Veena Raghavan on thu 28 feb 08
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the very detailed report. It is really very helpful. I have no
idea how much the whole system costs, with enough bats to make it worthwhile, but
it certainly sounds a great system.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
Veena
In a message dated 2/28/2008 7:04:29 PM Eastern Standard Time,
claystevslat@YAHOO.COM writes:
>
>
> First, the two disclaimers ... I have no interest, financial, or personal,
> in Miracle Bats, and I got mine free (I won the raffle). These are my
> observations, based on a few days' experience with the starter kit
VeenaRaghavan@cs.com
Steve Slatin on thu 28 feb 08
First, the two disclaimers ... I have no interest, financial, or personal,
in Miracle Bats, and I got mine free (I won the raffle). These are my
observations, based on a few days' experience with the starter kit.
1. It's a very nicely put together piece of equipment. Everything is
well formed, everything fits really nicely, and there was obviously
lots of thought put into the design.
2. The kit consists of two major pieces and various hardware --
an adaptor, which is a round disk, machined to fit various bat
pin alignments on a wheelhead, and what I surmise is an
injector-molded plastic bat. The adaptor appears to be made
of a particularly dense, hard plastic, and the bat has many
thousands of tiny holes on the surface, to encourage drying.
3. The adapter is about 1550 gm with the pins and wingnuts
in. The bat itself is 505 g. This is almost exactly the weight
of a plasti-bat of the same size, somewhat less than a
comparable medex bat (670 g), and substantially less than a
hydro-bat (1570 g).
4. Adapter construction -- it is drilled for 3 different bat
pin alignments. I could only test the 10" alignment, which
was perfect. The holes are threaded as well as drilled,
so it took a few seconds longer to attach the adapter
than it does to put in bat pins alone. When the adapter
is tight, the velcro patches on the top provide the
attachment to the bat, which has matching velcro on
the bottom.
5. Bat construction -- there are two depressions in the
bottom of the bat, which slip in more readily than I
have ever had a regular bat slip onto its pins. I pressed
down on the bat, and put a large pug of hard clay on the
bat, slap-centered, attached, and coned. The quantity
of clay I used would normally have been quite difficult
to center without the bat wobbling or coming free, but
I had no problem with it. With maximum hand-pressure
and high wheel speed, there was a little movement
in the bat, but very little. The only way I've ever
gotten a conventional bat that well attached was to
put clay onto the wheelhead, flatten it, make a ridge
in it, and use suction to hold the bat down.
6. I threw off the hump until there was rather little
clay left, and threw a very thin-bottomed, flat-bottom
form. This is a form I like and can sell readily, but
don't do too often as I have to use a thick bottom
to ensure no shape distortion on removal from the
bat. I 'cut in' with a bamboo tool at the base, but
didn't wire off the form -- there was insufficient
base to support wiring.
7. About 36 hours later, I went to my studio, and
found the form was loose. I examined the base,
and it was almost totally smooth. The form was
sufficiently moist to permit trimming. Just as a
check, I then took some too-wet clay, and tried
to center it on the miracle bat. It attached quite
well.
8. I have called Miracle Bat for advice, and found
staff to be helpful -- they call back quickly if you
leave a message.
9. A starter kit is fine to experiment with, but you
don't want to try to produce with just one bat. You
will need to buy a supply of bats, so check the
pricing and see if you can make do with what you
can afford.
Conclusions -- So far it seems to be an excellent
bat system. Unlike most bats, it attaches quite
firmly, and you can use either rather moist or
rather dry clay and the bat works well. It actually
does release, at least with hard clay (I have not
yet tested with very wet clay) in the way that
hydro-bats do, and it's fairly light.
I have never been entirely happy with any kind
of bat, and am leery of too much excitement
about this one, as I don't yet know if it holds
up to use or geets scored (like some plaster
bats do), and if it always releases well or just
sometimes.
I do like this system well enough to invest in
some more miracle bats, and probably in
one of their 'bestbat' usits as well, just to see
how it handles. Extended use will show if
it will hold up to scoring, how it works with
different kinds (and moisture levels) of clay,
etc. When I have more to report, I'll write
again.
-- Steve Slatin
---------------------------------
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Tom Brook on fri 29 feb 08
Thanks Steve, I was looking forward to seeing someones report on these Bats.
Sounds like a good system-Tom
First, the two disclaimers ... I have no interest, financial, or personal,
in Miracle Bats, and I got mine free (I won the raffle). These are my
observations, based on a few days' experience with the starter kit.
1. It's a very nicely put together piece of equipment. Everything is well
formed, everything fits really nicely, and there was obviously lots of
thought put into the design.
2. The kit consists of two major pieces and various hardware -- an adaptor,
which is a round disk, machined to fit various bat pin alignments on a
wheelhead, and what I surmise is an injector-molded plastic bat. The adaptor
appears to be made of a particularly dense, hard plastic, and the bat has
many thousands of tiny holes on the surface, to encourage drying.
3. The adapter is about 1550 gm with the pins and wingnuts in. The bat
itself is 505 g. This is almost exactly the weight of a plasti-bat of the
same size, somewhat less than a comparable medex bat (670 g), and
substantially less than a hydro-bat (1570 g).
4. Adapter construction -- it is drilled for 3 different bat pin alignments.
I could only test the 10" alignment, which was perfect. The holes are
threaded as well as drilled, so it took a few seconds longer to attach the
adapter than it does to put in bat pins alone. When the adapter is tight,
the velcro patches on the top provide the attachment to the bat, which has
matching velcro on the bottom.
5. Bat construction -- there are two depressions in the bottom of the bat,
which slip in more readily than I have ever had a regular bat slip onto its
pins. I pressed down on the bat, and put a large pug of hard clay on the
bat, slap-centered, attached, and coned. The quantity of clay I used would
normally have been quite difficult to center without the bat wobbling or
coming free, but I had no problem with it. With maximum hand-pressure and
high wheel speed, there was a little movement in the bat, but very little.
The only way I've ever gotten a conventional bat that well attached was to
put clay onto the wheelhead, flatten it, make a ridge in it, and use suction
to hold the bat down.
6. I threw off the hump until there was rather little clay left, and threw a
very thin-bottomed, flat-bottom form. This is a form I like and can sell
readily, but don't do too often as I have to use a thick bottom to ensure no
shape distortion on removal from the bat. I 'cut in' with a bamboo tool at
the base, but didn't wire off the form -- there was insufficient base to
support wiring.
7. About 36 hours later, I went to my studio, and found the form was loose.
I examined the base, and it was almost totally smooth. The form was
sufficiently moist to permit trimming. Just as a check, I then took some
too-wet clay, and tried to center it on the miracle bat. It attached quite well.
8. I have called Miracle Bat for advice, and found staff to be helpful --
they call back quickly if you leave a message.
9. A starter kit is fine to experiment with, but you don't want to try to
produce with just one bat. You will need to buy a supply of bats, so check
the pricing and see if you can make do with what you can afford.
Conclusions -- So far it seems to be an excellent bat system. Unlike most
bats, it attaches quite firmly, and you can use either rather moist or
rather dry clay and the bat works well. It actually does release, at least
with hard clay (I have not yet tested with very wet clay) in the way that
hydro-bats do, and it's fairly light.
I have never been entirely happy with any kind of bat, and am leery of too
much excitement about this one, as I don't yet know if it holds up to use or
geets scored (like some plaster bats do), and if it always releases well or
just sometimes.
I do like this system well enough to invest in some more miracle bats, and
probably in one of their 'bestbat' usits as well, just to see how it
handles. Extended use will show if it will hold up to scoring, how it works
with different kinds (and moisture levels) of clay, etc. When I have more to
report, I'll write again.
-- Steve Slatin
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