Wiggle Me This

Manufacturing Wiggle Wire Channel in the US

A Grow Detroit Company

Why manufacture Wiggle Wire Channel when I could buy it from China like everyone else? First off, who needs a 6.57' stick of channel...lots of cutting to make those 4', 5', and 6' bow spacings work.

My company, Grow Detroit, has been manufacturing and installing Hoophouses for farmers in the Midwest since 2016. We would buy 24' aluminum sticks from our local supply house and then spend hours cutting them to the sizes we needed. You had to use a band saw since a metal cutoff wheel just won't work....and don't get me started on the ear piercing noise and shrapnel from using a chop saw.

A typical 30x96 Hoophouse we build has 9 different lengths ranging from 35" up to 289" with 38 individual pieces. I can now program these lengths and quantity to produce a hoop package with no errors or waste. Also, strength of the steel channel is greater. Aluminum needs to be 3X thicker than steel for equivalent strength with ours being 0.7mm and the aluminum choices at 1.0mm to 1.5mm.

Yeah, goofy picture, I know

But it's not everyday that you tour Spartan Steel Coating's galvanizing line in Monroe, Michigan and pick out your first coil of steel!!

32,020 lbs. of 0.0276in (23 gauge) G40 Galvanized Steel Coil

The 32,020# coil was then delivered to Grand Steel in Wixom, MI to be slit into the 2.7" strips needed to run through the roll former. This resulted in 26 coils weighing 1,163 lbs. each and 1,770 lbs. of scrap material with an average of 7/8" cutoff on each edge and a coil length of 9,403 linear feet. Who knew that steel coils were not uniform in width and that the slitting company needs a minimum of 1/2" on both sides in order to guarantee widths for all of the new coils.

Why use galvanized steel?

Simple answer is I didn't have millions of dollars to set up an aluminum extrusion facility. The more nuanced answer is I'm already using tons of galvanized steel tubing to create the hoophouse structure so why introduce a dissimilar metal to the equation.

Steel is recyclable, easy to roll form, strong, and bends to follow the curve of the structure without losing its shape or holding ability. Aluminum channel flattens out and interior dimensions are reduced when bent thus reducing the holding power during high winds. Stainless Steel options are out there as well but good luck getting those to bend on the bow, and they are simply too expensive to produce with almost no advantage over galvanized steel.

I compared the many channel profiles we had used throughout the years and picked the best qualities in order to design my new profile. It has more inside volume with roughly the same exterior dimensions as aluminum while incorporating a double pocket to make installing multiple layers easier.

Bottom line comes down to cost. We were able to go from a double channel extruded aluminum hip board to a single galvanized steel channel for our double layer 6mil poly tops and 10 mil woven side curtains. The new profile easily handles all of them and is simply not possible with the aluminum channel. Add Light Dep to the equation and we are the hands down winner on this one. Up to 40 mil worth of material with 3 separate spring wires that will hold beyond the point of poly failure.

So now I've got a roll former that sits idle for 7hr 45min of every 8hr workday....time to start marketing and selling to the masses while giving you the opportunity to buy US manufactured products without the huge markup we have come to expect.

Inquire about ordering and custom lengths HERE

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