Patent ID: 7578155

Claim:
A method of operating a rolling system comprising: a rolling mill outputting in a travel direction a rod workpiece; a wire block comprised of at least two roll stands spaced apart in the direction downstream of the rolling mill; and a calibrating block comprised of at least two roll stands spaced apart in the direction downstream of the wire block, the method comprising the steps of: passing the workpiece downstream in the direction from the rolling mill through the wire block and thereafter through the calibrating block with thickness reduction in each block; providing at least three roll stands in the calibrating block; setting the three stands of the calibrating block at a fixed spacing and not varying this spacing during a rolling operation; measuring the thickness of the workpiece immediately upstream of the calibrating block during a rolling operation; and adjusting gaps of the roll stands of the rolling mill or wire block during a rolling operation in accordance with the thickness measured during the same rolling operation such that the workpiece has a predetermined thickness on entering the calibrating block.