Roll Forming Equipment

Roll forming equipment uses pressure applied by a series of steel rolls or roller dies to form or bend metal. A roll forming machine consists of pairs of rollers (each pair called a roll station) to continuously bend sheet or strip metal into the desired cross-sectional shape. Roll forming is ideal for producing parts with long lengths or in large quantities. Metal roll forming can fabricate rigid, high-strength parts from materials as light as aluminum and as heavy as 6-gauge steel (1/2 in. thick). Roll forming equipment can be used to produce metal building components, studs, supports, angles, C-channels, U-channels, and hat channels. Production options for roll forming machinery include hole- punching, notching, finishing, and bending. Manufacturers use a flower pattern to specify the successive stages of work and the resulting design of the cold roll forming machine. Roll form design software improves custom roll forming, allowing simulation of the roll forming process using finite element analysis. Roll forming steel can be used to fabricate parts that have greater strength-to-weight ratio than methods such as forging.

Standard features for roll forming equipment include power driven bullet rollers, chain and gear driven rollers, rolling double reel support stand, emergency shut-off switches. Accessories for roll forming equipment include three-reel adapters, coil cradles, bottom rib roller assemblies, and runout stands.

Technical Committee A01.19 (sheet and strip steel) of ASTM International (formerly called the American Society for Testing and Materials) publishes standards that apply to roll forming equipment. For example, ASTM A568/A568M-05a is a standard specification for sheet, carbon, structural, and high-strength, low-alloy, hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel. Some end-users of rolled products require higher standards of flatness because of the use of machines such as laser cutters and high-speed punching centers. Roll forming equipment may be required to meet specifications of the resulting products. For example, General Motors North America publishes GMN11192, a standard for high strength recovery annealed cold reduced sheet steel, a product that is suited for roll forming operations.

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