Rolling Tubing and Saving Stainless Steel: 2 from 1


When materials are rather expensive, like stainless steel rectangular tubes, it is often beneficial to the customer to try to utilize each length most efficiently. It is well known throughout the industry that the roller bending process requires extra length on both ends of a rolled member. This length is used in order for the machine to grip the section and is often left unusable. It is known in the roller/bender industry as “pickup” length.

In a recent example, the design called out for a SS304 4 x 2 x 1/4 elliptically rolled rectangular tube for rail guards that surround each pile at the end of the bridge. At first look it was thought that we would need to use one 20ft stick for each member. It appeared that the rail guard was just too long when we included the machine’s required pickup length. This turned out to be too expensive for the customer and something had to be done in order to decrease costs and keep the project within budget. After some re-engineering, we were able to save the customer money by decreasing the total amount of pickup used in the job. This was done by rolling two identical parts within one stick of material. When this is done you roll both parts into one stick so they are symmetrical to one another. Doing this saves two lengths of pickup and allowed us to get two finished pieces from one stick.

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