So a few months back I bought a brand new Durston Agile rolling mill to replace my 10 year old Pepe that was abused yet in fine shape. I thought I’d “upgrade”. I live in the desert with <15% humidity. It’s DRY! I kept the Durston inside covered with an expensive heavy oil I use on expensive firearms. I didn’t use for a few weeks and when I went to I discovered it was PITTED! Oil was still dripping off of it! None of my other unprotected tools show the least issue with rust or pits. I had forgotten about my 3 year old Dusrton dapping set and rushed to check that as it was not oiled or covered and it’s perfect! Mirror bright! Same with bracelet mandrels and 100% of my other tools.
I was in contact with Durston CS and they were bent on lecturing me and explain how great their tools are and it was all my fault. They offered to replace rollers if I sent in and I lamented that’s difficult to ship such a heavy awkward piece and where would I send it? Crickets A few weeks later I get an email that the ONLY CS dude was in Dubai…sorry. I also spent $75 on a pattern plate that was defective and they say yes it’s bad and then no it’s fine.
After a month of back and forth I’d had enough and went public with a Google review. Durston cancelled my warranty with a bizarre email I don’t quite understand.
Anyone else notice Durston having issues and such lousy support? It’s been the weirdest communications with a company EVER!
Wow. I’m so sorry to hear this is happening. I’ve had a Durston rolling mill for 30+ years and it’s held up beautifully as have all of my Durston tools.
During Covid I decided to purchase a wide flat mill from Pepe. I removed the oiled wrapping from the rollers only to discover the rollers were rusty and pitted. After I sent photos, Pepe sent a replacement and a call tag to send back the first mill. Unbelievably, the replacement mill had the same issue. Pepe sent a third mill and an additional call tag to send back the second mill, Now that’s customer service!
The simple remedy would be to send a new set of rollers and retrieve the defective one’s to figure out what went wrong, because sometimes things go wrong.
If you paid using a credit card you might consider talking to them as they may be able to help. It sounds like you’ve tried to resolve this in good faith. Cancelling your warranty is a head scratcher. Especially since it seems the warranty is worthless. Sadly, even if this is resolved you’ll think about this negative experience every time you use the mill.
It’s been THE weirdest encounter with a company I have ever had! They finally sent me the address I need to send it to and I was within 20 miles of that when I initiated the “claim”. Now 500 miles and it’ll cost $100++ to ship and they still haven’t told me if they will cover it or I have to pay. Durston CS seems to have a problem concentrating as each of a dozen emails has to reset and they fail to address one or another of my questions and concerns. You should see the pattern plate! it’s half finished! One guy said it’s defective another said it fine!
The lack of concern and rush to blame the customer the most disturbing aspect.
After a month of this I posted a review an this morning got a response calling me “nasty nasty nasty” and compared me to Donald Trump! It was almost all worth it for that bit of comedy!
It is a long time problem with Durston customer service. 14 years ago, I purchased a big electric mill. When I plugged it in, it blew the circuit. It was in a brand new construction done to current code. I got blamed over and over again for faulty wiring and even had the electrician come and check. It was eventually resolved, but not with great angst. Judy
This is my 4th Durston mill and ALL of them pitted in time! That’s why with this one I was diligent about keeping heavily oiled despite that usually deters me from using it as I hate cleaning it…And it still pitted in ~6 month…in the desert with actually <10%RH. I have to humidify my guitars daily as it’s so dry yet Durston rusts out…
Customer service became a battle between me and one rep that was nightmarish for over a month! Real simple stuff they should fix. Took him a month and a dozen emails to get an address to send to for repairs! Still wont tell me how much I’m on the hook for so I can determine if worth it.
I bought my first rolling mill ever, a Durston Agile Combo 130mm, last November. I also live in the desert and it was winter. I put 3 in 1 oil all over the rollers thinking that would protect them and I was shocked when I discovered light rust one day. I assumed I had done something wrong such as not piling it down properly so I made sure to be even more diligent.
I was even more shocked and butt hurt when I discovered a single pitted spot on another day. I made sure to start applying oil with a paint brush after that, as the manual that came with it instructed.
I sure am glad to run across this and see I’m not the only one who had these issues.
There’s a zillion ways to keep rollers clean and smooth. Steve Midget, a mokume-gane artist, told me that he keeps oil soaked sponge or foam wedged into the top and bottom frame of his rolling mill, so every time the mill turns it spreads oil on the rollers and also rubs the rollers clean. His vintage rolling mill rollers are in perfect condition.
The topic of keeping rollers clean is one with many threads in the forum going back for 20+ years. There’s a lot of valuable info there.
One of the reasons that rollers rust is that they are made of polished carbon steel, not stainless steel. Carbon steel is prone to environmental contamination.
One more thing to add. Just because rolling mill rollers are prone to rust and contamination doesn’t mean that Durston handled this issue well. It definitely sounds like they didn’t.
I think that I bought my Durston D130 oin 2012. I have always cleaned the rollers with simechrome and then oiled them with 3 in 1. They generally stay clean and have remained free of pits. Central NY can be humid on the summer, so I run a dehumidifier at 55% all year round in my shop. Some of my other polished tools will rust in the summer, but the rollers stay on good condition being used almost daily. I have tried the oil soaked sponge and it works, but for some reason they have lately come up missing. One thing to note. If you are rolling out metal, especially copper, that was just pickled, makes sure to rinse the piece well and dry it. I set it on the still warm soldering block. Copper that has been pickled will quickly stain and probably pit your rollers, so do a clean up after you have rolled copper. I am now going to go down and look at my rollers…Rob
Sorry for the typos, I was in a hurry. I just did my regular maintenance on my mill and it looks good. Now to figure out what happened to the sponges. They were never big enough…Rob
I do something similar just before I cover my mill. An oiled sponge and I run the mill a couple of cranks so they get well oiled before I cover it with a cloth cover.
So it sounds like the foam is permanently wedged in? I might have to look at mine to see if I can do that as well.
I’ve been lurking on this thread, but I just have to open my big mouth and express an opinion. Old people’s opinions … we are too ugly to date and will probably die soon so we don’t much care if you like them. I have a Druston mill I’ve had for many years and I would die if I found rust on the rollers, much less a pit. There are a lot of variables. I oil mine down, do the sponge thing, keep it covered and baby it. I use it a lot, and paid a lot for it. I plan on passing it down. But, you can ruin one in a heartbeat if you run stuff through it out of a pickle, try to roller print stuff you don’t need to be roller printing, put organic things in direct contact with the rolls. Try to roll things it just can’t handle like ingots. I think for years the folks selling mills had the idea if you bought one, you knew what the hell you were doing. I think … they should come with a users manual. The thing that bothers me in this conversation is the absence of Durston. At one time in the past Durston actively monitored Orchid and responded quickly. Where are they? The no name “India” type mill had was rock solid, it just was not a workhorse needed to do serious stuff … rolling out ingots, doing roll printing, etc. I loved it. Durston used to be wonderful. Rio used to be wonderful too till they were acquired and then it just was not the same company. Sigh. Things change I guess. I wish I still had my 1967 mustang. I wish I still had hair. I wish …