Roll Forming

View A Video on Roll Forming - A Quick Introduction

Examples of Roll Forming products include angle irons, aluminum angles and steel angles which are used in carpentry and building applications. Metal trim and metal channels are also widely used in construction, but they are also used in the manufacture of industrial, commercial and consumer products. Metal rings are used to embellish buttons on telephones, in elevators and even clothing. They also prevent hoses from disconnecting, street signs from falling and they secure lock hardware in doors. Metal wall panels can improve the appearance of a wall in an office, or it can protect a wall in a factory from flying debris or sparks. All of these roll formed products are produced in stock quantities by metal fabricators because of the constant, high demand for them. However, in the many cases in which a stock roll formed product is not appropriate, custom roll forming provides specialized products in large quantities and of uniform quality. Roll forming is a modular process; roll formers can be configured to produce all manner of metal shapes.

Roll formed parts boast a variety of advantages over alternative forming processes; roll formers generate very little scrap material while simultaneously improving the qualities of strength and durability in the metals they process; this makes them very cost-effective compared to other metal shaping processes. Roll forming is a cold forming process, which means that no heat is used to make the metals pliable. Instead, compression and force are used to shape the metals; the compressive stress created by the rollers imparts qualities of strength as they shape the metal. Other metal shaping processes like thermoforming can create larger amounts of scrap, they can be more energy intensive and the machinery can be expensive. Also, roll forming is a continuous process, which means that as long as a roll former is fed with a continuing supply of metal, it can continue producing shaped products. The only major drawback to roll forming as a metal shaping method is the labor intensity of roller configuration; this process requires a trained professional to precisely set roller systems to ensure a flawless finished product. Recent advances in computer control systems have made this process easier, but it can still be costly.

Roll formers work by forcing metal through a series of rollers. At the beginning of a roll forming process, a stock of metal (which is usually coiled to allow for easy access by the machine) is fed into the first set of rollers. The first sets of rollers in every roll former are designed in advance to fit tightly around the contours of the metal stock. Each subsequent set of rollers is slightly different in terms of position, allowing for the gradual shaping of the metal as it passes through the rollers. For example, if a customer orders circular metal clamps, a roll forming company takes a stock of metal strip that looks like this: ---. That strip is fed into a roller system that creates circular metal clamps. The first set of rollers may look like this :::: with the metal strip gripped horizontally in the middle. Slowly, the position of each successive roller in the system would change so that the metal strip, whose horizontal cross section originally looked like a straight line, changes until it looks like this: ?. One drawback of roll forming is that it cannot create sealed ring products; a roll formed metal ring must always be welded or connected with fasteners in order to become sealed.

Roll forming services can quickly and efficiently accommodate high-volume orders. Because roll forming is continuous, high-volume roll form production is often very cost-effective. However, roll former configurations vary in terms of output speed; a given roll former can produce anywhere between 30 and 600 feet of roll formed metal products per minute. Most roll formers are capable of using near 94% of stock metal material during forming operations, which minimizes waste, maximizes efficiency and boosts profitability. Roll forming operations that involve punching or other surface area reduction services produce more waste than those that don't provide such services. Roll forming is an excellent choice for the shaping of coated, finished, cured or otherwise treated metals. Because roll forming processes don't involve heat, and because rollers can be coated with powders or oils that don't react with the metals that they shape, roll forming can shape metals without affecting surface properties. This makes it an ideal shaping method for polished metals, coated metals and other metals whose aesthetic properties must be maintained.

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Roll Formed Part Types

• Aluminum angles are bent or conjoined pieces of aluminum that form an angle.
• Aluminum channels are open or closed rectangular tubes made of aluminum. 
• Angle irons are bent or conjoined pieces of heavy-duty metal that are often used to support a structure.
• Angles are created by roll forming various metals, commonly stainless steel, and provide support in two directions. Angles often contain holes or slots for connecting parts, which increases strength and firmness.
  
• Channels provide a support system for numerous roll formed products, such as frames and rails.
• Custom Roll Forming is a roll forming service that offers the fabrication of custom products.
• Metal channels are roll-formed products that provide a support system frames and rails.
• Metal rings are circular, roll-formed parts used to join and seal.
• Metal trim fits around the edge of a product or part.
• Metal wall panels are sheets of roll formed metal that are used to cover walls.
• Outboard mills are roll forming machines which have housings that support both ends of the roll tooling shafts.
  
• Post-cut roll forming is a process that uses continuous rolls of metal and does not cut the piece to size until after it has been roll-formed. This process is the most common, efficient, consistent and least troublesome roll forming method.
  
• Pre-cut roll forming is a process that uses material that has been cut-to-length before entering the roll forming machine. This method is primarily used for low-volume applications.
• Roll Formed Products are metals that have been passed through a series of rollers in order to take on a shape. 
• Roll formers are machines that are used to roll form metals.
• Steel angles are roll-formed products made by bending a piece of steel sheet metal.
• Steel channels are roll-formed products made of steel that provide a support system frames and rails.
• Rings are often roll formed from other shapes and commonly function as container seals and lids. Stainless steal is the preferred alloy.

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Roll Formed Part Terms

Accumulator - Piece of equipment that holds metal coil so the roll forming process may continue uninterrupted while new material is attached to the coil.

Auxiliary Operations - Secondary processes performed in conjunction with roll forming.

Camber - A deviation from a straight line in a roll formed piece.

Coiling - Procedure in which heated flat sheet metal is transformed into spiral coils.

Cold Work - The process of deforming metal at room temperature in order to increase strength and hardness.

Drive System - The system responsible for providing the roll forming machines with power and moving the metal coils through the machines.

Ductility - The ability of metal to bend or form without fracture.

Elastic Limit - The maximum amount of stress a metal can accept without succumbing to permanent deformation.

End Flare - Deformation at the end of a roll formed part.

End Joiner - Piece of equipment that connects two coils to permit the continuance of metal coils into the roll forming machine.

Ferrous Metal - A metal in which iron makes up a significant component.

Levelers - Mechanism that maintains flatness of metal being fed into the roll forming machine.

Nonferrous Metal - A metal that does not contain iron.

Plastic Deformation - Permanent changes in the shape of a metal that occur after pushing a metal piece past its elastic limit. Deformation is accomplished through the application of stress.

Pickling - The process of cleaning steel coils in preparation for metal forming processes, such as roll forming. The coils are subjected to hydrochloric acid that removes impurities, such as rust, from the metal.

Reel Kinks - Imperfections in the metal coil.

Roll Changing - The process of changing the rolls on roll forming equipment. This is a long, costly procedure.

Slit Edges - In reference to the edge of sheet or strip metal that results from cutting to width by rotary slitters.

Springback - Deformation in a roll formed part that occurs when the roll forming process fails to stretch a part past its elastic limit.

Sweep - Deviation from a straight line in the horizontal plane measured after the part has been formed. Sweep is caused because of incorrect horizontal roll alignment and/or uneven forming pressure.

Tolerance - The acceptable variation from product specifications, such as cross-sectional dimensions.

Trimming - Removing metal scrap from a metal formed part in order to maintain consistency among metal parts.

Twist - Deformation in a roll formed part that resembles a corkscrew. Twists are caused by extreme pressure levels created during the roll forming process.

Yield Strength - The maximum stress which can be applied to a material without lasting deformation of that material.

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