Rolled Plate Cook Chambers

[Kcd2016]

Can anyone share their experience getting plate rolled for a cc instead of using pipe?

How much $$ are we looking at to get a 24"dia x 48" rolled?

Can you precut the doors out of the sheet before getting it rolled? At least partially cut out and maybe leaving a few tabs to finish cutting out the doors after rolling.

What are the internal stresses like if you cut out doors after rolling in regard to door spring?

Could you see it being handy to mark a sheet up with a cnc plasma before sending it to the roller? I'm thinking self locating fixturing

[towtruck]

Personally I would not precut the doors prior to rolling. Having it rolled properly, to the right size, is the key to not adding stress to it. You want the tube relaxed after rolling to where the metal does not have to be pulled together or pushed apart to weld the seam. Bending the doors is not that hard to do if they warp a little after cutting.

Others will chime in as my opinion is not the rule for everyone.

[Dirtytires]

Can't speak for price...never had it done.

Definitely do not think pre-cutting a door would be a good idea. My thought is that it would mess up the continuous pressures needed to make a continuous bend and you would end up with a mess. Guess you should probably check with the fab company to be sure.

Cutting out a door really isn't a big problem. It is super easy if you have a plasma cutter and doable with a cut-off wheel as well. Torches tend to add a little too much heat to the tube and can increase warping.

As far as the door springing...it either will or it won't! The steel itself and the rolling process have introduced stresses in the tube that are impossible to predict so it is anybody's guess. Of the hundreds of doors cut over the years it seems about half have issues. Need the heat to a minimum but don't waste your time trying to prevent it by welding on braces or relief cuts. Just cut out your door and then address any warping. It's a pretty easy process with a chain and bottle jack or a shop press.

For the record, I cut a 0.25 wall pipe of a very similar size and had only about a 0.25 inch deflection. With a little love and patience with a bottle jack I got it back to almost perfect....it's off less than 0.0625 which is easily covered by a thin gasket.

[Kcd2016]

Yeah, my last build was out of 3/8" and it sprung out a good 3/4" if not more. That sure was a pain to fix. I was hoping a rolled sheet would be at least less likely to spring.

I wonder if I could at least cut out nice radiuses corners to the door(s) on the cnc, roll it, then slap a straight edge on to finish cutting out the doors by hand with the plasma. I'm talking just little 2-3 inch of cut at each corner.

[Kcd2016]

Hey, check this out! I stumbled on this builder's facebook post, looks like he's "precutting" (perforating?) the doors.

[Big T]

It looks like you've found your answer.