Advances in Roll Forming Technology

Did y'all see this in the October issue of The Fabricator?

Read the artical here:

https://www.thefabricator.com/thefabricator/article/rollforming/cold-forming-meets-roll-forming


Highlights:








------------------------

Aint postin' for Pepsi, aint postin' for Coke
Ox

I didn't read everything, but I don't think some of what they were saying is/was as 'revolutionary' as they claim. Back in 2000-2003 I worked at a stamping place where we roll formed 3 different profiles (in 'mild' steel forget the gage but was around .110 on the thicker ones and .09 on the thinner ones) -

a top hat shape
an open C channel
and one that was like a Z shape

a top hat shape
an open C channel
and one that was like a Z shape

Click to expand...

Those shapes were prolly roll formed 100 years ago.


--------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

This process needs an animated video

rcoope said:

This process needs an animated video

Click to expand...

Not gunna happen.
If you read the story completely - it says that they are holding the tech as close as they can - other than having the new patent.


------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Interesting article all right. I worked for a roll forming house (Rollex) in the early 80's that made siding, soffits, and the usual constant thickness crap. That has to be some serious rolling pressure to displace the material like that. I'd be interested in seeing the process. Thanks for posting this.

Ox, your response roused me from my torpor! Here are some pretty space-age videos if I do say so myself. No wonder they have 700,000 pieces of tooling, it takes a large number of tools to make one part. Regarding patents, they are actually a great way to find out a lot about a process, though there will likely be a few secrets probably more in either the alloy or the exact temperature of things. The trouble with trade secrets in the mechanical world is they are harder to hold than in say, chemistry, and once someone reverse engineers a trade secret and you have no patent on it, you're done. Here's one of them: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ee/c6/93/c466dd08e889b1/US8959975.pdf As always with patents, you only really need to care about the claims. This patent for example only has 11 claims in a half a page, so the disclosure might describe a bunch of things that aren't actually patented. I would say that the company's main competitive advantage is that this process is tricky!

YouTube

YouTube

To quote Sgt. Schultz...:"Veery Inteerestingah !"

Seen this come out some years ago, I wonder if it's similar (albeit more crude):
Princeton Flighting Corporation | Princeton, IL | Precision Auger Flighting

Looks to be machine maker:
Lenham Machinery Limited - Cold Rolling Process