Long time lurker, first time poster. Hello and thanks to all for the
volumes of good
Anywho, I’ve finally come to the realization of what a rolling mill
is good for. (“Self”-taught makes for late-coming epiphanies.) Oh
hey! I can make my own sheet stock! In various thicknesses! Instead
of buying it from Otto Frei! Oh hay! It’ll save me $5 an ounce on
silver! Oh hay! I can use all that scrap I’ve saved up, finally! Ah
well. Better late than never.
In my mind’s eye, a 100mm combo mill with 70mm of sheet width seems
like it’ll do everything I could ever need it to do. But I’d hate to
be missing something. The seemingly obvious answer to “What would I
need a wider rolling mill for?” is "To make wider sheets of metal."
But these tricky easy answers to easy questions make me think that
I’m missing something.
As for the mill itself, while I’ve read enough here that Durston
seems to be the way to go, but I’m still a bit fuzzy on the
difference between the 100mm mini-mill and the 100mm standard mill.
If the reduction gears simply exist to make it easier, that’s not
really a big deal. I don’t mind the elbow grease. If there’s
something else I’m missing, I haven’t been able to find the info out
there.
Many thanks to all, and to all a good night.
-t