This invention relates to roUfoiming apparatus and in particular rollibπning stations with automatic gauge setting at said rollforming stations.

Background

Rollforming apparatus has been developed in various configurations to produce profile shapes from sheet or coiled formable material such as sheet metal. The rollforming apparatus must be able to accommodate a range of material gauges. In the past this has been achieved by mechanical adjustment of the rollforming heads. This adjustment may be effected manually or there may be complex servo assisted adjusting devices for positioning the tooling clearances to match the thickness of the material being formed. Another approach is to cause one roUforming roller to rise linearly against the action of an appropriate biasing force.

All of the existing means of adjusting roUforming apparatus to accommodate varying material thicknesses are either complex and expensive, time consuming, or have a tendency to damage the lead in section of the material being formed.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide rollforming apparatus and in particular rollfoπriing stations with automatic gauge setting means at said rollforming stations which will accommodate a range of diferent gauges of material while minimising damage to the material being formed particularly during adjustment to a new gauge of material.

Present invention

Accordingly the present invention consists in a rollforming station comprising, a tooling pedestal including a mounting means to enable mounting on the bed of rollforming apparatus, a rollforming head operatively mounted on said tooling pedestal said rollfoπning head having a first tooling roller rotatably mounted on a shaft supported by said pedestal, and a second tooling roller, also rotatably mounted on a shaft supported by said pedestal with the shaft of the second roller situated to one side with reference to the

centre of the second tooling roUer so that a force applied in the direction of material feed through the tooling roUer will increase the tooling gap between the first and second tooling roUers and an automatic gauge adjuster including reaction means to resist the movement of the second tooling roUer to increase the tooling gap, said reaction means applying a source of substantiaUy constant pressure sufficient to achieve the roUforming action while allowing movement of the second roUfoπning roUer about the eccentric mounting so that the second tooling roUer will move against the reaction means in the direction of the material feed within a working range to accommodate the gauge of material being fed.

The invention further consists in rollforming apparatus using rollforming stations with the automatic gauge setting as set forth in the preceding paragraph.

Drawing Description

One preferred form of the invention and modifications thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;

Figure 1 is a plan view of rollforming apparatus according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus iUustrated in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a pictorial view of one type of rollfoπning station according to the present invention,

Figure 4 is a pictorial view of a second rollforming station according to the present invention,

Figure 5 is a pictorial view of a modified rollforming head according to the present invention allowing repositioning of the roUforming rollers on the pedestal.

Figure 6 is a side elevation of Figure 5,

Figure 7 is an end elevation of Figure 5,

Figure 8 is a detail of the automatic gauge adjuster, and

Figure 9 sets out diagrammaticaUy a series of alternative reaction means which may be employed in the automatic gauge adjuster.

Preferred Embodiment

The present invention is concerned with rollforming apparatus for use in forming various profile shapes from sheet or coiled material. The apparatus 1 has a machined support bed

2 suitably mounted on a frame 3 to provide the support for roUforming stations 4. The

train of roltfoπning stations in the apparatus are driven by a main drive motor 5 through suitable transmission means. The overall layout of the apparatus generaUy conforms to known rollfoπning apparatus with a pinch feed station 6, a series of lip stations 7, a correction station 8 and the rollforming web stations 4 through a series of stations with nine being iUustrated in the accompanying drawings. A corrector station 10 and a drive out station 11 completes the apparatus.

The rollforming station 4 as iUustrated in Figure 3 is one of the leading web stations in the rollforming apparatus and has a tooling pedestal 12 with mounting apertures 13 to receive mounting studs to fix the pedestal onto the bed 2 of the apparatus 1. The rollforming head operatively mounted on the tooling pedestal 12 is made up of a first tooling roUer 14 mounted on a shaft 15 rotatably supported in the pedestal 12. A second tooling roUer 17 is mounted on a shaft 18 also rotatably supported by the pedestal 12. The tooling roUer 17 is mounted on the shaft 18 to one side with reference to the centre of the tooling roller 17, thus providing an eccentric mounting for the tooling roller 17. The eccentric mounting is arranged so that a force applied in the direction of material feed indicated by arrow 19 wiU increase the tooling gap between the rollers 14 and 17 and an automatic gauge adjuster is provided to control this movement. The shafts is connected to transmission and drive means 16 in the conventional way.

The automatic gauge adjuster in the tooling roUers iUustrated in Figure 3 incorporates a support frame 20 attached to the pedestal 12 and an abutment 21 attached to the tooling roUer 17. The abutment is moveable about the eccentric and moves relative to the support frame and a reaction means obscured in Figure 3 resists this movement and thus controls the tooling gap between the roUs 14 and 17.

The roll forming station illustrated in Figure 4 is typical of a later web station in the rollforming apparatus and has the tooling pedestal 22 supporting the first tooling roller 23 on a shaft 24 and the second tooling roller 25 eccentrically mounted on the shaft 26 with the support frame 27 and abutment member 28 which is moveable with the tooling roller 25. The reaction means 29 visible in this figure is a compression block which supplies substantially constant reaction force sufficient to achieve rollforming action wliile aUowing movement of the rollforming head 25 about its eccentric mounting thus the roll 25 can move within its working range to accommodate the gauge of material being formed.

A yet further rollforming head 4a is illustrated in Figures 5-8 of the accompanyin drawings. In this case the tooling pedestal 30 has a rotatable carrier 31 mounted therei and the carrier 31 rotatably supports the shafts 32 and 34 on which the tooling roUers 3 and 35 are mounted. The shaft 34 is eccentricaUy located in the tooling roUer in a simila manner to that above described. The gauge adjustor has the support frame 36 and th abutment 37 with the compression block 38 providing the resistance force. A particula feature about this roUforming head is that through use of the carrier 31 the positions of th rollforming heads at the station can be reversed and as will be seen in the drawing th tooling roller with the automatic adjustment gauge is located on die top. However th position can simply be reversed by disconnecting the drive unlocking and rotating th carrier 31 to change the top roUer to be located as the bottom roUer and relocking th carrier and reconnecting the drive.

The automatic gauge adjuster in aU embodiments iUustrated, may have a preloa appUcator which by use of a tightening nut or stud or by other suitable means can preloa the compression block to set the niinimum tooling gap between the tooling roUers. Th preload appUcator in Figure 3 is iUustrated at 39 and in Figure 4 at 40 and in Figure 8 a 41. Conveniently a connecting rod with a head at one end and thread at the other en passes through aligned apertures in the support frame, abutment member and compressio block with a nut on the threaded end allowing for preloading. Other mechanica configurations to achieve the purpose of the automatic adjustor as set out above may als be used.

The reaction means in the Ulustrated examples of rollforming stations is shown as compression block. This compression block must be selected to provide sufficien pressure during operation to achieve the rollforming and allow within the operating rang movement of the eccentricaUy mounted tooling roUer to increase the tooling gap when th gauge of metal being formed is increased.

A particularly suitable compression block material for such an auto gauging applicatio is lurathane with a shore hardness of 90, a tensile strength of 31 and a tear strength of 63 It would be understood however that the desired characteristics may be found in a numbe of other materials. We have found that in many applications lurathane having a shor hardness from 70 to 100 is acceptable. The characteristics of the compression block mus be such that they allow compression for the adjustment movement during the automati gauging but provide a sufficient reaction pressure to allow effective rollforming. Othe

rubber material having an appropriate shore hardness to achieve the compression characteristics required could also be used, but from a practical point of view a material which has a long life in use should be selected.

While the reaction means is particularly conveniently deUvered in the form of a compression block formed from suitable material, the present invention is not intended to be restricted thereto. Figure 9 iUustrates diagrammaticaUy a series of alternative means of creating the reaction force required. In figures 9a-e 42 represents the eccentricaUy mounted tooling roller, 43 represents the support means to resist the movement of the eccentrically mounted tooling roller and 44 represents the tooling roUer preloading means.

In Figure 9a the reaction force is generated by an air cylinder or activator 45. In Figure 9b the reaction force is generated by a hydrauUc cylinder 46, in Figure 9c the reaction force is generated by a sleeve of torsion resistant material 47 mounted within the eccentric mount. In Figure 9d the action force is generated by a compression spring 48 and in Figure 9e the reaction force is generated by a tension spring 49. Thus it wiU be appreciated that a number of different means can be used in the rollforming stations according to the present invention to provide the required reaction force.

As will be apparent from the forgoing description the present invention provides rollforming apparatus that has incorporated in the roUforming stations automatic adjustment means within the allowed tolerances for accommodating varying gauges of material being formed. The adjustment mechanism can be preloaded and the apparatus set to operate with a minimum of adjustment necessary during operation within the tolerances provided. This means there is no labour or complex servo equipment to achieve adjustment to a new gauged material and the automatic adjustment mounting is smooth thus not damaging the lead in search of a new gauge of material being formed.