Hank Murrow on thu 13 jul 00
>I just ordered a Scott Creek extruder and have been reading two recent
>books on the subject. In addition, there is a great deal written on the
>construction of dies; usually they are made from plastics, wood or metals,
>has anyone tried making ceramic dies. Fired to cone 10, clay dies would be
>harder than any of the materials mentioned and easier to cut out; of
>course they would lack the malleability of metals and one would have to
>compensate for shrinkage; just curious.
>Tom Sawyer
>tgschs10@msn.com
Dear Topm; There may be some advanced carbon fiber re-inforced ceramic that
would be up to the job; but fired clay is very weak under tension; and
tension is the main stress on a die. My suggestion would be to look at the
nearest St.Vinnie's or Salvation Army outlet for a Teflon cutting board.
About 50 cents will get you a lot of excellent die material which is easy
to shape and the clay just squirts through it. Hank in Eugene
tgschs10 on thu 13 jul 00
I just ordered a Scott Creek extruder and have been reading two recent =
books on the subject. In addition, there is a great deal written on the =
construction of dies; usually they are made from plastics, wood or =
metals, has anyone tried making ceramic dies. Fired to cone 10, clay =
dies would be harder than any of the materials mentioned and easier to =
cut out; of course they would lack the malleability of metals and one =
would have to compensate for shrinkage; just curious.
Tom Sawyer
tgschs10@msn.com=20
tgschs10 on sat 15 jul 00
Clayarters FYI,
Tom-
Your premise has merit. Industry often uses porcelain die inserts for
structural ceramics (brick industry). Also, Brent (of the Brent wheel,
slabroller, and extruder fame) at one time used to have information in there
extruder package with a circle "cookie cutter" for making ceramic dies.
I have made a couple of them, but it was a long time ago. However, I will
tell you that I have my reservations about them. 1) I have distorted the die
as I moved it from the work table to a ware board (could be eliminated by
working directly on the board) and sometimes the water loss shrinkage will
cause some distortion as well. 2) I have a problem with dropping said dies
either when attaching or removing them from the extruder. Needless to say,
sometimes they are destroyed. 3) Clay is a bit harder to clean off the
residue, than are plastics, metals or finished wood. (I suppose that you
could glaze the upper side, but then what does that do to your die?) 4) I
haven't used them for anything but crude dies. I wonder about addressing
things like details, craftsmanship and refinement in the die openings.
I guess the final answer (as you have often heard on this forum) is: Try it!
It may suit your purposes well. It is a great way to understand the concepts
of die design - quick (except for the drying and firing time), and cheap. I
have found that scrap plexi of 1/4 inch plus works well, is cheap, is easy
to cut, is easy to adapt after evaluating the result. If you work with
plastic stock which is thinner, use a plywood, plastic or metal back up
(sort of like an open-faced sandwich).
Hope some of this helps. I don't mind if you want to forward this response
to the list, but since I use the digest form, and my e-mail program doesn't
allow easy response to the list from this format, I choose to write
directly.
Have fun.............Best wishes, and a quick recovery,
Fred Sweet
Ceramics
Richland College
Dallas, TX
Jennifer F Boyer on sun 16 jul 00
Hi All,
I like making my extruder dies out of Plastibats. They are black
plastic and are easy to cut with a jig saw after starting a hole
with a drill. Cut like buddah! I happen to have switched to CI
bats and have a stack of plastibats kicking around. When I use
the die I back it up with one of the metal dies that came with
the extruder, using one with an opening just larger than the
opening of my die. Just a thought in case the clay die doesn't
work.....Keep us posted!!
Jennifer
tgschs10 wrote:
>
> Clayarters FYI,
> Tom-
>
> Your premise has merit. Industry often uses porcelain die inserts for
> structural ceramics (brick industry). Also, Brent (of the Brent wheel,
> slabroller, and extruder fame) at one time used to have information in there
> extruder package with a circle "cookie cutter" for making ceramic dies.
>
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Jennifer Boyer jboyer@adelphia.net
Thistle Hill Pottery
Vermont USA
http://www.thistlehillpottery.com/
Check out this searchable sites about web hoaxes:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/blhoax.htm
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