The leading edge in rolling mill refurbishment

Leussink Engineering is the leading Australian provider of sales, support, on-site machining, mill stand refurbishment, chock verification and precision flat bearings installation for steel rolling mills.

When it comes to refurbishing rolling mill stands, we have confidence in our ability to refurbish even the oldest ferrous and non-ferrous mills to their original condition. Our portable metrology solutions enable us to verify the integrity of our refurbishing work on rolling mill stands, providing added quality assurance measures to our work.

By having your mill stand refurbished by Leussink Engineering you will be able to significantly extend its lifespan while avoiding the sizeable expense of having to immediately replace it.

Read on to find out more about the key components of rolling mills and the practices that we use to best maintain them.

If your steel rolling mill requires refurbishment, Leussink Engineering has the skills, experience and expertise to get the job done, no matter how big or small. Leussink has been sought out for major international steel mill refurbishing work in Romania, Italy, and most recently, Kazakhstan.

Our work in Kazakhstan saw us partner with ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, for the refurbishment of six iron ore mills. Winning the contract to work with the world’s foremost steel producer was a crowning moment for us and speaks volumes to the skill level of our technical staff. Not to mention the benefits of ongoing high-level training.


Rolling mill audit

To be able to evaluate the state of a rolling mill, a general mill audit is necessary. A mill audit involves investigating the state of the main mill components, the housing and the chock fleet.

The housings on a rolling mill keep the roll-sets in place and control the rolled geometries, while the chocks directly keep the rolls in place. Chocks are critical because the middle axis of every chock is the base of the overall geometry and all relevant surfaces have to be adjusted to this axis.

We perform mill audits using our advanced optical 3D metrology solutions, which allows us to identify any potential issues with your rolling mill before it’s too late to fix them.

corts rolling mill

Lubricating mill stands

Leussink ensures proper, even lubrication between plates, not only allowing for smoother mill operation but also helping protect plates from unnecessary wear and corrosion. Without the application of a quality lubricant you risk both the integrity of your mill stand as well as the quality of the work it produces.

Getting the full Gap View

Rolling mill components inevitably wear over time due to the severe temperature, pressure and other physical elements involved in manufacturing. This wear ultimately causes an increase in the gap between the housing and chock liners. Once this gap reaches an unacceptable level it can compromise the quality of the final product, which can greatly affect its commercial value.

At Leussink, we have developed a cutting-edge system called Gap View that takes all the guesswork out of how gaps are affecting the performance of your rolling mill. Gap View, our patented hardware and software system, takes real time measurements of gaps before, during and after the manufacturing process.

This allows for an unprecedented level of real-time decision-making during the manufacturing process, as well as later analysis to see how the change in gap during manufacturing affected the final product and the components that were in use at that time.

Leussink can record and track the various parts of a rolling mill using RFID tags. Leussink’s Component Management System is a cutting-edge inventory management platform that uses sophisticated RFID technology to track and optimise your rolling mill maintenance and production processes.

Read more about Leussink’s Component Management System.

Precision Flat Bearings

Flat bearings are a critical component in:

  • maintaining optimal rolling conditions;
  • protecting housings and chocks from damage; and
  • reducing downtime related to maintenance of key mill components.

Precision Flat Bearings offer the highest level of damage-protection to chock and housing surfaces while providing minimal engineered wear. They allow a mill stand to deliver the highest quality rolled product for longer, thanks to their unmatched ability to maintain a tight, optimised gap for longer.

Advanced monitoring devices within provide an unprecedented level of real-time knowledge of production conditions, which enables early warning of potential mill wear or damage. Meaning you can act quickly to initiate repairs or refurbishment, ensuring your mill will be able to maintain optimal rolling conditions for longer while vastly reducing ongoing wear and damage.

Corts flat bearings

Roll profile measuring

Leussink measuring instruments are based on the proven, high precision scanning micrometer. It collects valuable measurement data from the roll and plays a key early role in quality assurance. Key roll profile data can be collected before and after every grind, even if the roll is not currently located on the grinding machine.

Consistent monitoring of the roll’s profile is essential to optimise the grinding procedure as well as the roll’s lifetime. In combination with state-of-the-art electronics and software, this user-friendly, durable and robust instrument is specifically designed for the rough environment of rolling mills and roll grinding shops.

The Leussink software package shows users a detailed roll profile on screen with the click of a button. This graph can be saved after each re-grind, thereby allowing the complete grinding history of the roll to be recorded throughout its entire lifetime.

You can rely on the precision and reliability of this lightweight and sleek roll measuring tool, which has been successfully getting the job done for more than 30 years.

Read more about this product.

Precision reconditioning

Over time, chock and housing surfaces can sustain damage from wear, corrosion and hammering. While flat bearings and lubrication are intended to protect against these things, improper flat bearing material choices, un-optimised lubrication, or simply years of production can result in surface damage that requires machining to repair.

Left uncorrected, damaged mounting surfaces can lead to even more damage due to:

  • bearings not being mounted flush, resulting in uneven impact and wear protection;
  • corrosion caused by water seeping in behind the bearings;
  • an increased or uneven gap, which hinders proper lubrication; and
  • roll position, which dramatically reduces overall production quality.

Leussink has significant experience in correcting these problems through precision reconditioning of surfaces. Our expert team uses custom designed milling machinery to quickly and precisely recondition your components and return the mounting surfaces and production window to as good, if not better, than OEM specifications.

If you have a project that requires any of the above suite of rolling mill refurbishment solutions and services, contact us now to find out how we can help you.