Jeanette Harris on mon 11 feb 08
Hi, Rebecca,
Take a look at the North Star mini slab roller at
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Supplies/slabrollers/slabrollers.htm#NSPortaRoller
I bought one at the Portland NCECA and absolutely love it. It's no
wimp, either. The table sections are wide and sturdy enough to handle
just as much clay as I used to ask my old Brent to do. It is solid
and stable (as a matter of fact, it sits on the old Brent table.)
The action is very positive, the rollers work very well, and it is a
breeze to adjust. Note the twist knobs on the top and the transparent
gauges on the inside roller supports. You can get the thickness to a
gnat's whisker.
But that's not the end of the wonderfullness. The whole thing comes
easily apart (Note the hand-hold slots at the ends of the table and
if you can heft a few bags of clay, you can carry this easily:
Crank, tables, roller assembly. Piece of cake!
Slabmatts go great with it too.
Cheers,
Jeanette
--
http://jeanetteharrisblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.washingtonpotters.org/members/Jeanette_Harris/wpa_jeanette_harris.htm
Jeanette Harris
Washingzona
Steve Slatin on mon 11 feb 08
Rebecca --
I have one; I never took a workshop or even read extensively
about slab work, just assembled it, cut a rough bit off a
commercial pug of clay, and started rolling.
Observations -- this model relies on shims to give you
the exact thickness you want. The shims are of limited
range; that is, you can't say "well, this time I'll make it 1/2
mm thicker and that'll be perfect." That's a limitation.
It gives me more than sufficient mechanical advantage --
which I had been worried about -- and it's not hard at
all to roll from thickest to thinest -- by rolling several times,
first without shims, than with one, then with two.
It lies very steady and the mechanism turns smoothly,
so it doesn't jump around in use -- at least on a flat work surface.
It produces a very consistent slab.
The abrasive on the roller does 'shed' a bit but I
didn't get anything in my slabs).
Do be aware that the width of a slab you
create on it is very limited -- and if you do a 90
degree turn on your slab, you're limited to a fairly
small final square. I did experiment with taking
two square pieces and assembling them together
in a long piece of canvas and the roller seemed
to 'join' them pretty well, but I never finished and
fired that piece, so I don't know if that's a reliable
way to increase slab size or not.
The unit is solid, but still easy to life and move
around -- I would have gone for a larger unit, though,
if I had the space, I believe.
Best wishes -- Steve Slatin
"R. Ravenal" wrote:
I'm looking into buying a portable slab roller, specifically the Bailey
Mini-Might table-top 16" model. Does anyone have any experience with
mini-rollers, or this model in particular? Do they work? Are they worth it? Any
comments would be much appreciated, either on clayart or privately.
Thanks,
Rebecca R.
---------------------------------
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R. Ravenal on mon 11 feb 08
I'm looking into buying a portable slab roller, specifically the Bailey
Mini-Might table-top 16" model. Does anyone have any experience with
mini-rollers, or this model in particular? Do they work? Are they worth it? Any
comments would be much appreciated, either on clayart or privately.
Thanks,
Rebecca R.
**************Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.
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48)
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