초록 ▼

Roll-formed parts having joggles or other non-linear bend lines are formed using a pair of forming mandrels having clamping surfaces with non-planar portions which are engaged on opposite sides of a sheet metal blank and passed between successive sets of forming rolls of a roll forming machine. As t

Roll-formed parts having joggles or other non-linear bend lines are formed using a pair of forming mandrels having clamping surfaces with non-planar portions which are engaged on opposite sides of a sheet metal blank and passed between successive sets of forming rolls of a roll forming machine. As the mandrels and the blank enter a first roll forming pass, the mandrels and the blank are clamped together with sufficient pressure that the portions of the blank engaged by the mandrels are forced to conform to the shapes of the clamping surfaces. Parts of the blank are moved into engagement with other surfaces of at least one of the mandrels as the blank and the mandrels progress from pass to pass. Specially shaped rolls are provided to insure proper formation of the entire roll-formed part. The roll formed parts may be made from metal having a uniform thickness or different thicknesses.

대표청구항 ▼

The method of manufacturing an elongate roll-formed part from a flat metal blank using a roll forming machine constructed to roll-form said part by progressively bending said blank about bend lines, said machine having a series of passes along which the blank being formed is driven in a predetermine

The method of manufacturing an elongate roll-formed part from a flat metal blank using a roll forming machine constructed to roll-form said part by progressively bending said blank about bend lines, said machine having a series of passes along which the blank being formed is driven in a predetermined direction, said roll-formed part having at least one section having longitudinally-extending surface portions, said surface portions having mutually coplanar bend lines along their edges, which mutually coplanar bend lines are located in a plane which slopes relative to said predetermined direction or which mutually coplanar bend lines are not uniformly in a single plane, whereby at least some cross sections of said part taken along parallel, transverse planes within said at least one section differ along the length of said at least one section, said method comprising the steps of: forming said longitudinally-extending surface portions of said at least one section in said blank between a pair of elongate mandrels having confronting blank-engaging surfaces conforming to said surface portions of said at least one section by pressing said mandrels toward one another into engagement with said blank while it is flat with sufficient force to initiate the forming of said at least one section of said part, and thereafter completing the roll-forming of said part by passing said blank and said mandrels through a series of passes of said roll forming machine constructed to roll-form said part.