David Hendley on tue 23 jul 02
Although I like the idea of a multiple extruder because of the big
thinking and sheer enthusiasm involved, and would love to see one
actually built, I don't think I would want such a space-stealing
monster in my pottery studio.
My mind jumps to images of cleaning clay out of 6 pipes just to
get started, and of extruded building components drying before
they can be used.
I make several items that use multiple extrusions and find that the
actual extruding is the least time consuming part of the process.
Construction and finishing time is much greater, and, in fact, I have
to be careful not to extrude so much that I am not able to deal with
all of it before it dries too much.
For those who do lots of extruding and like to make pieces comprised
of multiple extrusions, I would recommend 2 extruders, one with an
expansion box for large forms and one without, for additions.
Also, make sure that the die holding system allows you to easily
change dies without emptying clay out of the extruder barrel.
Light plastic sheets, to control drying, are necessary for all extruded
building projects to control and equalize drying.
But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message -----
> The Gatling Extruder is for those of us who build a piece out of four
> or five extruded pieces (foot, base and/or top, body, lip and handle)
> and are of the "let em hang" school of thought, but don't want to do all
> that waiting between die changes and then try to get the different
> pieces to the same moisture content.
> The Gatling Extruder is built on a freestanding pipe stem base. That is,
> a two foot square base of angle iron with a seven or eight foot pipe
> standing upright. Instead of a single tube, this disign has from two up
> to five boxes welded to a pipe that slips over the stand, or they could
> be welded to the stand itself for a non adjustable model. If you use
> human power, the extruder handle just slides around from one box to
> another. For my model, the lazy man design, a pneumatic ram is
> mounted on a pipe that slips over the stand, rests on a pipe welded to
> the stand and pushes on another pipe welded above it's own pipe,
> thus allowing for rotation. In the retracted position it swings from one
> tube to the next. Put a bag over the first cylinder and let the piece
> hang as long as you want.
> So there it is, out in the open for any and all to build.
> Have fun
> Klyf Brown in New Mexico usa
>
Klyf Brown on fri 26 jul 02
David Hendly,
Thanks for the constructive comments on my extruder idea.
>Although I like the idea of a multiple extruder because of the big
>thinking and sheer enthusiasm involved, and would love to see one
>actually built, I don't think I would want such a space-stealing
>monster in my pottery studio.
The reason I came up with the idea was that one day I had a 9" X3'
octagon hanging from the large extruder and a 4" piece for the lip
hanging from the smaller extruder. The lip was to be in an octagonal
design so I wanted it a bit stiffer before removing it to minimize
distortion. I also planned to extrude a base/top and a foot for this
piece I was building. I was standing there looking at them and thinking
that I could use another extruder to speed things up a bit, but I am
running out or real estate. Since both extruders are free standing and I
can get to all sides of the machines easily, the Gatling idea popped
into my mind. It would be very easy to convert the smaller extruder to
this design, but the stand is underbuilt for this idea and the pneumatic
ram is not powerfull enough with my 125 psi compressor to handle a
five inch barrell (my original design was for two four inch and two five
inch barrells). The design is no larger than the free standing models I
currently have (2' square frame for the base) except for access from
all sides.
I also came up with an idea for a wall mounted Gatling that would
accomodate three barrels, also taking up not much more area than a
standard single barrell model.
>My mind jumps to images of cleaning clay out of 6 pipes just to
>get started, and of extruded building components drying before
>they can be used.
When I am done extruding I take off the dies, push out any left over
clay and swing the plunger out so the barrels are open and just let
them dry out. Cleaning is easy with a wide blade (4") chisel with a
long handle that I built just for this purpose. When dry, most of the
stuff on the walls just falls off, the rest comes off easily with the
scraper. I place a 2'x2' piece of canvass on the ground to catch the
scrapings and recycle them.
The chore of set up is not the cleaning, but wedging up enough clay
to fill them all up, especially the large extruder that eats up three bags
of ;clay just to get it going.
I would recommend 2 extruders, one with an
>expansion box for large forms and one without, for additions.
I have these, they are not enough, need more, need more, must have
more (I am an American).
I am planning on building one of these "monsters" in a couple of
months when I can free up some time. If you want to see it I will send
you some pictures when it is done. Also I have to get another
pneumatic ram to power it as I am getting old and lazy and don't want
to do it by hand (really full body).
Klyf Brown in New Mexico usa
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