COPRA Technology Software

Roll forming is a continuous metal forming process taking sheet, strip, or coiled stock and bending or forming it into shapes of essentially identical cross section by feeding the metal between successive pairs of rolls that increasingly shape it until the desired cross section is completed adding both strength and rigidity to lightweight materials. The process adds both rigidity and strength to the roll formed material. During the roll forming process, only bending occurs. The thickness of the metal is not changed except for a slight thinning of the material at the bend radius.
Rollforming Advantages

• Roll forming offers a number of distinct advantages over other metal fabricating methods. Advantages include:
• The initial cost of a roll forming line is no more, and often less, than the cost of a standard stamping line or progressive die operation.
• Production speeds of 50-600 feet per minute can be attained but 100-180 feet per minute is a reasonable average for most current equipment.
• Roll forming is a high volume process that makes uniform and accurately dimensioned parts.
• Parts are produced with little handling, minimizing labor costs, needing only the coils to be loaded at the starting end of the machine and removal of finished parts at the other end. This process can usually be handled with a minimal number of operators.
• Roll forming can also be used for low-volume production because setup or changeover time for new parts is not lengthy.
• Maintenance costs are generally low. The form rolls can produce several million feet of product before problems occur when properly maintained.
• The roll forming process is easily combined with other operations and processes to automatically form a considerable range of metal parts