[Jewelry making - Article 00064] - [Orchid] Buying My First Rolling Mill...

[Marty]

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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 information. 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 -
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