A Basic Guide To Plate Roller Machinery

By Author: Griffin Cook
Total Articles: 8
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Plate rollers are the important equipment used in any industry to form metal pieces of specific size, shape and thickness. There are many different industrial uses of metal plates where the thickness of the plates matters more than any other specification. Sometimes, metal plates of larger thickness are needed, while some other purposes need thinner metal plates.

A plate roller is used to roll the metal and produce the desired thickness. The metals that are commonly used in plate roller or sheet metal machinery are steel, copper, brass, nickel, titanium and tin. There are some decoration purposes where precious metals such as gold and silver are also used.

How a Plate Roller Functions

The basic purpose of using a plate roller is to form a metal plate of desired thickness, i.e. the original thickness of the metal is converted to the desired thickness. The rolling procedure can be accomplished in two ways. First, one-step rolling, and second, multi-step rolling.

One-step Rolling

This plate rolling procedure involves a straight and simple rolling method of compressing the metal piece until its ...
... thickness becomes perfect for the project. If deep and long rolling is required for some deep shaped objects, the metal pieces are heated prior to rolling. Some good examples deep shaped objects are metal cans and advanced kitchen tools.

There are many industrial applications where the one-step plate rolling mechanism is used to roll metal sheets to attain required thickness, length and width. The rolled metal plates are further used in other projects, i.e. the rolled products are again used to form finished products.

Multi-step Rolling

Multi-step rolling, as the name indicates, involves multiple times of rolling of the metal plate. The metal piece is first heated and sent through multiple rollers and die forms in order to achieve the desired specifications (length, width, thickness and complete shape). This is a more complex rolling mechanism that involves a series of rolling procedures to form the finished product at once. The multi-step rolling mechanism is used to change the complete shape of the metal plate rather than just length, width or thickness.

Some of the examples of multi-step plate rolling may include guard rails applied on the curves of roadways and sheet metal roofing where the metal pieces are tooled and fitted together to protect the rooftop from rain and snow.

When applying plate rolling, one of the most important considerations is the speed of the rollers. The speed at which the metal plate is to be sent through the rollers depends on the type of the metal and the number of rollers to be used. During rolling, some metals tend to bend or distort in shape due to constant pressure. To avoid this, many tool manufacturing companies use some lubricants. A perfect rolling in combination with proper lubrication can result in a perfectly shaped finished product.

If you are looking for high-quality sheet metal machinery and plate rollers in Johannesburg, you may go for Springs Industrial Machinery (SIM). Visit their website to have a look at their products.

David has spent a few years in South Africa and has written about different types of machine and plate rollers in johannesburg. He is now studying different industries that have quality sheet metal machinery.