Imagine rolling any material—thick or thin—into a perfect cylinder every time, without shimming or rework. Today, I’m thrilled to unveil the WDM 430 Series plate roll, a game-changer that takes our legendary 4-roll design to the next level. Let’s dive in!

     To roll a perfect cylinder, your material needs to be pinched with even pressure across the entire width. If there’s more pressure on the ends, you get a barrel-shaped cylinder—tight at the edges, gapped in the middle. If the center is pinched harder, you get an hourglass shape—tight in the middle, loose on the ends.

     Here’s why that happens: most plate rolls are supported on the ends. So when you feed material into the machine, the force causes the rolls to deflect or bend. To compensate, the industry crowns the rolls—making them larger in the middle so they even out under pressure.

     But here’s the problem: different materials deflect the rolls differently. A ¼-inch plate causes more deflection than, say, 20-gauge sheet. If your machine is crowned for ¼-inch, anything thinner rolls into an hourglass. If it’s crowned for thin material, heavier plate turns into a barrel.

     To work around this, operators sometimes shim the rolls—adjusting pressure with cardboard etc. to get a perfect shape. But shimming is tedious, time-consuming, and not ideal for shops rolling a wide range of materials.

     Enter the WDM 430 Series. Our patent pending “Passive Crown System” eliminates deflection issues. The pinch and bending rolls adapt to match the top roll’s deflection, whether you’re rolling 20-gauge or ¼-inch steel. No crowning, no shimming—just perfect cylinders every time. You can roll anything from thin sheets to max capacity with zero defects.

This isn’t just tech for tech’s sake. The WDM 430 Series boosts your shop’s efficiency:

• Versatility: Roll any thickness or width over 12 inches up to max capacity.

• Speed: No shimming means faster throughput.

• Precision: Say goodbye to barrel or hourglass shapes.