Slats, Strips, Gaskets, Battens
  Roll Formed Slats & Strips: are flatter than they are high. Forming of these parts is usually very minor compared to the more complex Mouldings and
Profiles. Material is usually on the thinner side for these Sections, however, they can be up to .125" thick. Because these are more basic, simpler Shapes,
tooling can be much less extensive and less costly, when needed. Donation of tooling is more common on higher volumes. Many Slats and Strips are already
tooled for however, as you can see on the print examples. The simplest forms of Slats & Strips is raw material that is flattened, cut to length, and edge
conditioned automatically, in the roll forming machine, from it's original coil form state. This is not to be confused with Flat Wire Strips. You will
need to got to our Wire category for that information. Slats can also be like Flashings in that it can be a flattened strip with a hem on one or both
edges. Wire Cloth, Perforated and Expanded Metals can be made this way as well. Tooling is usually existing for these simplest of parts. Slats & Strips
are widely used in venetian blinds, inside filter frame members, stack packing frame inserts, antennas, weatherstripping, welded frame reinforcements
and stiffeners, weld backings, and so many more uses. Strips can also be a term for Weatherstrips which is a roll formed Moulding that is meant to retain
a gasket material. Gasket material can be inserted inline during production to make Roll Formed Weatherstrips less expensive than mouldings, produced by
extrusion, or other methods. Hardened Bronze, Stainless, Brass or Copper can also be used to provide a spring styled fit on Strips or Weatherstrips.
Tooling is generally more involved and expensive for Weatherstrip styles, compared to other Slats & Strips. All metals can be used for Slats and Strips
and many more that would not be possible to use on other Roll Formed parts. Prehardened and Special Alloys. On higher volumes, Special Alloys can be
produced into Slats and Strips by using Precut Strips from our vendors that are not available as coil form. This proves to be more difficult to prevent
distortion due to the precut and is recommended when a machine or tooling setup with guides can stay set up all year. We have some rafted roll formers
that allow an entire forming stand to be purchased with a setup that stays on all year. That forming stand is removable and replaceable on the Roll
Forming machine when production runs are needed of lesser volume precut metals.
Roll formed Gaskets & Gasketing: are at times used for Channels, Profiles, Mouldings, and other Sections that hold gasket material. The correct
use of Roll Formed Gaskets is as for actual Gasket Material produced from corrugating or embossing flat, thinner, metal strips with very close tolerances
similar to close stamping tolerances. Roll Formed gaskets are typically produced from plain finish, non-ferrous materials but can be precoated and ferrous
metals, as well. Roll Formed metal Gaskets can also be thinner metal Profiles used the same as way as other types of gaskets such as rubber or plastic
moldings when the gasket function requires a more durable metal. In some cases these Gaskets are made from prehardened metals for a spring-back end use.
Another use for Roll Formed Sections as Gaskets is when a metal profile is used as a stiffener or support on the inside of a gasket made of rubber, plastic
or other material. In some cases material is molded around these metal gasket stiffeners, automatically. Roll Formed Metal Sections can also have a gasket,
made of other material, or foam like tape, applied to it inline with adhesive. Tooling is more complex with closer tolerances and/or prehardened Spring Metal.
Very high volumes are usually necessary for donation, unless it is for an existing product line.
Roll Formed Battens: are more complex than other Slats and Strips. They can also resemble or be used as flat and/or wide Track sections. There are usually
more bends and corners on Battens than Slats or Strips. Battens are almost always wider than they are high. They are used as External & Internal Frame
Members, in Diffusers, Reinforcements, Stiffeners and as Tracks among many other uses. All metals and prefinishes are used. Material thickness is usually on
the thinner side from .060” through .005”.
Roll Formed Baffle sections: are also generally wider than they are high but they can be much larger than other products in this category. These parts
are usually made from thinner metal like Battens. Roll Formed Baffle Sections can also be a term for any section used to make a Baffle assembly or Frame.
When used in this way they can even be taller than they are wide, such as Internal Diffuser Members, etc.. Baffles can be a semi-circular profile with formed
edges or inverted radii on the sides that are taller than the part is wide. All metals and prefinishes are used in Roll Formed Baffle sections.
Common characteristics of all the product categories above are: Metals used, Prefinishes used, Thickness of metal, Length capabilities and Inline Fabricating.
Metals used are: Steel, Stainless, Aluminum, Copper, Brass, Bronze, Clad, Galvanized, Perforated, Woven Wire, Expanded Metals, High Strength and Spring Temper,
and Special Alloys. Prefinishes used are: Preplated, Preanodized, Prepainted, Prelaminated Vinyl, Prepolished, Specular, Strippable PVC Coating, Galvanized-(G30,
G60, G90, G210, Electro, Bonderized), Aluminized, Galvanneal, Galvalume, Prelaquered, Embossed and more. Thickness range is typically .003”
through .060”, but can go up to .125” thick. Lengths can be 4” through 40 feet. Inline Fabrications are: Holes, Slots, End Fabricating,
Cut-to-Length, Cutouts, Shear Forms, Tabs, Embossing, Perforating, Miters, Ring Bending, Corrugating, Edge Conditioning, Precut, and Notching, among others.
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