A Look At Non-Aerospace Commercial Roll Formed Products
At AAA Air Support, we are proud of our more than two decades of providing the aerospace industry with quality raw metal materials in the form of extrusions, sheet, plate, bar and tube, in addition to roll formed products.
Roll forming, our specialty, is a mechanical process that runs a coil or strip of metal continuously through shaping rollers and dies to form a particular profile.
We produce our wide variety of roll formed products exclusively with aerospace-grade aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium alloys.
Singing the Praises of Roll Forming
The great thing about the roll forming process is that it is such an efficient way to produce a wide variety of complex shapes, while maintaining the high strength and durability inherent in the raw material. In fact, there are thousands of roll formed shapes that can be created from this highly versatile process.
Another benefit of roll forming is it is a process well suited for producing high-volume runs and it is a highly repeatable and accurate process.
On the other hand, because of the flexibility of the actual components of a roll forming machine, it can be used to produce parts with complex profiles, or shapes, that require either multiple bends or a unique radius.
Many roll formed commercial products, both aerospace and non-aerospace, also require bending, hole punching, or galvanizing. The beauty of the roll forming process is that these steps, too, can be easily added as part of one continuous process rather than requiring separate processes.
For most commercial metal products that require shaping, roll forming is more cost-effective and productive to use than any other method of metal forming.
Not Every Roll Formed Product Has to Leave the Ground
While we specialize in products for the aerospace industry, there are many other commercial applications that don’t involve aircraft. And, because roll forming machinery doesn’t make any distinctions regarding how the parts being made are eventually used, we have the capability of providing any number of non-aerospace roll formed products.
For example, a short list of non-aerospace commercial products might include the following:
- Power distribution components
- Warehouse & data storage
- HVAC components
- Trailers & trucks
- Solar energy products
- Transportation guard rails and sign posts
- Trains
- Industrial roofing and siding components
- Agricultural storage facilities
- Chemical and manufacturing plants
- Food processing plants
- and, fittingly, airplane hangars
Let’s take a look at a few of these key non-aerospace users of roll formed parts:
Data Storage
A common industry for roll formed products made from aluminum and various steel alloys is data storage. Whether it’s a server room in a small business building, or a massive “server farm” housing hundreds or even thousands of servers and related gear, roll formed parts are needed for components such as racking for servers, shelving racks, and shelving crossbars.
Freight Transport
The nation operates because of the trucking and freight hauling industry. The hundreds of thousands of trucks and trailers on the highways depend on the strength and durability of steel roll formed products. From essential structural support members to the framing and even the decorative trim, most of these parts are roll formed.
Solar Power
The solar energy industry is only going to keep growing and all those solar panels, inverters and other pieces of hardware used for solar energy systems require roll formed parts. For example, the framing system used for supporting the solar panels are typically roll formed rails, cross pieces and mounting hardware.
Highway Safety Equipment
The highway transportation field requires a never-ending supply of metal fence posts and guardrails in addition to sign posts and other standardized products. Fence posts, for example, often have holes in a repeating pattern. Posts and guardrails can be to the required length, pre-punched, and galvanized to protect against corrosion.
AAA Air Support Offers Exceptional Service and Capabilities
While we offer a wide variety of aerospace parts and other metal supply services, and specialize in aerospace roll forming, we can provide any number of non-aerospace commercial roll formed products, as well.
At AAA Air Support, we can manufacture a wide variety of roll form products using various grades of aluminum, steel and titanium alloys. We can produce roll form products in continuous sections up to 75 feet in length, as well as custom “one off” sections or multiple production runs.
Our Gardena office offers on-line ‘live chat’ through our website. We encourage customers to make use of this convenient tool to check inventory, pricing, lead-times, material certification, and all other questions relevant to our industry. We offer this service as a convenience to busy, challenged, and dedicated purchasing agents.
Regardless of whether you need 100 feet material or just a few feet of stainless-steel tubing, AAA Air Support promises to always ship your orders quickly and efficiently. Our goal always is to provide your company with the means to complete your project and be your source for quality roll form products.
Contact us today and tell us about your non-aerospace roll formed product needs!
