Travis Maxwell on thu 1 nov 01
I went to Asheville last weekend and my step mother had my christmas =
present for me early. On a trip to buy antiques, she found in a back of =
a barn at the end of an old gravel road, a two-speed model 1-101 Amaco =
pottery wheel. She thought of me and bought it for 8 dollars. I am =
interested to know if anyone knows anything about this wheel. I am =
especially interested in knowing how old it is. It is all metal =
including a splash pan. It has a 1/3 horse power motor. It has a =
toggle switch on the side to switch the speed from slow, to a little bit =
faster than slow. It is very compact and weighs about 50 pounds. The =
motor connects to the wheel head through a gear drive. I already have a =
nice quiet Shimpo for throwing, but I might use this one for trimming =
and demonstrations. =20
Thankyou,
Travis Maxwell
ps The wheel is not for sale(Ha!) I have gotten several offers this =
week.
thropots@VISI.COM on thu 1 nov 01
Sounds like the wheel I use. I'll have to check the brand and model of
mine when I'm at the studio tomorrow. I'm not really sure what it is. I
picked it up really cheap when I was in college.
But if it is the same or a similar model. It's a great little wheel. I
do all my work on it. It won't handle big stuff, but I don't do really
big stuff, so that's not a problem. It does take some getting used to.
I had my husband put a three way switch on it, so there is an off
position between the slow and slower.
Patty Rau
thropots@visi.com
http://www.prrpots.com/
> I went to Asheville last weekend and my step mother had my christmas =
> present for me early. On a trip to buy antiques, she found in a back of =
> a barn at the end of an old gravel road, a two-speed model 1-101 Amaco =
> pottery wheel. She thought of me and bought it for 8 dollars. I am =
> interested to know if anyone knows anything about this wheel. I am =
> especially interested in knowing how old it is. It is all metal =
> including a splash pan. It has a 1/3 horse power motor. It has a =
> toggle switch on the side to switch the speed from slow, to a little bit =
> faster than slow. It is very compact and weighs about 50 pounds. The =
> motor connects to the wheel head through a gear drive. I already have a =
> nice quiet Shimpo for throwing, but I might use this one for trimming =
> and demonstrations. =20
> Thankyou,
> Travis Maxwell
>
> ps The wheel is not for sale(Ha!) I have gotten several offers this =
> week.
Earl Brunner on thu 1 nov 01
Nothing wrong with the Amaco wheel, you might change the gearbox oil as
a standard maintenance (there are little set screw type plugs in various
places on the gear box.) Replace with a good quality gear oil (about 90
weight). It is important that the gear box not be over nor under
filled. I think there is a either a mark on the side or a screw on the
side that you fill up until it begins to leak out of (about 1/2 to 2/3
of the way up the side of the gear box).
The nice variable speed wheels that we have now kind of spoil us. I
bought one of those not too long ago at a garage sale, paid around
$50.00 for it. My son uses it, not being at a point where he wants to
invest in something more expensive yet.
Travis Maxwell wrote:
> I went to Asheville last weekend and my step mother had my christmas present for me early. On a trip to buy antiques, she found in a back of a barn at the end of an old gravel road, a two-speed model 1-101 Amaco pottery wheel. She thought of me and bought it for 8 dollars. I am interested to know if anyone knows anything about this wheel. I am especially interested in knowing how old it is. It is all metal including a splash pan. It has a 1/3 horse power motor. It has a toggle switch on the side to switch the speed from slow, to a little bit faster than slow. It is very compact and weighs about 50 pounds. The motor connects to the wheel head through a gear drive. I already have a nice quiet Shimpo for throwing, but I might use this one for trimming and demonstrations.
> Thankyou,
> Travis Maxwell
>
> ps The wheel is not for sale(Ha!) I have gotten several offers this week.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
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>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec/
bruec@anv.net
vince pitelka on thu 1 nov 01
Travis Maxwell wrote:
"I went to Asheville last weekend and my step mother had my christmas
present for me early. On a trip to buy antiques, she found in a back of a
barn at the end of an old gravel road, a two-speed model 1-101 Amaco pottery
wheel. She thought of me and bought it for 8 dollars. I am interested to
know if anyone knows anything about this wheel. I am especially interested
in knowing how old it is. It is all metal including a splash pan. It has a
1/3 horse power motor. It has a toggle switch on the side to switch the
speed from slow, to a little bit faster than slow. It is very compact and
weighs about 50 pounds. The motor connects to the wheel head through a gear
drive. I already have a nice quiet Shimpo for throwing, but I might use
this one for trimming and demonstrations."
Travis -
Believe it or not, Amaco still makes this wheel, and it is outrageously
expensive. It is always appalling to see it in the Amaco catalog right next
to the Brents, which sell for LESS! Amaco now owns Brent, so there seems
little reason to keep making those old gear-drive Amaco wheels. At some
point very early on, Amaco, like Alpine, got all snuggly with the folks who
design and equip K-12 school facilities. As a result, more often than not
those facilities got straddled with these lame-ass dinosaur Amaco wheels and
Alpine kilns.
Some of those gear-drive Amaco wheels sound like an old Willys in low-range
4WD, so I doubt you would be able to use it for demonstrations unless there
is no dialogue involved. I would mount an old grinding wheel on it and use
it to grind the bottoms of pots. I had an old wheel set up that way right
next to my kiln, and it worked great.
Stick with your Shimpo for throwing AND trimming.
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/
Diane Woloshyn on fri 2 nov 01
Travis,
I have one of those old Amaco wheels and I love it. Of course, I modified it
a bit by putting on a variable speed DC motor with a reostat on the side.
Since I
stand to throw, I don't use a pedal. The metal pan is easy to clean. Just
attach a hose to the drain and run it into a bucket. You can then rinse
with a hose or wipe out with a sponge. Have used several other types of
wheels with the plastic pans and I will take my metal pan any day. It is
noisier than some of the other wheels, but seems to be indestructible. Paid
$50 for it at a garage sale and put another $200 in to upgrade it. Am sure
it will last much longer than I do.
Diane Florida Bird Lady
TRAVIS MAXWELL on fri 2 nov 01
Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this wheel was still in
production. I checked the internet and found a new one with a stand for
$1,000. Just goes to show everyone looks for something different in a
wheel. I guess if the theory is correct that K-12 school facilities still
spec this wheel, it would be interesting to hear a room full of them. I
think I will take Vince's advice and mount a grinding wheel on it and set it
out by my kiln for grinding kiln wash off the bottom of my plates. Maybe I
can find a variable speed motor in the future to put on it as Diane has
done.
Thanks to all the responded,
Travis Maxwell
----- Original Message -----
From: "vince pitelka"
To:
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: 2 speed amaco wheel
> Travis Maxwell wrote:
> "I went to Asheville last weekend and my step mother had my christmas
> present for me early. On a trip to buy antiques, she found in a back of a
> barn at the end of an old gravel road, a two-speed model 1-101 Amaco
pottery
> wheel. She thought of me and bought it for 8 dollars. I am interested to
> know if anyone knows anything about this wheel. I am especially
interested
> in knowing how old it is. It is all metal including a splash pan. It has
a
> 1/3 horse power motor. It has a toggle switch on the side to switch the
> speed from slow, to a little bit faster than slow. It is very compact and
> weighs about 50 pounds. The motor connects to the wheel head through a
gear
> drive. I already have a nice quiet Shimpo for throwing, but I might use
> this one for trimming and demonstrations."
>
> Travis -
> Believe it or not, Amaco still makes this wheel, and it is outrageously
> expensive. It is always appalling to see it in the Amaco catalog right
next
> to the Brents, which sell for LESS! Amaco now owns Brent, so there seems
> little reason to keep making those old gear-drive Amaco wheels. At some
> point very early on, Amaco, like Alpine, got all snuggly with the folks
who
> design and equip K-12 school facilities. As a result, more often than not
> those facilities got straddled with these lame-ass dinosaur Amaco wheels
and
> Alpine kilns.
>
> Some of those gear-drive Amaco wheels sound like an old Willys in
low-range
> 4WD, so I doubt you would be able to use it for demonstrations unless
there
> is no dialogue involved. I would mount an old grinding wheel on it and
use
> it to grind the bottoms of pots. I had an old wheel set up that way right
> next to my kiln, and it worked great.
>
> Stick with your Shimpo for throwing AND trimming.
> 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/
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
Susan Conners on sat 3 nov 01
In a message dated 11/2/01 12:29:02 PM Central Standard Time, Wolodi@AOL.COM
writes:
> I have one of those old Amaco wheels and I love it. Of course, I modified
> it
> a bit by putting on a variable speed DC motor with a reostat on the side.
>
IDiane,
I have one of the old Amaco wheels as well, but the slow is too fast and the
fast is too slow for me. I'm with you, I like the metal pan much better than
the hard plastic trays. Unfortunately, it's stays clean most of the time,
because it's mostly used for trimming. I'm totally ignorant of
mechanics...does putting the variable speed DC motor with a reostat make it
go even slower/faster? Is the speed then controlled by a foot pedal? If so,
would you share how to make the changes? Thanks ever so much. Susan
Dan Taylor on thu 8 nov 01
The first two years of my potting life were spent learning to throw on an
Amaco two speed. It belonged to my wife who had never used it and stored
it in our laundry room, where it gathered dust for several years. When I
decided that potting was what I wished to do for a living I was able to
rationalize purchasing a better, newer piece of equipment and invested in a
Shimpo. Well! Finally being exposed to a variable speed wheel was like
trading a Model T in on a Lincoln! I think my skills advanced two years in
two weeks! In reflection perhaps the Amaco should be dubbed the "too"
speed wheel. Either too fast or too slow! ;-) Nonetheless, I credit those
initial years learning to cope with what was there as good grounding for
concentration on the basics of throwing. Thank you Amaco. And thanks
Clayart for the memories.
Dan Taylor in Medicine Hat where the ground is still brown.
vince pitelka on thu 8 nov 01
> In reflection perhaps the Amaco should be dubbed the "too"
> speed wheel. Either too fast or too slow! ;-) Nonetheless, I credit those
> initial years learning to cope with what was there as good grounding for
> concentration on the basics of throwing. Thank you Amaco. And thanks
> Clayart for the memories.
Until I built a souped up take-off on a Shimpo around 1979, I used a
three-speed wheel built around old stick-shift automobile transmission.
I've talked about it on Clayart before. See my September-October Claytimes
column for complete instructions on how to build one. Also, on their
website Claytimes has posted plans for a similar wheel designed and built by
Clayton Bailey.
Several people have commented that the old Amaco wheels were either too slow
or too fast. With the transmission wheel, first gear is too slow for any
but very large pots, and third gear is too fast for anything except
centering, but second gear is good for most throwing. But I agree about
getting a variable speed wheel. When I started using my faux-Shimpo my work
improved rapidly. Over 20 years later I'm still using the same wheel.
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/
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