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making sieves

updated fri 28 feb 97

 

sam wainford on mon 10 feb 97

Lili,
After reading your message I realized that I must have remembered just
enough info about that article to be dangerous. Sorry. So I finally
found the original article. It is in Ceramics Monthly March 1990, and
was a suggestion contributed by Ira Merrill from Wrangell, Alaska. It
reads as follows:
"It's easy to make your own sieves if you have access to a wood
burning stove or some other hot, flat surface. Simply cut PVC pipe(6 to
10 inches in diameter) into 2-1/2 inch (or more) lengths, then cut
squares of stainless steel or bronze screening with dimensions slightly
larger than the PVC pipe. Lay a piece of aluminum foil on the wood
stove (or alternative hot surface); spray with a cooking oil (such as
Pam);
position a square of screen on the foil; and press the PVC pipe down
onto the screen until the plastic starts to curl at the bottom edge.
Remove the pipe (screen will be attached) and place it on a piece of
cold steel; press down (hard) until it cools. Use tin snips to trim the
outside screen edges, then sand the burrs off and you've got a new
sieve."
Don't know if it would work with the bucket. If you try it, let
me know. Sam


Lili Krakowski wrote:
>
> I tried the melting into plastic bit with a small (4") white plastic
> pipe. The process stank. It not only smelled, it did nto work well for
> me. I now file the cut edges of the plastic, or
> sand them (wearing a mask, wearing goggles, wearing a mask AND goggles)
> and use epoxy to attach screen. Works.
>
> Lili Krakowski lkkrakow@edisto.cofc.edu
>
> On Sat, 8 Feb 1997, sam wainford wrote:
>
> > ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> > Marget and Peter Lippincott wrote:
> > >
> > > ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> > > I use a crushed clay from a brick company in my state, Arkansas. It has
> > > lots of stones the size you discribe, but I know they are there, so I
> > > turn the clay into slip and run it through a piece of window screen.
> > > Since all the stones are held back by the screen, I can then add dry
> > > ingredients to the slip in my Walker mixer. Because this clay is only
> > > crushed and not powdered I cannot get it through the seive dry, but you
> > > mightbe able to. I would put a 50# bag of each of your ingredients
> > > through a seive to see which one has the stones.
> > >
> > > I saw a design for making a screen fixed into the bottom of a 5 gallon
> > > bucket, now I can't find the reference. I think it might have been in a
> > > Ceramics Monthly. Does anyone remember seeing it?
> > Yeah, I remember that article--I think it's been about 5 years back. I
> > can't find it either, but do remember it had to do with melting the
> > plastic bucket edge into the screen. That could be accomplished with a
> > small propane torch. Maybe heating the screen with the torch would be
> > enough to melt the plastic into the mesh. I think they used copper
> > screen. Sam
> >

Lili Krakowski on tue 11 feb 97

Sam: I tried the melting sieve cloth into plastic on woodburning stove
just like the article said. I may be a klutz--perfectly possible-- but I
had bad luck with it, leaving aside the process smelled bad. I piped up
ONLY becaue epoxy worked /works much mroe easily for me....

Lili Krakowski lkkrakow@edisto.cofc.edu

FAY & RALPH Loewenthal on wed 12 feb 97

Dear all I get my sieves from a local potter's supply store (my opposition).
As far as I can make out he takes the 12" polyethyline pipe and puts the
sieve material and then takes either a slightly larger diameter pipe or heats
up another piece of the same diameter pipe and slips it over the material
and the original piece of pipe. He makes terrific sieves and they last for ages.
Hope this helps Ralph in the "Friendly City"