Cheating with making ingots

[Former_Member]

I'm on a very low budget and have a rolling mill. I bought an ingot mold and to my surprise, the ingots are too thick to go through my rolling mill. Anyone know any cheats besides hammering?

[Former_Member]

If it's not wwwwway to thick maybe you could file the end down to a little taper so you can get it started....if it would go once it starts.

[oiseaumetalarts]

where is the fun in that?
i thought we worked with metal so we could beat s@#t with hammers.

[Former_Member]

I do the same thing from ingots. But they DO fit my rolling mill. I have a durston and maybe it opens wider. But there are many ingot molds also and that could affect thickness. I like the one that allows me to control width. It has a clamp on it and you can adjust the width of the ingot. I use it about 3/4 to 1 inch wide and when done thinning it will lengthen and also increase a little in width.
But if you have an anvil or thick metal piece to bang on with a heavy hammer...that is the way the indians did it for many years. You do need to anneal the piece after a point or it will get brittle and crack. I found it is too much work and time spent and have backed up and just order thick silver sheet or what they label ingot wire. which is thick and heavy and comes on a coil.

[Former_Member]

You could also wink at a guy with big arms and hand HIM the hammer. Ha ha

[FieryCreations]

Did you open up the mill all the way?
How thick is your ingot in mm?

[hartleystudio]

I know...that's what I was thinking. Did you open the mill up all the way? How thick is your ingot? I can't imagine your rolling mill won't accept an ingot.

Here's a thought, why don't you send the ingot to Midwest refiners and then buy sheet? I'm sure it would take much less time and you probably wouldn't loose that much money...

[Former_Member]

Some of the economy mills don't open very wide at all. Otto Frei has one that accepts at the most 2mm sheet which is useless for ingots.

http://www.ottofrei.com/store/product.php?productid=21361&cat=0&page=1

This is a piece of information that is usually buried at the very end of the description but it is crucial.

[CharitableCreations]

I'm having the same problem!! My rolling has max of 3mm and all the sheet ingots are at least 3.5 to 4mm thick. I wish I knew a company that could make a custom ingot...Anyone know of a place I can purchase a 3mm thick ingot or a way to make my own?

Thanks in advance!!

Shelly

[Former_Member]

I have the adjustable ingot mold that you can adjust width and flip over to form wire.But I will have to see how thin it cast's at. But if a person had some ground off the the adjusable one it would cast thinner. Sand casting a thinner ingot would work,but silver is a not a very good casting metal and the thinner you cast the more it has problems with granulation and pourosity. or coukld just beat the hell out of it on an anvil to make thin enough to then go into the mill.. There are those that ONLY do that and sware by it.