On Friday, May 27th, SJF had it’s first potluck of the year. As much as we enjoyed the beautiful weather and great food, it was a bittersweet day because it was the last day at SJF for Tom Moore, our friend and co-worker in Sales for over 8 years. Tom and his wife Lori are moving out of the area, ready to start a new journey. We’re all very happy for the Moore family and the adventures that await them, but we will miss Tom and his creative quips that seemed to come out of nowhere.
We also had a special visitor that joined us for the potluck – Mrs. Veronica Sterner, wife of the late Jerry Sterner. Mr. and Mrs. Sterner were the people that started this company over 43 years ago. Without them, there would be no SJF Material Handling.
SJF’s Solution’s Specialists are available for professional advice and maybe even a joke or two. Give them a call for the best deal on all your material handling needs! Call 320-485-4974, email support@sjf.com or visit https://www.sjf.com.
Sitting left to right: Eric Thovson, Vance Haugen, Kendal Kalamaha Standing left to right: Janae Witte, Justin Erkenbrack, Jason Deiter, Tom Moore
Accounting assistant? Security guard? You decide. But we all agree that Pedro is all business at SJF!
Pedro, our visiting chihuahua, is often seen with his sister Beatrice. Both Pedro and Beatrice are part of the Bachel household and are owned by Lori Bachel in Accounting and her family.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, we love that SJF is a pet friendly place to work! #petfriendly#loveourfurbabies
This last year was a rough one for all of us. Everything was different and we all were left on our own to figure out how to entertain ourselves and our family members safely.
In Minnesota, we take our fishing seriously. Many people spend half of their life in search of “the big one” (literally, and this is no joke to the serious fishermen!), so to catch this one was a rare moment!
Justin’s 16″ crappie is easily considered “trophy sized” by any fishing expert’s standards (and believe us, there are a lot of self-proclaimed fishing experts around this area). I know this because I fact-checked the info by Googling “What is considered a trophy sized crappie“.
The definition from this highly scientific source, otherwise known as Google, was as follows:
That depends on several things – the body of water you’re fishing, the state in which you fish, how big a crappie you’ve caught before. Speaking in generalities, however, any crappie over 1 1/2 pounds is an exceptional fish, and for most anglers in most waters, a crappie over 2 pounds would be the trophy of a lifetime.
This beast weighed in around 3 lbs. and was caught using a minnow head and a jig given to him by none other than, and I quote from Justin himself, “The legendary fish slayer” and another of SJF’s Solutions Specialists, Tom Moore.
Being true Minnesotans, we were all excited for him and feel he has secured bragging rights for a good long time for this one! Maybe it will give us all something to shoot for next time we take to the lake, whether it be frozen or not.
The roll forming process uses a set of rollers placed strategically to perform incremental bending by feeding long strips of metal continuously. It is a process used to convert long strips of metal into various cross-sections or shapes. The process is performed by sets of mated rollers that change the form until the desired cross-section or shape is attained. This forming process is primarily focused on the cross-section of the metal or material. In some cases, the thickness of the material is being reduced.
Roll formed products do not only have a a high demand on material handling industries, they are also all around us, and below are some of the industries that also use these products:
Energy and power industries
Construction
Industrial
Agricultural
Transportation/Automotive
Other fabricated metal manufacturers
Roll Forming Process Fundamental Steps
Decoiling – This is a process of unwinding and cutting metal from its primary coil. Typically, after the decoiling process, the metal is directly fed to a flattener or a machine that flexes/flattens the metal before proceeding to the next procedure.
Pre-press treatment – This is an intermediate process prior to roll forming proper. It involves a flattened metal piece that undergoes press treatment to add slots, holes, or slits, depending on the product desired.
Roll forming – This is a process by which a roll forming machine progressively shapes the material. The roll forming machine bends the metal using a set of mated rollers to guide the long strip of metal to make the desired bends.
Cut off and discharge process – Subsequent to the roll forming process, the material will undergo a cut-off process, where the material is cut to the desired length while it is in motion. After the cutting process, the material will be discharged to a run-out table to be placed for shipment or undergo another process.
Roll Forming Secondary processes
The whole roll forming process can be either completed as the part comes off the discharge process or completed in other stations.
Secondary processing may include:
Punching
Tight tolerance forming and straightening
Adding other components
Minor assembly of parts
Metals Used in Roll Forming
Roll forming is capable of shaping any ferrous or non-ferrous metals. There are variations in the adjustment on the roll forming process’s bending stage, since there are different characteristics of metals, such as ductility and strength. These properties will indicate the amount of force needed to shape the metal.
Another characteristic of metal that should be considered in the roll forming process is the yield point, wherein every metal has its own critical value. A material’s yield point is where the material begins to change its shape permanently.
list of metals commonly used in the roll forming process
Ferrous metals:
Ferrous metals are mainly composed of iron. Ferrous metal can be easily recycled and are rust-resistant.
Steel – This material is an alloy of iron and a relatively small percentage of carbon. It contains less than 2% of carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance. It also contains small amounts of silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and manganese. Steel can be easily recycled, which is why it is one of the most commonly used types of metal.
Stainless Steel – This roll forming material is an alloy of iron with a high percentage of chromium. Stainless steel typically consists of 10-20% chromium. This type of material is very useful because of its high malleability and its corrosion resistance.
Galvanized Steel – This material is a heat-treated metal coated with zinc. It has high corrosion resistance due to its zinc coating.
Non-ferrous metals:
Non-ferrous metals have no iron content and have higher corrosion resistance compared to ferrous materials.
Aluminum – Aluminum is a very suitable material in the roll forming process because it is malleable, lightweight, and easily formed.
Brass – Brass is a copper and zinc alloy and has high machinability, high malleability, and is wear-resistance.
Copper – Copper has high electrical conductivity and has a low chemical reactivity.
Lead – Lead is very soft, with high malleability, high ductility, and has very poor electrical conductivity. Because of its high density, lead is capable of absorbing vibrations.
Key Takeaways
Roll forming is indeed one of the fastest and most cost effective methods of producing sheet metal products of any length with accurate tolerances and dimensions. It is used by many industries due to its versatility where complex and intricate cross sections can easily be produced using ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
On this project, SJF’s Solutions Specialist Jason Deiter worked closely with customer Arrow Gear and Rack Engineering to provide a crank-out solution that would free up floor space, utilize vertical space with the ability to retrieve from individual compartments, and organize inventory.
Units have four crank out levels with 5,600 lb. capacity per arm, plus a 20,000 lb. capacity fixed top for additional storage. Compartments are 14″ in height and use 24″ length arms.
For more information on crank out cantilever racking, contact Jason Deiter at SJF at (320) 485-4961 or email him at jdeiter@sjf.com. He’ll be able to answer any questions you may have and help plan for your needs!
A recent SJF customer from Michigan was very happy with both the racking and the slick look of his storage area for his John Deere implements and attachments. SJF Solutions Specialist Kendal Kalamaha listened to his needs and found the perfect solution.
We’re happy to accommodate your needs for storage racking. We offer a wide variety of sizes, configurations, and colors. If you’d like to match it to your implements, we’re ready to customize!
If you need ideas or know exactly what you want, Kendal can be reached directly at (320) 485-4966 or kkalamaha@sjf.com. He has many years of experience and has great ideas!
Lucas Brady, President of Lake Russell Building Supply in Elberton, GA, had a need for storage solutions for a pole building they were enclosing in order to protect their product from the elements and better service their customers. In October 2019, Lucas contacted SJF via their “live chat” feature (that is, in fact, answered by a real live professional). Solutions Specialist Jason Deiter answered the chat and began discussing the application.
They wanted to rack out 2 walls of their pole building to allow for storage of treated lumber in various unit sizes. For this application, we chose 5′ brace sets to accommodate the various unit lengths and 4′ heavy duty arms that would work for dimensional and sheet goods. The result was positive and it has really changed and improved the way that they handle materials.
Knowing that they would need more, in February of 2020 Lucas reached out to add on another 90′ section to store yellow pine, tongue and grove, staged loads and special orders.
Lucas writes: “These racks have made such a big impact on every aspect of handling lumber. We will definitely be adding more in the future. Thank you. I’m as happy about having them as you were in selling them.“
Jason and our other solutions specialists are available to help you find the best solution for your individual space. They are trained to “think outside the box” and have excellent ideas to help solve your problem.
If you have a project that you’d like help with, feel free to call Jason at (320) 485-4961 or email him at jdeiter@sjf.com. He’d be happy to help with your project!
