I thought I was in need of an inexpensive rolling mill, but
after trying a manual one, I think I'd rather spend the bucks
>to get a motorized one! (Its going to take a few years
before I >see one of those babies!!!) : )
I am not sure what you were experimenting on…but the one I
learned on and used for years was an old model and worked
great…totally non-motorized.
Maybe you just need to try another brand or a better maintained
one. Of course I was rolling in bulk or anything but I did use
it to reduce sheet and develop pattern.
I am not sure what you were experimenting on...but the one
I learned on and used for years was an old model and worked
great...totally non-motorized. Maybe you just need to try
another brand or a better maintained one. Of course I was
rolling in bulk or anything but I did use it to reduce sheet
and develop pattern
The rolling mill I tried, was in a jewelry class, the mill was
BRAND NEW and the instructor had to literally jump while holding
the handle down to get the rollers to turn. We were trying to
get pattern (lace) on sterling which was annealed. Perhaps, we
were doing something wrong??? We annealed, the mill was supposed
to have a 4:1 reduction. We could only tighten the wheels as
tight as it would take to press the metal, lace, sterling
sandwich to actually roll through. . . if it were any looser,
there would have not been much contact with the metal at all! (I
recall the “metal” other than the lace, and sterling was copper.)
I also have to state, that although there was a pattern on the
sterling, I was not impressed with the results.
The rolling mill I tried, was in a jewelry class, the mill
was BRAND NEW and the instructor had to literally jump while
holding the handle down to get the rollers to turn. We were
trying to get pattern (lace) on sterling which was annealed.
Perhaps, we were doing something wrong??? We annealed, the
mill was supposed to have a 4:1 reduction. We could only
tighten the wheels as tight as it would take to press the
metal, lace, sterling sandwich to actually roll through. . . if
it were any looser, there would have not been much contact with
the metal at all! (I recall the "metal" other than the lace,
and sterling was copper.)
hi, something definitely wrong with something. defective mill or
operator. if someone was jumping on my rolling mill, i would be
inclined to jump on them. reduction gear or not. i’ve two rolling
mills. a cavellin combo 120mm with the reduction gear. i’v had
no such problems with mine though it does keep my right arm
toned. it is possible to break the frame if one takes too big of
a bite at a time.
Some laces are very thick. Try something flatter. Did you know
that just imprinting lines on tagboard with almost anything,
will rollerprint on annealed metal?
hi, something definitely wrong with something. defective mill
or operator. if someone was jumping on my rolling mill, i would
be inclined to jump on them. reduction gear or not. i've two
rolling mills. a cavellin combo 120mm with the reduction gear.
i'v had no such problems with mine though it does keep my right
arm toned. it is possible to break the frame if one takes too
big of a bite at a time.
geo, perhaps, the operator WASN’T jumping on the the rolling
mill, but jumping up to try to get the handle to turn. Neither
of us had enough strenght to get the handle to turn without
INTENSE effort!!!. We did a layered sandwich of brass, silver,
lace, brass. We could only get the thing to get ‘so tight’
without anything going through . … didn’t break any frame. I
don’t think the “bite” was too big (maybe it was???) I don’t
know . . .not being an expert at this operation!
geo, perhaps, the operator WASN'T jumping on the the
rolling mill, but jumping up to try to get the handle to turn.
Neither of us had enough strenght to get the handle to turn
without INTENSE effort!!!. We did a layered sandwich of brass,
silver, lace, brass. We could only get the thing to get 'so
tight' without anything going through . .. didn't break any
frame. I don't think the "bite" was too big (maybe it was???)
I don't know . . .not being an expert at this operation!
hi, i believe i understood you correctly. if someone was putting
their full body weight on the handle of my rolling mill, i would
definitely as k them to stop. this type of pressure put on the
rolling pins can actually break the frame. since you mention the
rolling mill was brand new, it is possible that it was defective
in some way, or not calibrated correctly. (pins not parrellel)
roller printing really isn’t an exercise in strength in my
experience. i do all of my rolling sitting down. this keeps my
face in the work, allows me to keep my back straight which keeps
backaches away. no bending over.
hi, i believe i understood you correctly. if someone was putting
their full body weight on the handle of my rolling mill, i would
definitely as k them to stop. this type of pressure put on the
rolling pins can actually break the frame.
When I started in this business, I weighed 125 lbs. I started
jumping on mills almost as a matter of necessity. A year ago, I
weighed 185-190 lbs. Still jumping on mills. I’m now down to 165.
Still jumping. Maybe a little slower. Over the years I’d venture
that I’ve jumped on 10 mills. Never broken one, including a
couple of Cavallin. Has anyone seen one break?
I broke Two rolling mill frames back in the eighties. They were
inexpensive econo mills and i tried to take too large a bite on
an ingot. I moved up to a good italian mill and have been using
it every since no problem no matter how large the ingot. I didn’t
think i put too much pressure on the mills and the dealer who
sold them to me gave me full credit on both when i returned them.
you get what you pay for!
Some laces are very thick. Try something flatter. Did you know
that just imprinting lines on tagboard with almost anything,
will rollerprint on annealed metal?
Marilyn,
You have me intrigued. Can you be more specific on how you
imprint lines onto the tagboard? Do you mean imprinting like from
a laser printer or do you mean smushing something into the
surface of the tagboard and rollerprinting the board in tandem
with the metal?
hi, i believe i understood you correctly. if someone was
putting their full body weight on the handle of my rolling
mill, i would definitely as k them to stop. this type of
pressure put on the rolling pins can actually break the frame.
since you mention the rolling mill was brand new, it is
possible that it was defective in some way, or not calibrated
correctly. (pins not parrellel) roller printing really isn't an
exercise in strength in my experience. i do all of my rolling
sitting down. this keeps my face in the work, allows me to keep
my back straight which keeps backaches away. no bending over.
OOps, neither of us are experts in the use of a rolling mill.
Perhaps, we did have it too tight?!? I’ll have to remember to
mention that . . . I don’t think it was defective, I think the
operators just had no idea of how this piece of equipment worked!
Hope we didn’t break it!
Now, can anyone provide pointers as to how a rolling mill should
be used??? We layered brass, lace, sterling, brass. Inserted
that between the rollers, and tightened the screws on top. Then
turned the handle (one handle) and had a very difficult time
getting the metal to go through. The result was: there was an
impression, but not very deep, and all the metal came out curled.
So, before anyone could do anything else with it, it had to be
hammered back to flat sheet.
When I started in this business, I weighed 125 lbs. I started
jumping on mills almost as a matter of necessity. A year ago, I
weighed 185-190 lbs. Still jumping on mills. I’m now down to 165.
Still jumping. Maybe a little slower. Over the years I’d venture
that I’ve jumped on 10 mills. Never broken one, including a
couple of Cavallin. Has anyone seen one break?
heeheehee and a Manmountain at that, not to mention jumping
rolling mills…
Yes I’ve seen one break. A friend of mine, a silversmith who is
6 feet something and generally big, a man who I’ve seen raise a
bowl two feet acroos by one and a half high out of brass in three
hours, he ordered a mill, (from a a certain company that promises
to replace broken mills, initials R.G.), promptly snapped some
teeth off a gear, got a new one, did it again, got a third and
then managed to keep from snapping gears. Me when I’m rolling, if
its too much like work then I don’t ry to roll as much in one
pass, just use small mill increments. Charles
Still jumping. Maybe a little slower. Over the years I'd
venture that I've jumped on 10 mills. Never broken one,
including a couple of Cavallin. Has anyone seen one break?
Yes, I broke a mill one time…It was a standard hand mill that
I had converted to a Motorized mill. I was rolling a flat sheet
and took to big of a bite. The frame (which is cast iron) broke.
The pins themselves were unaffected…So, now I have a new mill
and and old one for spare parts! Hard lesson learned. I don’t know
if I would be strong enough to break one by hand though. Ken
Hi! I had to laugh . . . of the original "rolling mill jumpers"
both weigh under 130 lbs, and both are under 5 foot 5!!!
Perhaps, we should grow (all directions) before we can
successfully operate this piece of machinery? ; )
Now, can anyone provide pointers as to how a rolling mill
should be used??? We layered brass, lace, sterling, brass.
Inserted that between the rollers, and tightened the screws on
top. Then turned the handle (one handle)
G’day’ Firstly don’t use sterling; it is too hard for what you
want to do. You will have to use fine silver thoroughly
annealed; don’t take it for granted that it is in the fully
annealed state when you buy it. Secondly the fine silver should
be at least 1 mm thick. Thirdly, use your present ‘sandwich’ and
tighten the rollers until they just touch the work. Fourthly,
very carfully tighten the rollers so that when you move the
handle slightly, the work just moves too. Now you adjust the
rollers to put enough pressure on the work so that the handle can
be turned, but feels rather stiff. Roll almost to the end of the
work, then reverse almost to the start. Don’t let the work get
out of the mill. Repeat this a few times without re-adjusting the
rollers, and slightly increase the roller pressure. Try and
examine the work without removing it from the mill. You probably
won’t get a really deep impression, but try it. Cheers,
G'day' Firstly don't use sterling; it is too hard for what
you want to do. You will have to use fine silver thoroughly
annealed; don't take it for granted that it is in the fully
annealed state when you buy it.
I really hesitate to contradict a proven sage, but I can’t help
it! I have successfully roll-printed sterling sheet. One was
coarse (about 60 grit) sandpaper which gave a nice pebbly
texture, and the second was coarse steel wool that I had pulled
apart so that it was thin. This yielded a nice random
“squiggly” pattern on the silver.
I did the brass sheet sandwich of which others have spoken; I
believe I thoroughly annealed the sheet, but I couldn’t swear to
it in a court of law. It took a few test starts until I got the
“bite” right, but really didn’t experience any problems. I did
get some curling of the brass and sterling sheets, which makes
me wonder if the bite was a little excessive.
I noted in the LJ article about our own Charles Lewton-Brain
that he sandwiches his doublee sheet in paper towel, if I recall
correctly. Anything you care to add, Charles? I also noticed a
piece featured in one of the small items near the front of the
same LJ issue, where the artist had roll printed with corrugated
cardboard! Nice, parallel, but not too rigid lines!
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio
Charlotte, NC (USA) dave@sebaste.com
G'day' Firstly don't use sterling; it is too hard for what
you want to do. You will have to use fine silver thoroughly
annealed; don't take it for granted that it is in the fully
annealed state when you buy it
Hi John, thank you for this I didn’t realize that
one shouldn’t use sterling!
hi,someone has already mentoned that they’ve broken two cheaper
rolling mill. not that you need to borrow my rolling mill, but
if a person was jumping on my cavellin i would definitely ask
the person to stop and go jump on their own rolling mill. best
regards, geo fox (195lbs)
If you draw on the tagboard with a non marking ballpoint, it
will leave an impression. This will print.If the metal was curled
after it came from the rolling mill, it was being elongated and
thined. If the metal that you were trying to print on was well
anealed, I don’t understand why you didn’t get a print. I’m not a
big or young woman but can use a rolling mill.
hi, on page 21 of ‘the complete metalsmith’ is a desciption. he
suggest to anneal th e metal and make a sandwich: workpiece,
template (the embosser), and a sheet of brass. when i needed to
make of pair of earrings i folded a piece of sheeet gold and
inserted a steel screen into the fold and rolled it. the metal
that is displaced does make the sheet curl. one would need to
anneal the metal and mallet the sheet flat if so desired. i’ve
thought of experimenting by adding another sheet of brass to see
if this perhaps would keep the work from curling, but i’ve not
tried it to date. the earrings were meant to curl. best regards,
geo fox
