[Jewelry making - Article 00874] - Re: [Orchid] Otto Frei's Economy Rolling Mill

[John Donivan]

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    Back when Helen was talking about her mill, just out of curiousity I
    went down to Otto Frei to look at their version. They didn't have
    one at the time, but Ben, who reads Orchid (Hi, Ben!) heard me and
    just came and told me they had gotten one in, so I went down and
    took a look. The good thing is that it strikes me as a nice little
    light-duty mill for a beginner or hobbyist, it's pretty tight and
    has several interchangeable rollers, cast iron gears and reduction
    gears, fairly well made for a narrower roller, which many start out
    on. 

    The bad news is fairly bad in the long run, though, which is why I
    say light duty. The working parts are steel or cast iron of moderate
    quality, but the main casting is anodized aluminum, which is not so
    good to begin with. Even more, though, is that the casting is in two
    pieces so it can be taken apart to change the rollers, and is held
    on by four bolts, of about 1/4 - 20 or metric equivalent (5-6mm?).
    That means that where a dedicated mill is a solid casting, on this
    one all that stress of rolling is picked up by four bolts in an
    aluminum casting - it could have steel sleeves inside, I didn't go
    that deep into it (I doubt it, though). The fact that the bolts are
    unmarked except for a maker's mark (mild steel at best) is bad, but
    they are into aluminum, anyway, I guess. There are other bolts, too,
    but they are largely to hold gears on shafts and stuff, not
    structural. 

    That is bad, but I will say that it seems like a pretty good tool
    for someone who wants to spend $300 and have extra rollers to play
    around with. In 300 hours of use you could throw it away and have
    made a profit on it....The rollers will likely last quite awhile,
    with care, I would think. The owner needs to be very, very careful
    of those four bolts, though. If even one of them gets stripped even
    a little, there goes all your strength. That's when you have it
    welded shut....... And make sure the mating surfaces are squeaky
    clean, or your alignment will be off. I could be a snob about it,
    and certainly I wouldn't buy it, but it seems like a pretty good
    little mill for the price - it would be stronger if it didn't have
    the roller change thing, but then you wouldn't get the roller change
    thing, would you? Not bad, overall.... 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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