Roll-former apparatus with rapid-adjust sweep box

An apparatus comprising:

• a roll-forming apparatus with rolls and a welder for forming a sheet into a continuous tubular beam;
• an adjustable sweep station positioned in-line and downstream of the roll-forming apparatus to receive the continuous tubular beam, the sweep station including rolls and mandrels that are adjustable to selectively form different sweeps in the continuous tubular beam on the fly during continuous operation of the roll-forming apparatus, the sweep station further including at least one actuator operably connected to the rolls and to the mandrels for controlling movement to create selected ones of the different sweeps;
• and
• a controller connected to the roll-forming apparatus and to the actuator, the controller being programmed to move the actuator between different positions to create a series of beam sections along the continuous tubular beam, with the beam sections each including at least two of the following in a selected sequence:
• a first constant sweep, a second constant sweep different than the first constant sweep, a continuously changing sweep, and a linear non-swept section.

A method comprising steps of:

• providing a sheet of high-strength material having a tensile strength of at least 80 KSI;
• providing a roll-forming apparatus capable of forming the sheet into structural beams at speeds of at least about 900 feet per hour, the roll-forming apparatus including an adjustable sweep station, an actuator, and a controller operably connected thereto for automatically rapidly adjusting the sweep station to generate different sweep radii, the sweep station including snake-like external mandrels;
• and
• roll-forming the sheet to form a continuous beam having a continuous cross section and, simultaneous with and near an end of the roll-forming, sequentially and repeatedly imparting different sweeps by changing a curved shape of the external mandrels on the fly while running the roll-forming at a line speed of at least about 900 feet per hour.