Hello rolling mill users,
I’m about to buy my first rolling mill after wanting one for a
zillion years. I’ve looked at some in catalogs of various suppliers,
and spoken to one or two sellers. Each touts the fine qualities of
his own line but there is little comparative I’m
essentially going to be a glorified hobby-level worker for my
remaining years - selling some work but not likely to embark on
anything like heavy-duty production. It would be easy enough, I
suppose, to simply fork over the big bucks just to be sure I’ve got
"the best" but maybe I don’t need the very top of the line. Maybe I
just need a reasonably reliable tool without built-in problems,
something that will not sabotage my work, something simply good
enough.
I’m already old enough to know that “you get what you pay for” but I
also know the correlation between price and quality doesn’t always
graph out in a straight line. So please spare me from pompous advice
to blow huge holes in my tool budget if it isn’t necessary. In other
words,don’t advise me to buy a Mercedes if a Honda will get me where
I’m going.
I’d love to hear from people who’ve had the chance to use various
makes over time and have developed some opinions about their
qualities, good or bad. I’m also happy to hear from folks who sell
the things (but please identify your connection or interest if
that’s who you are). At this point the opinion of users seems more
useful to me than the pitches of sellers.
I’ve was almost tempted to buy a relatively inexpensive model,
(Pepe), but I’d be uncomfortable doing that unless I heard from
someone who can tell me he/she has actually used one for 5 or 10
years without problems. I talked to one supplier of that brand who
almost sold me on it. He suggested I read a certain on-line review
if I didn’t believe his blandishments. So I looked up that review
and found it not the glowing endorsement he had promised. Maybe he
never read it himself.? In the relatively small size of what I need,
there seem to be brands ranging in price from $250 - $2000 or more.
So I suppose I could replace a Pepe several times over if the first
one wore out or got wonky, but I’d rather not waste my time that
way.
Anyway - anyone who has a few minutes to offer an opinion, I’d be
grateful for the benefit of your experience. Please use brand names.
I’m wanting to have something that can help me reclaim my sterling
scrap and which I can use for ordinary basic rolling mill
tasks,making sheet, wire, texturing surfaces. I think about 3 inches
width of flat sheet would be the minimum adequate size. Would it be
cost efficient to buy two or more sets of rollers for the same mill,
say one full-width flat and one with a variety of wire shapes? Would
changing and adjusting rollers be a straightforward process or is it
endlessly finicky?
Also - any advice about relative ease of service, parts availability
etc from various suppliers might be helpful.
Thanks in advance
Marty Hykin - Victoria BC -