication methods, it uses no heat and can produce complex shapes with inline punching, notching, knockouts, and marking.

High-Speed Production

Roll forming machines can run at high speeds to increase production. The machine uses a set of tool steel rolls to change the shape of metal from a coil into the desired profile. The rolls are strategically positioned to avoid interfering with each other and are designed for specific cross-sections. Using these tools creates the desired profile on each pass of metal over the forming area. This allows for more parts to be produced in a shorter amount of time.

However, the speed of production comes with its own challenges. For example, when the forming process is too fast, it can heat up and cause material to change shape. It also requires more rollers or dies to form the same section of metal, which can increase costs and take up more space on the machine floor.

The speed of a roll-forming line also makes it difficult to maintain dimensional tolerances and quality standards. For example, the bend radius must be at least three to four times the thickness of the metal to avoid fracture. Also, springback (a form of buckling) in high-strength steel is higher than other grades, which may require more overbend and impose mechanical tolerances on the part.

To address these issues, a high-performance metal framing mill should feature an adjustable gap between the forming heads to accommodate different sizes of material and profiles. It should also be capable of producing metal studs, tracks and other light gauge framing products with varying flange, web and lip dimensions. This flexibility is especially important for the construction industry, where there are a variety of standard specifications for metal framing.

Low Labor Efficiencies

Before roll forming existed, shaping metal into various shapes and profiles was a labor-intensive process. These traditional methods included forging, casting, stamping, and machining. In addition to high labor costs, these methods produced a lot of scrap. Roll forming produces one to three percent scrap, significantly less than other metal working processes.

In addition to reducing scrap, the low labor efficiencies of a steel roll forming machine mean that the machines can run for longer shifts than other metal working machinery. That means more work gets done in the same amount of time, resulting in higher production rates.

The ability of a steel roll forming machine to produce complex profiles at a high speed also translates into lower material costs. This is because the process cuts down on the need for additional welding, painting, machining and assembly operations that add to the overall cost of production.

Secondary operations can be performed directly on the formed parts in-line or offline. These operations can include adding punched features, lubricating components to reduce friction and other factors that increase manufacturing cost, or re-gapping the rolls to ensure the correct size. Dahlstrom’s die designers make sure the number of punch strokes on the coil strip takes up as little time as possible to allow the forming line to run continuously.

Proper equipment maintenance is essential to optimizing a roll forming machine’s efficiency. This includes a regular inspection of all the machine’s parts and making sure the rolls, spacers, and shafts steel roll forming machine are aligned correctly. Misalignment can change the gap between the top and bottom rolls, which can have a major impact on the finished product.

Variety of Products

In addition to saving on labor, the precision of roll forming also eliminates the need for additional fabrication methods such as welding or machining. This reduces production time and saves material.

Manufacturers use a variety of materials in their products, and this includes both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In general, these metals must be malleable below their yield point and able to hold a curved shape after forming. The type of material will determine the adjustments that must be made to each bending stage.

A wide range of shapes can be formed using a steel roll forming machine. The process can even create a single, long piece with the ability to curve along its length. This allows manufacturers to produce complex components that would be impossible or impractical to manufacture through other techniques.

Examples of these products include the interior framing of trailers and delivery trucks, the skeleton of building structures, and the ribbed sections that make up the cabs of 18-wheelers. Roll forming is also used in solar power panels to hold large arrays of photovoltaic cells at specific angles to optimize their energy-producing potential.

To produce these products, the company will have to purchase a steel coil that is cut before it enters the roll forming machine. This will raise the machine’s production rate, but it may require a hydraulic tank to automate the shears. It can eliminate short length restrictions, and it can be a friendlier process for high-strength and heavy-gauge metals because it doesn’t have a leading edge that hits each forming station.

Flexibility

Roll forming is a process that can make many different cross-sections from a single set of tools. This gives a much greater degree of flexibility than other metal forming processes. It also provides a much better level of dimensional shutter rolling machine control for the finished part. This makes it easier to assemble the parts into your final product.

The flexibility of a steel roll forming machine helps reduce changeover times. Fabricators can change between one profile and another without having to stop the production line to manually swap out tooling. This saves time and money while increasing the reliability of the production process.

Each work material reacts differently to the stresses of a roll forming process. This means that certain materials may require more or fewer bending stations. For example, black steel and galvanized steel respond to forming stress differently than prepainted or stainless steel. In addition, HSS requires more overbends than other types of steel to compensate for its higher springback.

Adding or changing a Combi group can allow a steel roll forming machine to produce different cross-sections without having to switch out the entire set of tooling on the machine. This allows the machine to stay productive even when the customer demands a new product. This can be especially helpful in high-volume manufacturing. It can also help lower maintenance costs, because it eliminates the need to periodically replace entire sets of rollers.