[Jewelry making - Article 00531] - Re: [Orchid] Rolling mills square wire grooves

[Jay Whaley]

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Alberic,

    Those "flattened" corners on the rolling mills wire grooves were
    originally designed, I believe, to relieve the stress in the wire
    formation. Forming square wire out of a round ingot, the normal way,
    would put a lot of stress on a perfectly square corner, and you'd
    probably see many cracks form as you made the square wire. 

    However, those flattened square grooves do serve a wonderful
    purpose. Next time you are making square wire stock, say you are
    flattening a square wire to make a rectangular-shaped wire, and your
    wire ends up a little wider than you wanted, you will have a way to
    make it narrower. After annealing your too-wide stock, put that
    rectangular stock vertically in the largest groove that it will fit
    in, and gently roll it through the mill. That flattened bottom of the
    groove will put a flat edge on your stock, and narrow it as well.
    When you have the right width rolled down, then gently roll the wire
    flat again on the flat roller, and you have a perfectly flat,
    straight stock with perfectly flat edges. When you practice it, you
    will do this operation in minutes. Don't forget to anneal! 

    If you want a perfectly square wire with sharp corners, just make
    your square wire with the grooves, normally, but make it a shade too
    thick. Then, take your wire and gently run it through the flat
    rollers, alternating flat sides, until you have squared up the stock
    to the right size and squareness. The trick is to put very l;ittle
    pressure on the rollers for each pass. Works well. 

Good luck!
Jay Whaley
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