Stern HQ on tue 11 feb 97
Does anyone know of or have a MAX electric wheel? I have seen them
advertised but I have never worked in a studio that had one nor do I know
anything about them. I'd be grateful for the information. I have used
Randall wheels with motors attached and Brent electric wheels. I do not
care for Shimpo wheels, if that helps you help me. TIA Jeni
Nils Lou on tue 11 feb 97
Stephen Jepson (advertises as Jepson Pottery in CM) has several Max
wheels and is currently producing his own version based on the Max. I
recently visited with him and threw on one of his Max's. My impression is
it is one of the best--smooth, powerful and quiet. But, I think they go
for about $1400. If you want to call him his number is: 1-800-742-3055.
He is a really nice guy. If I were buying a wheel I would choose the high
end Creative Industry with a Soldner foot control--for less money and a
better set-up IMHO. Nils Lou
On Tue, 11 Feb 1997, Stern HQ wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Does anyone know of or have a MAX electric wheel? I have seen them
> advertised but I have never worked in a studio that had one nor do I know
> anything about them. I'd be grateful for the information. I have used
> Randall wheels with motors attached and Brent electric wheels. I do not
> care for Shimpo wheels, if that helps you help me. TIA Jeni
>
Jerry Bennett on wed 12 feb 97
Jeni: I have a Max wheel which I bought used when I lived in Iowa. I
purchased it for $100 from a man who had it about a year...what a deal!
I love the wheel. In the past four years I have used it a lot and had no
problems with it at all. The wheel is very well built and is all metal.
It is my understanding that the wheel was designed for production use.
I noticed in Ceramics Monthly that they do have ads for spare parts. I
have not priced the wheel except on this one case where I saw it
advertised in the Des Moines paper. In comparison to a Brent wheel, this
wheel would run a little slower, with less vibration. It is a very heavy
wheel.
If you have specific questions I will try to answer. Good luck with your
wheel purchase!
Jerry
Fred Paget on fri 14 feb 97
When I was at Stephen Jepson's school last November I used one of his Max
wheels for two weeks. It is very powerful and quiet and has an advanced
electronic motor control that is in my opinion superior to any other wheel
I have tried. (I have a medium size Creative Industries wheel at my studio
and I have used the Brent and Shimpo and Lockerbee at school) The Max uses
a direct gear drive and has a nice feature in that you can take off the
wheel head which is fitted on a tapered shaft. There is an extraction screw
that breaks the friction grab of the taper and the head lifts right off.
There is no splash pan supplied with the wheel and Stephen had to
improvise one from a plastic bucket (cut off and fitted with a wooden
bottom.) The thing kept leaking water on my foot until I bought a couple of
large sponges to put over the drain hole and then the water started to go
into the gear box which upset Stephen quite a bit (and me too) as he just
paid 1400 dollars for the wheel. I might add that the style of throwing
that Jepson teaches uses quite a lot of water. We had the wheel all apart
to fix the problem with the shaft and I got a good look inside it. As an
engineer I was not impressed by the Micky Mouse method of holding the gear
motor into the frame of the wheel and there is scant attention paid to
keeping water out of the shaft where it goes into the gear box.The frame of
the Max is a lot like the Brent wheel - welded up steel with heavy pipe
legs.
My assesment - a great wheel to work on because of the power and control
but needs some refinement of the details .Also needs a well designed splash
pan as some of us are messy and use a lot of water.Max doesn't make the
motor gear unit and they don't make the electronic control. What they have
done is to locate suppliers for these components and put them together into
a frame to make a wheel. They have selected superior but expensive
components but done a poor job of putting them together. Stephen thinks he
can do a better job and I am in line to buy one of his wheels as soon as he
gets the bugs out of the prototype.
Fred Paget---Mill Valley,CA,USA
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