Greetings Mick,

 

That is a sweet looking mill...  Great build and it will serve you well...  Almost to clean to use..

 

Roll on and make beautiful things

Jim

That's a swell looking build. I really like that a lot. Well done..

 

You've just given me an idea for a form roll....thank you!

interested to see how well it works !! nice mill indeed and a great size for my shop !!  ;)

Very neat project! How about posting some specs on what you have rolled with it.

Diameter of the rolls?

How much effective squish can you go to before getting the dreaded wave form buildup in the front of the rollers?

Have you rolled any Damascus?

Inquiring minds...

Carry on

David, the rollers are 50mm.

 

I don't know about how much effective squish I can get as I have only made them for drawing out flat or tapered bar in small bites.

 

They will most likely get used in pattern welding, but just out of the picture and to the right is a 1cwt power hammer which does most of the work.

 

One thing they are very sensitive to are changes in the thickness of bars. You think you have a very flat piece of bar until you roll it through these and it starts to bend one way or the other. A slightly thicker section on one edge and you can get a fair bit of a bend as that edge tries to become longer than the other.

 

Mick.

Do you know the powerhammer trick to get consistant thickness by cutting out a hollow rectangle of stock the thickness you want to end up with and bending it over the bottom die to provide a slot to run your billet through with the sides acting as stop blocks?

Thanks Thomas, I have been using kissing dies for many years. It was quite a revalation when I first heard about them, such a simple idea. For those that don't know what we are talking about, have a look at the video of when Basher and I were at Ric Furrers place a few years back. We are using his Nazel 3B with bars of steel as forging stops. The video titled Owen and Mick forging in June.

 http://www.doorcountyforgeworks.com/Other_Artists.html

 

Mick.

Aren't you glad Ric's  shop was still empty :D when you were there? When I was there a few recently it seems like he managed to cram 30% more kit in the place?

Isn't Ric just a great fountain of knowledge and all found nice guy!

Thanks for posting!

Ian

Are the rolling mill plans that Hugh McDonald is/was selling still available?  I have founds lots of posts talking about the utility of the mill, and some of them were as recent as last fall.

 

However, all I can find for ordering information is an address in Australia.  I guess there used to be a US distributor, but he doesn't seem to be around anymore, and the Anvil Fire store doesn't work anymore.

 

I kind of hate to wait for a check to travel half way around the world only to find out the plans are not available.

 

I'd appreciate it if someone can tell me where I can plunk down my money and get the plans.  I can figure it out on my own, but for the small sum he was asking for plans, it seems like a no-brianer to at least start with them.

Thanks...

all i could find is this

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Anvilfire says that their online ordering is broken right now, but if you call you should be able to order.

 

I bought the plans a while ago and put it into my "I need to do this someday" file.

 

J

I was a bit skittish about calling the number that AF listed for ordering.  As best I can tell that is/was Paw Paw Wilson's number.

Well, I just ordered the plans. this is a tool I simply must have.

This is by far the most often used machine in my shop aside from abrasives. Great job on the build!

A question, did you build your own? if so what was the material cost? if not who did and do they still build them?

one way or another I'm gonna have one I just need to figure out budgets and logistics

I built mine with scrap parts I've collected over the years.. if it cost me $90 I'd really be surprised.

Thanks man, it's good to know it can be done so cheap. I'll be spending more, I'm sure, but I'm not going to collect scrap for years to get what I need (i hope).

I've lucked out over the years. when things would slow down here in the shop, I'd take some part time work with a buddy of mine who tore equipment out of shut down factories. I haven't collected a lot, but I'm sure I've got enough to build hey nice C frame press and 2 or 3 more power hammers. my situation aside, I think that you can essentially get the same sort of deals that I have by making friends with some of your local scrap guys, not necessarily the scrap yards, but the guys who sell to them.

One of the problems with "home built" is that the original person usually builds theirs out of whatever they have around or can find cheap and designed with their tools and skills in mind and then everyone else likes it and wants to know where they can find a lefthanded inverted flugal horn like they used instead of looking at their scrap pile and saying "I bet I can use that mole plow instead with just a little tweaking!"

 

So originals can be quite cheap while copies often are several times the cost as people try to duplicate them exactly!

Lucky the M-D plans do not insist on exact size stock, due to that very issue.  As well as he him being in OZ and they have more metric than  imperial measurements.  the plans are well done, overly details, but do assume salvage and allow and even encourage one to use what is at hand to build.  I have them and if we can no longer get them from McDonald I will provide them

Does anyone know how or where to purchase the McDonald rolling mill plans or any similar plans at this time?

Thanks

John

 

You might try Anvilfire.  Link removed.

 

Hot link removed per Jock Dempsy of Anvilfire.   Anvilfire does not allow hot links to their site.  There is a thread about this under the pinned heading of McDonald Rolling Mill. at the top of this page.

Here is a link : http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/12326-mcdonald-rolling-mill/

Has anyone got an email address or phone number for Hugh McDonald?

He designed the roll mill and sells plans for them.

 

Hugh McDonald

150 Williams Rd

Gooseberry Hill 6067

Western Australia

 

Since he seems to be invisible I have been attempting to take over as a source for the plans, as I already have them and am able to reproduce them, I only need written permission and a place to send his royalties and I can ship.

I am still waiting reply.