A roll stamping apparatus includes sets of rollers rotating while facing each other so as to press opposite surfaces of a material which is continuously supplied to move between the rollers; and molding portions having a stamping structure applied to outer surfaces of the sets of rollers so as to mold the material, wherein a plurality of sets of rollers are disposed in a movement direction of the material, the molding portions of the sets of rollers are formed to sequentially change a cross section of the material in the movement direction of the material, wherein at least one of the sets of rollers before a final set of rollers through which the material finally passes is a set of over-molding rollers having molding portions of which a length in a circumferential direction is longer than a length of the molding portions of the final set of rollers.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a pipe including a large-diameter portion, a small-diameter portion, and a reduced diameter portion connecting the large-diameter portion and the small-diameter portion, the method comprising: forming a metal plate member into a U-shaped member having a U-shaped cross section; and forming the U-shaped member into a shape of the pipe. The U-shaped member includes: a curved portion facing an opening between both edges of the U-shaped cross section; and two facing side walls continued from the curved portion. An opening degree of the two facing side walls in a portion to form the small-diameter portion is larger than an opening degree of the two facing side walls in a portion to form the large-diameter portion.

An apparatus for the support and the controlled advancement of a sheet in a bending machine for forming a cylindrical or conical structure, in particular of a truncated cone structure, comprises a base structural frame adapted to be positioned upstream of said bending machine, with respect to an advancement direction of the sheet, a plurality of conveying modules which can be mounted, removable, on the structural frame so as to generate a plan of modular support and advancement which can be configured geometrically according to the shape and dimensions of the sheet to be produced; the modular support and advancement plane is geometrically configured to keep the sheet metal part supported by the plane in a flat condition; an lifting and tilting device configured to vary the position of the structural frame, supporting the conveying modules, from a horizontal lying position to an inclined lying position in which the support and advancement plane is inclined downwards towards the bending machine; repositioning and position correcting members configured to orient and arrange the sheet in a correct position before starting a bending cycle and configured to correct, during the bending cycle, the position of the sheet to impose it a predetermined advancement trajectory towards and through the bending machine. The relative method is also envisaged.

Forming roll units included in an apparatus for manufacturing a roll-formed component each include a roll pair. The roll pair includes a receiving roll part and a first bending roll part that face each other. A plate member passing area is formed below the first bending roll part, the plate member passing area allowing a roll formed member excluding its side edge portions to pass through. The roll pair is configured to make, during bending, sliding movement in a width direction of the roll formed member and rotational movement about a normal direction to the roll formed member as a rotational center.

Apparatus, systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that flexibly form variable component geometries in a roll-forming process. An example roll-forming apparatus includes a forming unit to move along a stationary component to form a cross-section in the component, a first roll operatively coupled to the forming unit to engage the component, and a second roll operatively coupled to the forming unit to set a forming angle for movement along the component, the component formed between the first roll and the second roll.

Roll-forming machine for forming, from a flat sheet metal strip (5), a hat beam which has a profile that varies along its length. The machine comprises several consecutively arranged forming stations, each of which comprising a first pair of clamping rollers (22a, 22b) for clamping a side flange (3a) of the hat beam and a second pair of clamping rollers (23a, 23b) for clamping a central flange (2) thereof. The clamping rollers of said second pair are individually displaceable in vertical direction and horizontally in the feeding direction of the sheet metal strip. The displacement of the clamping rollers (23a, 23b) of said second pair is controlled by an electronic control device during a forming operation such that a plane that goes through the centre axes (CA3, CA4) of both these clamping rollers is maintained perpendicular to the part of the central flange (2) received in the nip (31) between these clamping rollers.

A two-axis roll forming apparatus for forming sheet metal includes a first carriage and a second carriage each reciprocally movable parallel to a longitudinal axis. The second carriage is spaced apart from the first carriage and separated therefrom by a gap. A first bending station is carried by the first carriage and reciprocal moveable parallel to a transverse axis which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. A second bending station is carried by the second carriage and reciprocal moveable parallel to the transverse axis which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.

A method for producing a crossmember for a vehicle prepares a workpiece having different thicknesses and a preliminary contour from a metal sheet of uniform thickness by flat roll forming to achieve different local thicknesses. The method cuts out the workpiece, and bending roll forms the workpiece to form a crossmember with a cross section having at least two flanges opposite one another, and a web situated between said flanges. The distance between the flanges is not constant along a longitudinal extent of the crossmember, and a thickness profile at least of the web is determined by the flat roll forming. The local thicknesses and the preliminary contour are such that a geometrical shape of the crossmember corresponds to a predetermined geometrical shape with different thicknesses and heights of the web and differently shaped regions of the flanges along the longitudinal extent of the crossmember.

During the roll-forming of a plate bar section (11) to a profile (12, 13) with variable width and upright sides (22,23) with (FIG. 1) or without (FIG. 2) flanges (24, 25), the upright sides (22, 23) are clamped in one of the last three forming stations (FIG. 12). This can yield a product with a plane bottom so that the product is not bent up (FIG. 8) or down (FIG. 10), which happens without the above-cited clamping (FIG. 13) of the upright sides (22, 23).

A turret roll forming machine includes at least one turret assembly carrying multiple rows of tooling (e.g., forming rollers), rotatable about an axis to selectively align rows of tooling with an input or output. A transmission is accessible from an exterior of the turret assembly without disassembling of the turret assembly to perform a changeover of roll tooling and/or maintenance on gears, bearings, or shafts of the transmission. Thus, a chain drive may be employed, advantageously accommodating differing rotational speeds for top and bottom forming rollers of each pair of forming rollers, e.g. to reduce roll scuffing. Pairs of forming rollers may be provided as cassettes, which are removably coupleable to the turret assembly allowing quick and easy reconfiguration and/or servicing, minimizing negative effects of changeover. The turret assembly may be a unitary structure (e.g., a weldment) improving rigidity and increasing accuracy of roll forming operations.