Metal-forming rollers?

[BulletGeek]

How hard would it be to build a set of rollers for forming metal, specifically some hand-cranked tool that would roll a penny out into a ribbon about .025 thick or so?

Seems to me that that would be a near-ideal stock for forming gas checks and half-jackets out of.

[Phil]

Pennies haven't been made from copper for many years. They are just plated now, the base metal is zinc as I recall. Not copper though. But, the basic idea is sound. Just have to find some other source of copper.

Cheers,

Phil

[BulletGeek]

Actually, I was taking that into account. I think a copper-plated zinc gas-check would work just fine... or even a plain zinc one.

Besides which, there are still plenty of copper pennies in circulation.

[docone31]

This is what I use for rolling down stock to make sheet.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=4832

[BulletGeek]

That looks just about perfect! Thanks!

[jimkim]

That is nice!!!! It looks just like what I've been looking for. Good thread!!

[jim4065]

Is zinc as soft as aluminum? Just wondering if pennies would work for Pat Marlins check maker.

[BulletGeek]

Zinc washers were the basis of the Harvey Pro-Tek cast-on gas check system. The metal ought to work in the check-maker just fine... I was going to give it a try, in any event. :D

[beagle]

You might look on E-bone for a roller. Custom jewellers use them to roll gold and silver in their work. They are adjustable for thickness./beagle

[docone31]

I find my rolling mill to be precise enough to roll sheet stock. It is quite controllable.
The rolling mills have hardened steel for rollers, they rust while you watch them. I wax my rollers. I had two rust out and had to be discarded. The tolerances in what I do do not allow remachineing.

[jim4065]

You might look on E-bone for a roller. Custom jewellers use them to roll gold and silver in their work. They are adjustable for thickness./beagle

Like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160299163420&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT&ih=006

I'm high bidder right now - but you know it can't last.

[BulletGeek]

A person could split copper or brass tubing with a band saw and feed the halves through the roller. The truly desperate scrounger could use old reject or Berdan-primed brass hulls... cut off the case head, split the hull, and feed the halves through the roller. The result would be two little ribbons of brass stock, just the right size and shape to feed through the check maker.

[docone31]

Jim, I do not reccomend that one. It is too small. By the time the bidding is over, the Harbor Freight one will be compareable.
I like the one I posted as it has the capability of using two flat rollers. they are wide, and, the handle will not over power the gears.

[jim4065]

Whoops!

Guess I was swayed by the fact that two rollers had "wire" grooves. How does the one from Harbor Freight make round wire if only one roller has grooves? (Also the name has a faintly Teutonic ring.) :oops:

[waydownsouth]

pressed penny machine

http://www.pressedpennies.com.au/?gclid=CNyVr5nhhZcCFQ2LDQodp0pV9A

made here

http://www.acmeengineering.com.au/

these penny machines use some pretty heavy duty reduction gears and rollers but they do rely on the imprinted patern for grip

[BulletGeek]

No need to do all the rolling in one pass.

[jim4065]

A person could split copper or brass tubing with a band saw and feed the halves through the roller. The truly desperate scrounger could use old reject or Berdan-primed brass hulls... cut off the case head, split the hull, and feed the halves through the roller. The result would be two little ribbons of brass stock, just the right size and shape to feed through the check maker.

Sounds good to me. Wonder if 22 LR cases would work - just squeezed thru the rollers? :-D

[docone31]

To make wire from the Harbor Freight Rolling Mill, you would use the 1/2rd against the flat, then use a draw plate. Even the dual roller mill has to be drawn through a draw plate.
The material has to be annealed, then drawn to size.
I prefer to draw square to start as I can grip the wire better that way.
There is almost a tool for everything.

[Pavogrande]

Used to just lay the penny on the street car tracks :-)

[georgeld]

Not many street cars around now days. We used freight trains. Sure flattened them out!

So: what's wrong with using shim stock, or alum cans already thin enough?
Just make/get the punch's and go to work stamping out disks.
Others have done it using alum with some success too from what I've read.

[BulletGeek]

I have inquired about using aluminum for bore-contact applications here in the past. From the reaction I received... well, let's just say I don't recommend the practice.

Something about aluminum oxide forming on the surface of the aluminum, and subsequently abrading your bore. It leads to worn rifling, poor accuracy, blow-by, the heartbreak of psoriasis, the continuing decline of western civilization, and global warming.

[jim4065]

I have inquired about using aluminum for bore-contact applications here in the past. From the reaction I received... well, let's just say I don't recommend the practice.

Something about aluminum oxide forming on the surface of the aluminum, and subsequently abrading your bore. It leads to worn rifling, poor accuracy, blow-by, the heartbreak of psoriasis, the continuing decline of western civilization, and global warming.

I can believe all the rest, but poor accuracy? :roll: