Rolling Mill

Anyone had a chance to work on the rolling mill?

I lost track with the old forum and wonder if anyone has started?

Hey, in the March issue of Blade, there is an ad from kayne & son. they have rolling mills for sale.

It may take me a while, but I still plan on making one.

Geno: Do you have plans on building a mill. If so please advise where I could obtain a set.

Sorry - the plans are all in my head. I build a lot of my equipment. I'm a scavenger. I'm always saving things I might use later. I've been building equipment for years.

When I do build it, I'll try to "record" it. I tend to put things together a little at a time = as I find the parts.

I would be interested in the plans too.:rollin:
Keep us posted.

Norm Larson has the plans for the rolling mill,
Fax 805 735 8367
Ph. 800 743 4766

I ordered a motor yesterday, I have been unlucky in finding a used one.

Life is what it is

Well, a friend picked up enough 2" hydraulic cylinder rod for 3 rolling mill rollers. A set for himself, me and Wayne Goddard. I think between us we will come up with 3 different designs, but it will be interesting to see how they work.

If you do decide to make a rolling mill you might think about the cylinder rod material, it's good steel, well chromed, and it has an induction hardened case to boot!

The case is pretty hard but not too hard for carbide to turn the journals down with.
We'll see how they turn out.

Sweany, Wayne says you're a friend, if you like get in touch and we'll see if we can get a set for you.

Moldy

Moldy Jim,
try to take some pictures of the process of making this mill! some step by step ones if you can.

thanks

JerryO, I'll see what I can do about the pix, but with tthree of us going about it, it's going to be hit or miss. I only get an average of about 20 minutes at a time to work on my stuff before the family interrups me for something more important. (I've timed it!)
I did turn one of the rollers last night, that hydraulic shafting material is tough, but once you get through the case it's not too bad. I think it is a perfect choice for the rollers, smooth, hard chrome plated, hard outside and tough inside.
Moldy

Hey Moldy, I got my roller material I think, picked up the motor today, I have the frame material from my junkpile,uh I mean resource pile.

I got the gearing figured out, but, the problem I'm coming up against is the the bearing clearance for the bottom roll.

I was going with 1-15/16" bearings (what I had) but that won't allow my roller to close closer than 5/8" or so.

Guess I'll have to buy (darn it) some lower profile bearings and turn the ends of the roll to accept them.

I sure am looking forward to seeing some of these rollers posted here.
How many ways can we build the same thing? It should be interesting.

How about an update on the rolling mill projects! I'm making one and wanted to know if the rollers need to be heat treated?

Good question.
I would suggest it if at all possible. Hardened metal not only last longer but will hold a better finish too.
The better the rolls, the better the billets, wouldn't you think?
I also think it would be a question of alloy as well as hardness.
Some metals would get softer by rolling hot metal which in turn tempers them as they heat up.A Chromium alloy would probably be best, yet if the chrome content is too high it could cause it to crack.
A Chrome-Molly would probably do well.

Anyone else?

Thanks for the reply Gene. I would also think that a roller that has to much chrome or is very slick would have a traction problem and would slip on the hot steel. Thanks again,