This video of a heavy gauge forming machine illustrates the complexity of bending steel in to the common highway w-beam railing.  Highway guardrail suppliers rely on these industrial grade machines to manufacture a range of barrier designs and profiles.  The more common guardrail requirements are included as a standard feature in many rollforming machines.  Leading manufacturers such as "The Bradbury Group" supply these high grade machines.

Highway Barriers

Many municipalities have moved their freeway barriers over to concrete barrier construction.  Although these systems provide unique advantages over metal guardrails there is still a need to incorporate both styles in any road construction project.  All safety barriers have specific advantages over their counterpart and must be looked at when designing an effective safety system.  The w beam guardrail design has been around for decades and continues to be one of the leading guard rails for highway construction.  The "guardrail roll forming machine" has always been used to form these long, heavy gauge steel sections.  Sweep machines have been used to curve the section for corners in the roadway.

Guardrail Roll Forming Machine

When steel manufacturers look for reliable methods to manufacture the common thrie beam guardrail system they often seek out roll forming companies.  By providing cost effective methods for forming heavy gauge steel with the required guardrail installation notching, holes and cut-offs rollforming machine manufactures provide the best equipment to achieve this.

Watch the Bradbury Group video of a Guardrail Roll Forming Machine to see how this industrial workhorse helps steel fabricators.

The cold forming process is that of bending flat metal sheet (either pre-cut or continuous ) in to a specific profile.  This process has been around for a long time and utilizes the basic principles today.  The struggle has always been the deformation of the steel as it is being bent.  The 'bending' of metal when cold stretches and changes the makeup of the elements within the steel.

High Strength Steel Forming

There is a growing trend in today's market to switch to high-strength steel when forming parts.  This movement obviously generates new challenges in the high speed rollforming industry.  The traditional roll forming machine has always worked at slow speed in order to minimize the changes made the the steel at a molecular level.  With the addition of this new type of steel it's even more critical to understand well the impact of increased production rates and part quality.  This is where the COPRA FEA program can help.   Roll forming manufactures often rely on a few key individuals for their craftsmanship in designing roll tooling.  Now with the addition of high strength steel and high speeds new software technology is required to improve the performance of roll formers.

New Products For Roll Forming Process

Eco Building Products has announced that they have been awarded an additional fourteen homes to building in California.

As with any new construction project vendors and suppliers are challenged with how to build for less money and offer new creative designs.

Steel Framing Rollformers

Roll forming machines can offer exactly that.  Low cost production and innovative designs.  When building ECO friendly homes it's important to look at the complete spectrum of requirements.  Common construction techniques utilize wood framing as a means to being green.  But is this the case?

Is Wood Framing Eco Friendly?

Common belief is that wooden construction techniques are ECO Friendly.  Although they are produced by a renewable resource this doesn't mean they are green.  In order to be truly green they should be easily recycled.  Steel framing on the other hand is easy to recycle once a building is demolished.  This full circle recycling makes steel studs and tracks more ECO friendly than its counterpart wooden framing.

Rollforming Industries

• Automotive – Chassis
• Automotive – Window Glides
• Automotive Runners
• Building and Construction
• Steel Stud and Track
• Corner Bead
• Decking
• Corrugated Panel
• Standing Seem Roofing
• Appliance skins
• HVAC posts
• and much more…

Rollformer Accessories

The most common accessories used today are the stacker and injet marker.  Both of these accessories allow for improved through-put and improved product identification.

Roll Forming News

Check out our machinery blog for the latest news in the roll former industry.

As compared to the metal stamping process, roll forming proves to be more efficient and cost effective. Metal components fabricated with the cold roll forming process are used in numerous applications including high rise buildings, vehicles, airplanes, furniture and domestic appliances. A typical benefit of the low cost roll forming process in comparison to other metal forming techniques is that auxiliary operations such as punching, welding, clenching and embossing can be included in the same operation. The roll formed parts thus produced can be directly used in different industries. 

Roll Forming Process

Roll forming is basically the continuous bending operation during which either a metal sheet or a long strip or metal is plastically deformed along a linear axis by being passed through a series of roller dies that progressively shape and contour the metal. In effect, rolls are the tools that form the metal moving through the roll forming machine. The number of passes the metal makes depends on the complexity of the part and the properties of the material to be formed. High strength steel components are commonly roll formed through the process is also employed to prepare components with zinc, aluminium, brass, copper and various non ferrous and ferrous metals. Roll formed parts have a variety of shapes, angles and curves. 

Roll Forming Machines

Roll forming machinery does not require much maintenance and this is why roll forming is a cost effective metal fabrication technique. However care should be taken to ensure a good rolling mill alignment. Since tooling is devised to specific tolerances, the forming rolls and their components should be aligned to each other both horizontally and vertically. The rolls must be aligned from side-to-side and pass-to-pass. 

Also, all roll forming equipment must be backed by adequate warranty and its repair and maintenance should be entrusted only to experienced and qualified professionals.

Good question and one asked by Industrial Machinery News on our Facebook Page.  To add your vote go to Facebook 'like' our page and select your "most innovative" roll forming manufacturer.

In today's world of increased production through-put demands, reduced operational costs and increased per part efficiencies it's tough to narrow nail innovation to one thing.  So who from our list sets the bar the highest?

List of most innovative roll forming manufacturers.

• Bradbury Group
• Chicago Roll Co.
• Formtek Group
• Metform Intl
• Roll Former Corp
• Roll Kraft
• Samco Machinery
• Sen Fung

Have your say and vote before the Fabtech Expo held in at McCormick Center this November.

We're asking the question to find out what you think. Is there a 'best' roll forming machine manufacture or has that industry leveled out.  You be the judge.

Best Roll Forming Manufacturer

Why even ask this question?  Well it's to help buyers weed through the many options and hear directly from people like you.  You're opinion does matter to those who need to make a large investment in metal forming.

Drop by our Facebook survey and add your voice to "Who's the best roll former manufacturer".

Strut channel is a standardized roll formed steel structural system used in construction, automotive and electrical industries for light structural support, usually in wiring, plumbing and mechanical components such as ventilation and air conditioning systems. The primary advantage of steel strut channel in construction is that there are many options available to connect lengths together to the channel. It can be assembled rapidly with minimal tools and moderately trained labour, reducing costs in many applications.  

Steel Channels through Roll Forming 

Roll forming is superior to other metal fabrication processes when it comes to steel strut manufacturing. In large projects, the cost of roll formed tooling is overcome by sheer volume. It also makes it easier to produce longer lengths than can produced through press braking. Moreover, press brake process requires test blanks which become scrap. This leads to additional costs in small and complex projects. 

Steel Strut Equipment

Cold roll forming is the most economical and efficient mechanism to fabricate high strength steel struts. The process uses a series of matching profile rolls driven in multiple stands, through which metal strips are passed without applying any heat. Each pair of rolls progressively shapes the metal and the final pair produces the required profile. The cold roll forming process produces a strain hardening impact in steel channels to enhance the yield strength. The process raises the yield strength of full sections to as high as 70%  more than virgin metal yield strength. 

Roll formed stainless steel channels are also lighter in weight than those produced by extrusion, press braking and other metal fabrication techniques. 

A brake press or just brake, is a machine tool used for bending sheet and plate material, most commonly sheet metal. The press brake consists of two C-frames connected to a table at the bottom and on a movable beam at the top. The bottom tool is mounted on the table with the top tool mounted on the upper beam. Brake press forming is one of the oldest mechanical metal deformation process.  During the process, a piece of sheet metal is formed along a straight axis and may be accomplished by a "V"- shaped, "U"-shaped, or channel-shaped punch and die set.

Although press braking appears as a simple process, but its accurate execution can be quite difficult. One of the most common industrial press braking process is Air Bending that relies upon three point bending. The main benefit of air bending is that it uses lesser force than other methods to achieve a 90° bend due to the leverage effect.

Characteristic of the metal brake press forming process include:

1. It can easily form ductile materials
2. The process can be used in both low and medium production run applications
3. It requires minimal tooling
4. It is suitable to produce smaller parts

Materials commonly used in the brake forming process include; aluminum, brass, cold rolled carbon steel, hot rolled carbon steel and stainless steel. Thanks to its efficient nature, today brake press forming has become a norm in the automobile industry. These days, a cnc brake press operator can easily make superior quality parts without wasting any steel. Not only that, the hydraulic press brake forming has also helped in improving the quality of auto parts. 

To read more about alternatives to brake pressing follow this link. Why roll forming is more cost effective then brake pressing.

Being the metal fabricating technique, press brake forming offers various advantages as follows: 

• Adaptable to a wide range of production requirements
• It has minimal tooling requirements
• Capable for forming ductile materials
• Suitable for the production of smaller parts

Though a simple process, Press braking when used with other techniques like precision bending becomes a complex process to implement and handle while among the work material, the machine and its tooling. Various factors including strength, hardness and ductility determine the extent to which the material will "spring back.

Owing to its efficiency, press brake forming is quite popular in building and automobile industry. In case of former, with press tooling, the press brake operator can easily make steel studs, metal frames, and even corrugated metal roofs. Thanks to their light weight, carrying them is quite easy. 

On the other side, in latter case (the automobile industry), the press brake forming technique helps shaping steel in almost any profile. This prevents the wastage of steel, which is an expensive commodity these days.