I have the plans by Hugh McDonald. Just wondering is anyone has built one from his plans and looking for any helpful hits.

George,

Steve Rollert is making three or four of them right now. He is going to help me make one for myself. I will be visiting him on Friday, so I will check with him and post back about this.

Brett

George,

Steve will probably post in the near future on the subject.

Brett

Brett:
I still scrounging up all the steel to build the mill. I building a hydraulic press 1st.

Gentlemen and Ladies,
This is Steve Rollert and Brett told me to drop in and let you all know how the roller is working. I finished it in time for Brett to get to try it on Friday. I painted it red today and did some rolling to learn more about it. I must admit that it works better on wider billets and bar stock. I did after some practice get it to work very well on smaller stock, but it is a little more ticklish.
The plans need to be converted to standard measurement and there are a few things I would change. I made the frame taller and used pillow block bearngs. I used a gear motor and sprocket drive to acheive 25 rpm. I do think that it could run a little faster but I will step it up when I get used to it. The main thing that I would tell you is that you can vary from the plans some, it is obvious that Hugh use what ever was under his bench to make this. The main change I will make is to change the lower roller frame by dropping the cross members lower than drawn so that it wont get in the way. I made mine to use both roolers 2" in dia. I am also going to mill the top of the frame out above the lower roller axil and drill and tap a 3/8 bolt up under one end of the axil to allow one end to be raised up to allow me to roll the bevels into swords and knives. I will let you know as soon as I try it.
I am so far VERY impressed with the effectiveness of the roll so far.

Trusting HIM,
Steve Rollert

Steve- why don't you register and come around more often? Love having your input!

Don

Hi guys,
I'm (kinda) in the process with Wayne Goddard and a couple of others in making a couple of rolling mills. (in between all the other projects I'm in the middle of)

We got some 2" diameter Hydraulic shafting for the rollers from the recycling yard, it has an induction hardened skin about 1/16 deep on the shafting. It's tough to cut through, but it can be cut with a negative rake on carbide tools, once thru the skin the rest of the shaft is relativly easy to cut. Kinda hard to get a nice finish on though.

The biggest trick I can see is getting the rolls and the bearing blocks to clear. Big bearings make for bigger pillow blocks. I haven't seen the plans so I don't know how Hugh did it.

We figure on pillow blocks for the top roll and 1" shaft thru the lower roll with bronze bushings inside the roller to get the bottom roll in between the pillow blocks.

How did you guy's do it?
Moldy