Fhelme@aol.com on thu 13 feb 97
First, I want to thank all that responded to my Thousand Handles? request. I
appreciate and am overwhelmed by your responses.
I own a quite new Bluebird 440 deairing pugmill and like it very much.
(however I have never used another one either). As much as I like it, I
would like to pass along a suggestion given to me by Trudy and Frank Litto of
The Great American Wheelworks Pottery here in upper New York state. I have
used their suggestion when installing the 440 and that was to put a support
under the nozzle end of the pugmill. Apparently the larger models do so.
The weight of the mill portion is cantilivered from the motor end; thus,
with the support the mill portion is held at both ends. I think this relates
to previous discussion re early destruction of the "spider" piece between the
motor and mill. When unpacking my new pugmill, I noticed that the box
structure between the motor and mill section seemed wimpy to me and not very
strong. Thus the cantilivered weight may cause added deflection of the
spider spacer. For a support I used a short piece of 2 x 4 under the larger
end of the nozzle and I used old credit cards to shim the block to take part
of the cantilivered load. (I loosened the bolts holding the pugmill before I
placed the block and credit cards) I think that this action will extend the
life of my pugmill. Perhaps newer or older 440 models have a beefier box
structure.
I hope this is understandable, if not please email me.
frank helme in upstate NY who uses cone 6 in oxidation! ( fhelme@AOL.com )
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