Randy O'Brien on fri 27 mar 98
Hi folks,
About two years ago my Pacifica wheel pedal started malfunctioning. The
wheelhead continued to turn slowly when the pedal was in the off
position. The speed adjustment screw wouldn't correct the problem. The
colder the studio was, the faster the wheelhead turned so I would heat
the metal plate on the bottom of the pedal with my heat gun until the
wheelhead stopped turning before starting to work. After a few months of
this I called Laguna and they agreed to repair it. They said it would
only take three days. So I sent them the control box and pedal. After a
month I called to see why it was taking so long. Their first response
was "So that's what is in that box." Two weeks later I received a
different pedal than the one I sent (not a new one though). It worked
normally for a few weeks and then the same problem started up again.
Since I couldn't afford to be without a wheel for such a long period of
time again, I just decided to live with it.
I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and does anyone know
how I would go about fixing it? (Other than returning it to Laguna. I
could buy a new wheel(s) with the amount of work I would lose waiting
for them to fix it.)
Thanks,
Randy O'Brien
Mendocino, CA
euphoria@mcn.org
Kathy A. Cheriki on sat 28 mar 98
Hi,
I have exactly the same problem, my wheel head has an agenda of its own.
In
fact I was ordering some supplies from the company that I bought the
Pacifica wheel from and mentioned this, she said she never heard of this
happening, but I know it does because a while ago there was a thread about
this problem. I never talked to the right department about this, I forgot
about it after I placed my supply order, I guess equipment is a different
department. Anyway, thinking about what would happen and the trouble it
would be to get it fixed, like you, I decided to live with it, for the
time being anyway. If it starts sending my pots into the walls, I think I
will have to rethink this!
Kathy
Marsha Segerberg on sat 28 mar 98
Randy,
I also had pedal problems which took Laguna many months to fix. After
describing my situation on Clayart a few weeks ago, I got the following
from Laguna:
In a general response to the list, Jim Kassebaum of Laguna wrote:
"By the way, in response to the comment regarding repairs, the
average, current turn around time in our shop is six work days.
If you have additional questions regarding Pacific Wheels or any
Laguna equipment, both Lenny Larson and I are available by e.mail
(ll@lagunaclay.com or jim@lagunaclay.com) or by telephone -
800 4-LAGUNA - extension 235/Lenny or 223/Jim."
In a personal response to me, he wrote:
"I just want to let you know that the service department which we have built
up over the past few years is outstanding. Our turn around time for
repairs is less than a week, and if a customer indicates that their
situation is urgent we respond the best we can. Lenny Larson heads up the
Pacifica manufacturing operation and either he (extension 235) or I
(extension 223) are at the factory most of the time and will return you
call as quickly as possible if you miss us when you call. We also have two
outstanding customer service representatives: Carla Frias (extension 224)
and Tami Luna (extension 201). Both Carla and Tami are also good at
solving customer's questions about Pacifica wheels."
I hope these names and phone numbers help. I wonder, though, about the
claims about their service department and the six-day turn-around time....
I'd be interested to know what happens. Good luck!
Marsha Segerberg
Phoenix
By the way, now that my pedal is fixed, I love the wheel and find that it's
better than any other electric wheel I've ever used. Too bad that this
pedal prob. and poor service dept. response has marred its reputation, at
least in my opinion.
Lesley Alexander on sun 29 mar 98
My pacifica pedal tended to slip and the wheel would run without me;
that was cured by tightening the nut at the base of the pedal. Probably
that's a different problem; it doesn't speed up unexpectedly. Also, silica
spray does shut up the rubber squeakees.
Eileen M Streeter on sun 29 mar 98
alas... so far that makes at least four of us that have had problems
with their pacificas... mine usually works as it should... but will
refuse to work on occasion... not spinning at all at full speed to not
stopping at the off setting... at this point i cannot be without my
wheel... so have to put up with the inconvience... will be in contact
with pacifica people... thanks to marsha segerberg and the info she
supplied in her letter... i work next to a potter with a brent that
has similar problems.... and my professor has a brent she uses in
another studio room... both have experienced the potter ghost... the
wheel moving when the pedal is on off position..... was wondering if it
has anything to do with the electrical setup... response to surges
etc... probably not...
good luck
eileens
David Hendley on mon 30 mar 98
My Pacifica pedal is also less than perfect.
I could not get it to stop completely in cold weather, which
is not too much of a problem in Texas, but occasionally annoying.
My remedy was to file off a bit of the pedal on the bottom back
of the pedal. To do this, take apart the pedal by removing the big bolt
that is the pivot for the pedal, and then file off an eighth of an inch
off the back side of the pedal, so it can be brought back farther.
Look at how it works, and you'll see where to file.
Worked for me.
At the Laguna NCECA exhibit, I noticed that the new Pacifica wheels
have METAL foot pedals.
It seems that the pedal and the electronics box have been completely
redesigned. There is a neat new 'on-off' button, and a reversing switch.
The pedal is very substantial, and even has a small ceramic tile that
says "Laguna" glued to it. Nice to look at.
You can buy this new system for your wheel for a couple of hundred bucks.
If I were having problems with my pedal, I think I would just spring for the
new system. My wheel is pretty old, circa 1977. My first pedal-electronics
system quit in 1991 or 2, so I bought the new one, then called the 'magic
pedal', rather than spending any money to repair the old one. I would have
the same attitude with this new, improved pedal.
BTW, after 20 years I still think this is a good wheel. Mine has a standard
black drive belt, not the multiple clear belts people have been complaining
about. Original belt, still works fine.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@sosweb.net
Will Mosher on tue 31 mar 98
Just a thought on the wheel pedal problem. I've never acutally seen it,
but I know drips and drabs about electrical circuits, so I'll post my
explaination. (Explaination=Guess in Male Egospeak) I don't mean to talk
down to anyone, but I don't know what level of knowlege I'm addressing
this to, and I want to be clear.
Eileen is probably correct, I think it is an electrical problem. The way
wheels work, is by hooking a motor to a driveshaft, and the driveshaft to
a wheelhead. However, you need some way to control the motor's speed,
since you don't want it to be humming along at the same speed all the
time. In other words, you need something other than an on/off switch. So,
they have this device that works like a faucet for electricity, called a
rehostat, which is tucked away in your footpedal. (The volume knob on
your radio is an example)
All this thing does is change (increase) how much "resistance" the
electricity has to push against to get from the source to the motor. .
When the pedal is "up" the rehostat is turned to "off", to the point
where it has 100% resistance to the current. If the point where there is
maximum resistance drops a little below that, say 98%, then there still
might not be a problem, since a small amount of current might not be able
to move something as massive as the drivetrain. Aaand, heat changes the
amount of resistance in a circuit. So you might have a situation where a
rheostat, already warm from current passing through it, (the reistance of
the wire produces heat, like the heating elements in a kiln do), in a
warm studio, with a few metal flakes having been worn off inside of it,
lets just enough current through to start the wheel spinning.
The fix would be to replace the rehostat, something that should take
about 20 min for someone who knew what they were doing, start to finish.
And they're pretty cheap parts too.
Whatdaya think? Someone on this list has got to have more knowlege of
electrical stuff than I. Of course, I could be completely wrong, and the
transformer could be melting down or your motor may be toast or something
else that's unforseen and hideously expensive.
On Sun, 29 Mar 1998 13:41:00 EST Eileen M Streeter
writes:
(various parts snipped)
mine usually works as it should... but
>will refuse to work on occasion... not spinning at all at full speed
to
>not stopping at the off setting... . both have experienced the potter
ghost...
>the wheel moving when the pedal is on off position..... was wondering if
>it has anything to do with the electrical setup... response to surges
>etc... probably not...
>
>good luck
>
>eileens
>
Think of this as CarTalk for Pottery. (Minus the banter..."I've got this
'66 Pacifica 4 speed, and it's giving me trouble...A what? They even make
those anymore? etc etc...)
Making peppermint-vanilla ice cream in Western Mass,
--Will Mosher
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lpskeen on tue 31 mar 98
Kathy A. Cheriki wrote:If it starts sending my pots into the walls, I
think I> will have to rethink this!
>
I'll have to add a "me too" here, because my just-shy-of-two-year-old
Pacifica is doing the same dang thing. I got two wrenches and adjusted
that big bolt thing and it worked fine for about 2 days, then went back
to what I call the slow motion chatter thing....where the wheelhead
turns when the pedal is at full off position.
I can't send the pedal back to Pacifica; I need to make pots. Why can't
they tell us how to fix it?
--
Lisa Skeen
Living Tree Pottery & Soaps
"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful
words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of
the good people." -- Dr. M. L. King, Jr. 4/16/63
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