Well Zach, I've heard tell that you really need to make then out of H13, if you want them to stand up to hot metal work.

Buying the stock will be the expensive part, you can have them saw cut from round, then if you want them to be precise, have them turned down to a specific actual diameter.

I've only heard of people having them made, to replace the rollers in mills not made for hot work or ferrous metals. No clue if there's a supplier of off the shelf rolls, but I imagine they would be outrageous. That coupled with the fact that most of the machines designed for hot breakdown are very big.

I recently acquired a rolling mill that was used for plate flattening, which seems to be holding up to hot use, although the rolls have some grooves worn in them from cold work, and bend the stock up and down a bit due to the rollers either not being properly aligned or a variation of diameter. Planning to try turning them down a bit first and use them as long as I can before having new ones made, I can do most of the work but h13, in 6" diameter is pricey.

Good luck, ir anybody has some good sources for the stock, i'd be thrilled to hear about it.

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Well Zach, I've heard tell that you really need to make then out of H13, if you want them to stand up to hot metal work.

Buying the stock will be the expensive part, you can have them saw cut from round, then if you want them to be precise, have them turned down to a specific actual diameter.

I've only heard of people having them made, to replace the rollers in mills not made for hot work or ferrous metals. No clue if there's a supplier of off the shelf rolls, but I imagine they would be outrageous. That coupled with the fact that most of the machines designed for hot breakdown are very big.

I recently acquired a rolling mill that was used for plate flattening, which seems to be holding up to hot use, although the rolls have some grooves worn in them from cold work, and bend the stock up and down a bit due to the rollers either not being properly aligned or a variation of diameter. Planning to try turning them down a bit first and use them as long as I can before having new ones made, I can do most of the work but h13, in 6" diameter is pricey.

Good luck, ir anybody has some good sources for the stock, i'd be thrilled to hear about it.

thanks! 6" diameter is much much larger than i was planning on using. i have seen people use 2-3" diameter rollers.

also, what is H13? never heard of it? i was thinking of buying some high carbon round stock and having it put on a lathe and shaped into a roller with two arms sticking out to put in bearings. But i was going to harden and temper it. don't know if that would do any good, though.

H13 is a "hot work" steel, or heat resistant steel. It maintains it's hardness at a very high heat level, which would cause normal carbon steel to detemper heavily.

Depending on what you're wanting to do with the rolling mill, it may or may not be necessary. My primary use is for damascus, where a large hot billet and continuous use can put a lot of heat into the rollers.

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H13 is a "hot work" steel, or heat resistant steel. It maintains it's hardness at a very high heat level, which would cause normal carbon steel to detemper heavily.

Depending on what you're wanting to do with the rolling mill, it may or may not be necessary. My primary use is for damascus, where a large hot billet and continuous use can put a lot of heat into the rollers.

Yeah, that is what i want to use it for. You use 6 inch diameter rollers though? do you see any pros/cons about using smaller diameter rollers? like 3 inch?

Well, I'm sure it depends on what sort of power transmission setup and horse power you're pushing, etc. It seems like the roller size will affect total stock displacement, force transmission to the stock, deflection, and the variation of thickness it can grab.

This machine is a 5hp varidrive motor which pushes a heavy gear reducer with a tooth belt, which in turn drives the bottom roller via a chain.

The only limit I've seen so far on this machine, as far as how much metal it can move, is based on how big a "bite" it can take, meaning the distance (thickness) between the rollers, versus the thickness of the stock. I'm sure this is highly affected by roller diameter. I haven't used this much yet, but it appears I can reduce between 1/8-1/4 per pass, but that's only because any more, and I just can't get the rollers to bite the billet. I imagine, the smaller the rollers, the smaller the bite.

I'm sure someone else here has thought a lot more about this than me, I figured a rolling mill would be my last equipment acquisition, but then I stumbled across one, so I'm just now really getting up to speed on them.

|quoted:

Well, I'm sure it depends on what sort of power transmission setup and horse power you're pushing, etc. It seems like the roller size will affect total stock displacement, force transmission to the stock, deflection, and the variation of thickness it can grab.

This machine is a 5hp varidrive motor which pushes a heavy gear reducer with a tooth belt, which in turn drives the bottom roller via a chain.

The only limit I've seen so far on this machine, as far as how much metal it can move, is based on how big a "bite" it can take, meaning the distance (thickness) between the rollers, versus the thickness of the stock. I'm sure this is highly affected by roller diameter. I haven't used this much yet, but it appears I can reduce between 1/8-1/4 per pass, but that's only because any more, and I just can't get the rollers to bite the billet. I imagine, the smaller the rollers, the smaller the bite.

I'm sure someone else here has thought a lot more about this than me, I figured a rolling mill would be my last equipment acquisition, but then I stumbled across one, so I'm just now really getting up to speed on them.

Is your rolling mill a brand name one or did someone build it for personal use then decided to sell it?

also, i like what you said about those rollers. I think i will go for thicker ones if possible. Currently i was looking at using a 1HP-1.5HP motor, but now i am rethinking for a higher HP one. I will be doing my best to gear it down as well.

Hard to say, it was sold to me as a Blake & Johnson plate flattener, which was an old company with very little info about them persisting. They do appear to have made similar items, and that's the only non-component name on the machine, which is built on a cast iron 4-leg base that bears the name. However, based on the way it's configured, I believe the machine was either retrofitted, or modified from some other machine since the base doesnt appear designed for the current components.

The brackets for the rollers are cast iron, and heavy duty, so at very least this was a professional kit supplied by a rolling mill company. It was originally wired up 460V/3ph with a bunch of button controls pulled off 110 contactors supplied by a transformer, which was blown. I just bypassed the controls and rewired the motor for 220v 3ph. Not sure the overall details, but it was definitely a professional setup, and came out of a production outfit.

I'll try and take a pic, although I removed most of the guards already and made some mods.

thanks so much. you have been the most helpful person so far on my quest to build one of these.

No worries brother, once you get started on your build, feel free to email me if you need any help, after getting this one, I'm realizing how simple they are in many aspects.

I dunno how close you are to the Lewisburg area, but I'll be visiting a friend up there in the next few months.

Edit: also, if you need anything machined, let me know. I'm shy a big lathe currently, but I've got a large mill, and everything in between, and my buddy has a big monarch if needed.

Zach, you might want give Ray Kirk a call or e-mail. He has a rolling mill he built that has to be seen to be believed. It is powered by a V-8 motor. Ray can provide a lot of information. He is listed in the MS section on the ABS website.

Brion

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No worries brother, once you get started on your build, feel free to email me if you need any help, after getting this one, I'm realizing how simple they are in many aspects.

I dunno how close you are to the Lewisburg area, but I'll be visiting a friend up there in the next few months.

Edit: also, if you need anything machined, let me know. I'm shy a big lathe currently, but I've got a large mill, and everything in between, and my buddy has a big monarch if needed.

i have no idea where lewisburg is. what state? and thanks, i'll let ya know.

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Zach, you might want give Ray Kirk a call or e-mail. He has a rolling mill he built that has to be seen to be believed. It is powered by a V-8 motor. Ray can provide a lot of information. He is listed in the MS section on the ABS website.

Brion

i will definitely send him an email. thanks so much brion.

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i have no idea where lewisburg is. what state? and thanks, i'll let ya know.

Well, WV, but I'm guessing it's not close if you haven't heard of it. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

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Well, WV, but I'm guessing it's not close if you haven't heard of it. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

140 miles, 2 h 30 m away.

Zach

I made my rolling mill with 2" rollers and the rollers were made out of chromed hydraulic cylinder rods. A big consideration for the roller size is the speed that the material will be fed through the mill. I am running a 60:1 total reduction with a 1 HP motor. The rollers will slip before the motor ever overloads.

To give you some round numbers, my mill will move the billet 168" per minute. At this same setup with 6" rollers, you would get 1008" per minte feed so to get it down to a reasonable feed of 168" you would need 360:1 reduction.

My mill is about as simple as they come with a hydraulic bottle jack to close the rollers. I will try to post a picture for you.

Brian