Abstract: A method for forming the grooves in single and multigroove sheet metal pulleys, including shaping and/or crimping of the groove walls, wherein the grooves are formed by a sequential, single step, continuous process from a punched or drawn blank without intermediate handling and/or displacement of the blank using both axial and radial pressures, wherein the applied radial pressures or forces are substantially less than the applied axial pressures or forces. The pulley may have grooves of the same or different pitch and of the same or different diameter.