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pug mill plans?

updated sat 28 feb 98

 

Wobinwich@aol.com on mon 23 feb 98

After spending the afternoon KILLING my wrists and arms trying to work with
old clay, I am wondering if anyone out there has plans for building a pug
mill?

June Perry on tue 24 feb 98

The Harry Davis video show him and friends building a pug mill. I believe his
book also has plans and instructions. Looking at the time it would take,
material costs,the tools needed, etc. you might do better looking for a
bargain in a used pugmill. Check large cities auction pages for ceramic
factories going out of business,etc. I used to go to some in S.California and
they would practically give the stuff away.
There are also some used Ceramic suppliers on the internet that you can check
out.

Good luck!
June

Craig Martell on tue 24 feb 98

At 09:44 AM 2/23/98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>After spending the afternoon KILLING my wrists and arms trying to work with
>old clay, I am wondering if anyone out there has plans for building a pug
>mill?

Hi: There are plans for a deairing pug in Harry Davis book "The Potter's
Alternative". It's out of print, but you may be able to find a copy in the
Library, or from a potter friend.

Craig Martell-Oregon

Vince Pitelka on tue 24 feb 98

>After spending the afternoon KILLING my wrists and arms trying to work with
>old clay, I am wondering if anyone out there has plans for building a pug
>mill?

Eighteen years ago I built a pugmill from the Harry Davis plans. Harry
Davis and friends were the ones who came up with the single-auger de-airing
mill, and his design was subsequently adapted for the Venco, Bluebird,
VanHo, and the new Shimpo mills. I don't think that Harry got anything from
any of these companies.

Harry's plans are pretty minimal, and are confusing and difficult to follow.
I improvised a lot and made many adaptations, and my mill is working
perfectly today. It will process and de-air a ton an hour. When I built it
my out-of-pocket expenses were only about $600, because the motor,
gear-reducer, vacuum pump, and much of the steel were purchased from scrap
yards or used equipment dealers. This is a project which requires advanced
welding and fabrication skills. Unless you need such a high output mill,
you would be far better off looking for a used de-airing mill. Also, this
is a mild-steel mill, and will not work for porcelain.

If you are still interested, email me privately.
- Vince

Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166

Lili Krakowski on wed 25 feb 98

Sorry to rain on your parade. The Davies plan (which I have seen) require
a lot of machining and welding and such like. There is someplace a really
really old pugmill design using parts from a (farm) auger of the type, if
I recall used to move sillage or somesuch. You won't find
it at anything but a farm auction, and still there is machining and
welding involved. In breve: you probably would be
better off saving your pennies and buying a used pug mill.

Lili Krakowski

Eydie DeVincenzi on fri 27 feb 98

------------------
Vince:

=3E=3E
Also, this is a mild-steel mill, and will not work for porcelain.
=3E=3E

And why won't a mild-steel mill work for porcelein? Do you need yet
another type of pug mill for porcelein? These may sound like silly
questions, but I am beginning to realize that I need some mechanical help
making my batches of colored clays. The effort required is starting to
exceed my physical endurance. I can now appreciate your advice about
controlling the NUMBERS of colors one works with. I think you recommended
being inventive with design rather than using LOTS of colors? ... I'm
inventing=21 =3Cg=3E

Eydie