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The Official "Roll Bending" Thread

Baileigh inc

Aluminum
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Location
Manitowoc Wisconsin
We get calls every single day about roll bending applications, tooling, material profiles, wrinkling, what is the difference between a single and double pinch machine, how many passes will it take, how do I repeat parts, why is my angle iron twisting, what is the difference between NC and CNC roll benders......you get the point.

We deal with a ton of unique applications on a daily basis, so I will start this roll bending thread as a resource for people who are interested in the art roll bending.

If you have any questions about roll bending or roll benders this is the place.

I will start to populate this thread with some interesting applications we have come across over the years.

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Do you guys know who @ekstensivemetalworks is? If not, stop, drop and go follow now! These guys are building insane chassis with our #baileighrollbender #rollbender the R-M55 that boasts 50mm shafts and can handle 2.75" tubing......holy cow!

 


Born and raised in Las Vegas, Tyler Burleson was exposed to the world of sparks and metal at an early age. With an uncle as a union sheet metal worker, it didn’t take long for Tyler to follow in his footsteps.

Working for the union was good money, but it seemed almost like seasonal work as he was constantly waiting on the next job. Layoff after layoff……. this feast or famine lifestyle was not a consistent paycheck and with the downed economy in Las Vegas, Tyler had to find another way to provide for his family.

With his sheet metal equipment and an amazing artistic vision, he began to make metal art in his spare time. Friends, family and people around town began to take notice of Tyler’s abilities and his work went viral throughout the city. His art can now be seen in galleries and art shows all over Las Vegas and a national following is not too far off with his projects being posted on Instagram.

In addition to sheet metal and 3 dimensional art pieces, Tyler is paving the way for “roll bent art” that has seemed to flood the art scene. With large radius turns and flowing bends, the look of rolled tube is elegant, yet captivating to say the least.
 
Last photo you posted, why is this idiot wearing sandals in the shop? Really? What a dumb ass. But I digress... Question about the bender: One very annoying problem with this type bender is the sort of kink that you get where the straight section transitions to the curve section. This is obvious in the pic with sandal man, look at the ends of the curved section. At the point where it transitions to straight the radius is the radius of the bending roll. No real way to avoid that I've been able to find. In your examples they use all curved sections, no transitions from curve to straight. So, any solutions to this?
 
Last photo you posted, why is this idiot wearing sandals in the shop? Really? What a dumb ass. But I digress... Question about the bender: One very annoying problem with this type bender is the sort of kink that you get where the straight section transitions to the curve section. This is obvious in the pic with sandal man, look at the ends of the curved section. At the point where it transitions to straight the radius is the radius of the bending roll. No real way to avoid that I've been able to find. In your examples they use all curved sections, no transitions from curve to straight. So, any solutions to this?

....sandal man, that's funny.He is actually Mark Munson from Munson's Rod Shop and the only reason he is wearing sandals is because I literally forced him to go out in the shop on a day he wasn't working and take a picture for a blog I was writing. He was a good sport and did it, but has caught a lot of flack for his choice in foot protection.

The "unbent" flat spot is unavoidable with a single pinch machine (fixed bottom rolls, with adjustable top roll) Your unbent flat will be the distance from the center of the top roll to the center of one of the bottom rolls. This can be helped a little with larger bottom tooling or a double pinch roll bender (fixed top roll, with independently adjustable bottom rolls)

Hope this helped
 
Actually that was helpful. Webb has some good diagrams on their web site at: Bending rolls
These apply to plate, but I can see the same would apply to rolling pipe or tube. Maybe you have some similar diagrams showing some different ways to set up your roll, but I didn't find it on your website.
 
Actually that was helpful. Webb has some good diagrams on their web site at: Bending rolls
These apply to plate, but I can see the same would apply to rolling pipe or tube. Maybe you have some similar diagrams showing some different ways to set up your roll, but I didn't find it on your website.

Our new website will be launched in first quarter 2015 and should have much more information for you guys.

Yes, you can see in the diagram you linked to the benefits of a double pinch set up.
 
Chris Johns from Chris Johns Sculpture is an incredible metal artist who made this ornamental Bridge with the R-M10 roll bender for a School in Shropshire, UK. From a CAD drawing on the computer to a freestanding sculpture in a matter of days.

 
Impressive Roll Bending Solutions

Today, in one of our North American showrooms, our roll bending team provided bend samples for a customer who was looking to roll 3” x 7/16” thick, 6061 T-6 aluminum extrusion for a custom window application.

As you can see, the R-H45 Programmable Hydraulic Roll Bender made quick work of the samples. It sports a 3 driven roll system that prevents material slippage, allowing the operator to repeat parts with less steps in the manufacturing process.

Baileigh industrial is the global leader in roll bending and forming applications. With manual, NC or fully automated CNC solutions available around the world, our team is ready to roll (no pun intended) when it comes to bend sample.

If you have a tricky application or would like us to engineer you a manufacturing solution, please call one of our many locations around the world, or shoot us an email at [email protected]













 
How do I get started on a project with minimal waste? Let's say I have a small job where I need to bend only four sections of flat bar with let's say a 12" radius. The finished width is 60mm and the material thickness is 1/4". The job calls for 6mm thickness, but have been given a pass on the 1/4". So, the stock will be .25" x 2.5", then the width cut down to 60mm. So, after the stock has been prepped I stick a section of stock in the machine, adjust the roller(s) and make a pass. Measure the radius, rinse, repeat until the desired radius has been achieved. Now having crept up in the radius I CANNOT leave the machine as is and simply run another thru as the radius will be extremely tight this next round. My question, more specifically, is there a formula, bending chart, etc. available to be used as a guide to help one be more productive with these machines? I fully realize material type, shape, initial hardness, etc. will all be variable. But, there has to be some sort of starting point that someone has already devised by now.
 
How do I get started on a project with minimal waste? Let's say I have a small job where I need to bend only four sections of flat bar with let's say a 12" radius. The finished width is 60mm and the material thickness is 1/4". The job calls for 6mm thickness, but have been given a pass on the 1/4". So, the stock will be .25" x 2.5", then the width cut down to 60mm. So, after the stock has been prepped I stick a section of stock in the machine, adjust the roller(s) and make a pass. Measure the radius, rinse, repeat until the desired radius has been achieved. Now having crept up in the radius I CANNOT leave the machine as is and simply run another thru as the radius will be extremely tight this next round. My question, more specifically, is there a formula, bending chart, etc. available to be used as a guide to help one be more productive with these machines? I fully realize material type, shape, initial hardness, etc. will all be variable. But, there has to be some sort of starting point that someone has already devised by now.

If its a small job with only a few parts, it is really a trial and error process to keep it simple. Spacing between the bottom rolls, material tensile strength, and adjustment of the top roll will all play a factor in the radius coming off of the machine. An experienced roll bending operator will get to know the machine and how it will react to different materials....

If it is a large production job with hundreds or thousands of parts, a process using the least amount of passes consistently can easily be duplicated.

There are a few slick bending programs that can help, but you need to calibrate the program to your machine and material. Let me know if you would like more information
 
I own a competing brand, but I have found that its kind of a black art- you need to first really get to know your machine, then just try many different things. Different mill runs of the exact same size and shape will roll slightly differently.
The reason they have the digital readout is just so you can come back to the same spot- not because it corresponds to any real world standard setting.
I have seen machines that are CNC, which allow you to roll one piece of material to a tight radius, and a second sample piece to a loose radius, and THEN they will be able to automatically make your desired radius in that exact material.
That machine, which was Italian, and had the learning feature, cost over $50,000. I am not sure if the Baleigh CNC machines have that autolearn feature or not- but they start at $35k or so as well. So- if you want to avoid trial and error, it can be done- just spend the right amount of money.
otherwise, practice, grasshopper.
I have had mine for almost fifteen years now, and, I am pretty efficient at not wasting much material, but it took time.
 
I have an Italian machine. Not sure if we are speaking of the same one. I've resurrected the control, but have NO idea how it operates. There are a couple buttons in which the labels have been worn off, so I'm figgering these are equiv. to cycle start and pause. There's a "SAVE" feature and memory locations to store settings. I was at the point of reverse engineering the control, but that will take a HUGE amount of time. Never really had much use for the machine, but now I'm getting orders for grippers to transport tires with automatic gantries and it would be sweet to not have to waste so much material while I learn. I've used a single pinch machine many years ago for building hand railing, but I wound up bolting that thing down to my flat bed to make it portable. It was easier to take it to the field to match the south-of-the-border concrete finisher's radii because either they couldn't read a print or just didn't give a damn about it.

I started another thread about my machine, but haven't had any hits on it that I'm aware of. Need to check it I suppose.
 
Patrick Kilday from @drumspremier has stepped up to the R-CNC55 to assist in the production of his green houses. This fully programmable CNC roll bender learns as it rolls your material. With each calibration, it gets more and more accurate.
Simply load the material, step and the foot pedal and watch your parts being duplicated on a production level ‪#‎baileigharmy‬ ‪#‎baileighrollbender‬ ‪#‎rollbender‬ ‪#‎CNC‬

 








 
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