StoverL@aol.com on tue 12 mar 96
Gosh. A lot of happy Venco users out there. I'll probably lay myself open
to ridicule here, but I use a Bluebird studio model #440, stainless &
de-airing, which I believe is quite a bit cheaper, but not High Capacity.
I've used it for 5 or 6 years without problems, but only for reclaiming
clay. It's a cute machine and does the job well. Cost about $1,700 I think.
Dave Spangenberg on tue 12 mar 96
I like the Peter Pugger as a clay scrap mixing tool and for small batch mixing.
The pugging is not de-airing nor is the pug well compressed, plan on either
feeding this pug into de-airing pug mill or hand kneading. The mixing is good;
hand kneading requirements are minimal.
If mixing clay were my bag, I would get a Soldner. For pugging, deairing models
from Venco or Bluebird are excellent.
Dave Spangenberg 75463.1027@compuserve.com
Jean Lehman on wed 13 mar 96
Me too. Used for15 years with few repairs.
Too many student sponges made the gears in the motor get stripped a few
years after purchase. Now all student stuff gets strained through a grate
before it enters the bucket. Every now and then the hair and other small
gritty stuff has to be cleaned out. I like the size. The three inch pug is
useful. When I need larger pieces, I just slap them together. I wedge the
larger lumps anyway to avoid warping as the pieces dry.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Gosh. A lot of happy Venco users out there. I'll probably lay myself open
>to ridicule here, but I use a Bluebird studio model #440, stainless &
>de-airing, which I believe is quite a bit cheaper, but not High Capacity.
> I've used it for 5 or 6 years without problems, but only for reclaiming
>clay. It's a cute machine and does the job well. Cost about $1,700 I think.
Don Walton on wed 13 mar 96
We have used several different clay mixers in our shop, Our first was a
Walker which is no longer made and I really wouldn't recommend one as they
are dangerous if you are inexperenced with one. I built a concrete drum
type out of an old cement mixer once and it worked for small batches but
with these types of mixers you have to dig the clay out with your hands. I
think for gereral purpose mixing the Peter Pugger is a great machine. We
used one for 5 years and had no problems at all. Their only drawback is
that they don't de-air. If you team a Peter Pugger with a de-airing mill it
works great because you can break off the clay out of the mixer into
puggable lugs so it goes pretty fast. We used a Venco to do this and it is
a well built pugmill which gives few problems. The venco's downside is that
it has no true shredder in the de-airing chamber so you have to release the
vacuum and clean out the chamber aftr every couple of lugs to keep the
vacuum going to the clay. We had a problem with the de-airing of non-grog
bodies with our Venco, but it is harder to de-air clay of this type
according to Venco.
At this time, we are using one of the new Weiland MP2 mixer-pugger machines,
This is the one that mixes in a vacuum and then pugs the clay out. If
anyone wants more info on this please E-mail me directly and I will let you
know about this one.
Don Walton
LBlos72758@aol.com on thu 14 mar 96
In a message dated 96-03-11 23:08:54 EST, you write:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Has anyone out there tried or used a Peter Pugger? I haven't got much
>space and this looks like it would fit.
>
>
I have the Peter Pugger - 100 lb version and I love it. It is a heavy duty,
serious piece of machinery. It does not deair however, but because I work
with slabs, rather than throwing, it is not a problem. I not only do not pay
to ship water - I don't pay for the water in the first place or pay someone
else to mix it for me. Pug mills are nice but I wanted to mix and then
retrieve the clay without having to reach inside a mixer.
Linda
Ithaca, NY
Leonard Smith on sat 16 mar 96
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The venco's downside is that
>it has no true shredder in the de-airing chamber so you have to release the
>vacuum and clean out the chamber aftr every couple of lugs to keep the
>vacuum going to the clay. We had a problem with the de-airing of non-grog
>bodies with our Venco, but it is harder to de-air clay of this type
>according to Venco.
>Don Walton
We've had our Venco for 15 years now so the design may have changed but
ours has a shredder screen in front of the vacuum chamber that ensures the
clay reaches the chamber sealed and that as much area is available to
vaccuum as possible.(you can order smaller or large grades of screen) The
design of the flat plate on top of the chamber being 1mm obove the auger
blade as it comes around works fine for us. We only clear out this area
once a day - it rarely blocks. So perhaps you may need to adjust this
plate. I built a de airing pug mill to Harry Davis's plans from which Venco
developed theirs and used this scheme developed by Geoff Hill rather than
Harry's complicated spring loaded arrangement. It worked perfectly on that
machine, and still does its present owner tells me.
As for non grog clays, well for the first 10 years I would make our clay in
a bakery dough mixer (an incredible machine)and it was a 60 mesh silica
stoneware body but now we use only porcelain. We do sometimes get some
inconsisitancy of the mix especially after the clay in the barrel has
rested overnight but we just pug everthing twice through and we can then
use it straight from the pug only wedging larger lumps.
As reported elseware Venco are extremely helpful and custmer aware so
adress any problems to them I'm sure they will work out a fix.
For anyone interested Vol 23 No 2 of Pottery in Australia pages 20-23 has a
very good article on using de-airing pugmills in the studio. Try a library
search.
Best wishes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard Smith ARCADIA STUDIOS Email: smithl@ozemail.com.au
10 Marrakesh Place
Arcadia, 2159, NSW, Australia. Phone 61 2 653 2507
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
|
