Richard mahaffey on mon 11 oct 99
Hello fellow clayarters,
Long ago and far far away, I made a wheel using a "washing machine motor"
and the floor shift transmission out of my dead '48 Dodge pickup. Worksed
pretty well to learn on. Clayton Bailey made plans that we all circulated
in the Bay Area (San Francisco) in '69-70.
Position the motor vertically with the shaft on the bottom, put the gear
box vertically with the input shaft down.
Use the smallest pulley you can on the motor and the largest on the
transmission input shaft. Then bolt the wheel head to the output side of
your gear box. I had a 1.5" pulley on the motor and and 18" on the gear
box. That gave me a fairly slow low speed. Use third (or fourth) to
center, second for pulling the cylinder and first to finish your piece.
A friend of mine had a variable speed pulley set between the electric
motor and the transmission that gave more flexibility.
I can draw up some rough plans from memory if anyone wants them. Email me
at: rmahaffe@tcc.tacoma.ctc.edu with your snail mail address.
Good luck and remember to take some of the oil out of the gearbox if it
leaks when put in the upright position.
Rick Mahaffey
Off for China with students in 9 days.
Tacoma Community College
Tacoma, WA, USA
Lily Krakowski on fri 25 oct 02
I have built several wheels from scrap and there are things you can
improvise. Old pipe that is threaded at the ends can be fitted with
plumbers's flanges top and bottom. One plumbers flange is screwed into the
plywood head, the other into the flywheel. You may have to have the
machineshop thread that part for you. The pipe can just be set in a cup of
grease for which you improvise a lid (so it stays clean) One one of my
wheels I placed a big marble in the end of the pipe in the cup and as it
stuck out--the marble did-- it ran like a charm. I had the
flywheel/crankwheel of an old cornhusker...sandwiched between plywood ran
well.
The weight of the flywheel should be at the outside rim. People have use
regular cans like beans and soup come in, and filled them with cement and
attached them to the flywheel's outside rim. People have used bricks with
holes and "sewn" them with wire to the flywheels.
Just remember: a wheel is nothing but a lathe that runs perpendicular to the
lathese wood and metal workers use. Any machinist will help you, once you
tell him that.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
vince pitelka on fri 25 oct 02
I have to disagree with all those who suggest using plumbing flanges for
mounting the wheelhead or flywheel on a homemade kick wheel. They are not
intended to give a machine-perfect right angle, and that will cause you
trouble. There is a MUCH better solution. Any heavy machined chain
sprocket will be mechanically true, and will serve the need far more
efficiently. You should be able to find some at any good scrap yard, and
even if you have to buy them new from an industrial supply house, it will be
worth it to guarantee that your wheelhead and flywheel run true. Just bolt
your wheelhead or flywheel to the sprocket (drill some holes in the sprocket
if it is made from solid plate).
Once you have mounted your flywheel and wheelhead on the sprokets on the
shaft, and have mounted your bearings and pillow blocks, you can spin the
shaft and finish the outer edge of the wheelhead or flywheel with a good
aggressive sanding disk on an angle grinder.
Also, someone said that you need a pillow block bearing and a thrust
bearing, but that is not true. Any good pillow block bearings will absorb
all the axial thrust that a kickwheel shaft could ever generate. I was
concerned about this when I built my deairing pugmill, and when I read the
thrust-load ratings for the bearings I was amazed.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
Russel Fouts on sat 26 oct 02
>> I have built several wheels from scrap and there are things you can improvise. Old pipe that is threaded at the ends can be fitted with plumbers's flanges top and bottom. One plumbers flange is screwed into the plywood head, the other into the flywheel. You may have to have the machineshop thread that part for you. The pipe can just be set in a cup of grease for which you improvise a lid (so it stays clean) One one of my wheels I placed a big marble in the end of the pipe in the cup and as it stuck out--the marble did-- it ran like a charm. I had the flywheel/crankwheel of an old cornhusker...sandwiched between plywood ran well. <<
This actually works great. A studio where I worked had a really nice,
big banding wheel but it squeaked like crazy and didn't "whirl". Nobody
wanted to use it.
I took and stuffed ball bearing down the pipe and some grease and it
worked like a charm. Then everyone wanted to use it. BIG mistake. ;-)
As for bearings for potters wheels; a grease filled, over-turned wine
bottle for the cup bearing and a greasy chamois have worked for potters
for centuries.
Russel
--
Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 223 02 75
Mobile: +32 476 55 38 75
Mailto:Russel.Fouts@Skynet.Be
Http://www.mypots.com
http://www.Japan-Net.ne.jp/~iwcat
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