I can't say I actually know that answer, as I have no experience making those welds on a rolling mill.

But, my gut tells me it would not be wise.

Just make some other Damascus until you get your press running.

By the time you're ready to make those welds, there's already a considerable time investment.

No reason to throw it all away.

you could always just get some regular stock and test it out on that. not a billet. for science!

I do a lot of tile welding and I also have a rolling mill, but If it were me, I would be reluctant to use a rolling mill. The rolling mill is more for drawing the billet and I would fear -- as you described -- that the tiles would pull apart.

That being said, if I were to try it, I would experiment with something other than the billet you have worked so hard on as Karl and Zach mentioned.

The other thing I would do is use dry welds with full Mig welds on the sides of the billet (holding the tiles together) and MIG welds on the faces that placed in tiny "V"s and then ground flat to the surface so the billet goes through the rollers smoothly.

Brian

I have not tried the "Ferry Flip" but is there a reason you could not set the welds by hand?

Brian, I was planning to tig all around without filler, which is how I've done them with a press, any reason mig would be preferable, or am I missing something?

Yeah I'm definitely not thinking to set the rollers much tighter than say 1/8-1/16 less than billet thickness, just a gentle squeeze, but I'm still concerned about the forces at play.

I'll have this press done in the next month or less hopefully, so I should prob just wait, but I'm very heavy into end patterns right now, in particular chasing a new idea I had to get some interesting geometry, using 4-way restacks, and I dont want to loose momentum.

I'll try with some scrap here in the next couple days.

Javan

TIG is fine and is how I do all mine now in the press as well, but the reason I sugested MIG is that you could leave full beads on the sides which would give the billet added strength as it went through the rollers.

Are both rollers driven on your rolling mill? This would also be better than having only one roller driven like mine is.

Keep us posted on what you find out.

Justin, setting the weld by hand is a possibility, but since the tiles are cut at an angle, it may be possible to get the tiles to slip. I feel that smooth even forces are less risky for this proceedure. Also, wehn I am doing this, I usually have a pattern that I am trying to keep very even and the press is vey good at doing this. The rolling mill is also very good at keeping a patern even.

Brian

Ahhh, gotcha Brian, that makes total sense now, and does sound like a good idea.

Only my bottom roller is driven unfortunately, it's a fairly simple mill, but has large 6+ diameter rollers and 5hp varidrive motor with a reducer. It's quite strong but very basic. I was told it was used for flattening parts in some plant, no idea what specifically, but they had all varieties of straighteners and such with that load from the dealer I picked it up from.

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Ahhh, gotcha Brian, that makes total sense now, and does sound like a good idea.

Only my bottom roller is driven unfortunately, it's a fairly simple mill, but has large 6+ diameter rollers and 5hp varidrive motor with a reducer. It's quite strong but very basic. I was told it was used for flattening parts in some plant, no idea what specifically, but they had all varieties of straighteners and such with that load from the dealer I picked it up from.

and what dealer was this? there is someone out there who makes them on that small of a scale?

Zach,

Not that I'm aware of, this is a very old machine, possibly a modified one also. The cast iron base that it's mounted too appears pretty obviously to have been part of another machine originally. The guys I got it from, I've bought some other machines from, but they're one of the machinery dealers that buys out (or most likely, get's paid to haul) old equipment, and resells it. They don't even go so far as to try and trick you with a paint job, everything is in some state of dis-repair, so you've got to be prepared to work on it. I love fixing and tinkering with old machines though, and they'll deal on anything that doesn't sell fast and easy, so for me, it works out. They're also close enough that I can pickup anything I get from them. That being said, I spend more time, moving, fixing, maintaining, cleaning, tweaking old machines than I do making knives or steel, which can definitely get frustrating.

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Zach,

Not that I'm aware of, this is a very old machine, possibly a modified one also. The cast iron base that it's mounted too appears pretty obviously to have been part of another machine originally. The guys I got it from, I've bought some other machines from, but they're one of the machinery dealers that buys out (or most likely, get's paid to haul) old equipment, and resells it. They don't even go so far as to try and trick you with a paint job, everything is in some state of dis-repair, so you've got to be prepared to work on it. I love fixing and tinkering with old machines though, and they'll deal on anything that doesn't sell fast and easy, so for me, it works out. They're also close enough that I can pickup anything I get from them. That being said, I spend more time, moving, fixing, maintaining, cleaning, tweaking old machines than I do making knives or steel, which can definitely get frustrating.

good to know heh. thanks!