Paul Herman on wed 22 jan 03
Greetings to all machine lovers,
I've been thinking of getting a new cement mixer and using it to blend
dry powdered clays. Maybe make some kind of lid that snaps onto the
mouth of the thing. I bet you could stuff a hundred pounds of dry
claybody in there and turn it on and? Mixomatic!
There is of course my OLD cement mixer, but it's crusty like Vince's was
(well, not quite that bad) and I want to keep it for mixing cement.
Has anyone done this, or made some other kind of dry blending machine?
Happy mixing, grinding, etc... Are we potters trying to imitate Geology
or what?
Paul Herman
Great Basin Pottery
423-725 Scott Road
Doyle, California 96109 US
potter@psln.com
----------
>From: Vince Pitelka
>> i have used a cement mixer and rocks i simply fixed a sheet of canvas
> over
>> the lip of the barrel and let her rip it was noisy but it got the job
> done.
>
> James -
> I love this idea. You could expect a little bit of iron contamination, but
> that isn't much of a problem with most of the things we would want to ball
> mill.
>
> When I first got to the Craft Center I salvaged a cement mixer from the TTU
> surplus warehouse. It had about four inches of concrete solidified in the
> bottom, and a lot of crusty concrete stuck to the sides and blades. A lot
> of gruntwork with a sledge hammer on the outside of the barrel knocked loose
> most of the bulk of concrete, but I still wanted to remove the crusty
> deposits. I salvaged all the abandoned high-fired pots and sculpture left
> over from previous years (nothing particularly nice), broke them into
> smaller pieces, loaded them in the mixer with a few gallons of water, turned
> it on, and left it for a week. It did a magnificent job, and I still have a
> few of those shards, beautifully softened and rounded.
> Best wishes -
> - Vince
Vince Pitelka on wed 22 jan 03
> i have used a cement mixer and rocks i simply fixed a sheet of canvas
over
> the lip of the barrel and let her rip it was noisy but it got the job
done.
James -
I love this idea. You could expect a little bit of iron contamination, but
that isn't much of a problem with most of the things we would want to ball
mill.
When I first got to the Craft Center I salvaged a cement mixer from the TTU
surplus warehouse. It had about four inches of concrete solidified in the
bottom, and a lot of crusty concrete stuck to the sides and blades. A lot
of gruntwork with a sledge hammer on the outside of the barrel knocked loose
most of the bulk of concrete, but I still wanted to remove the crusty
deposits. I salvaged all the abandoned high-fired pots and sculpture left
over from previous years (nothing particularly nice), broke them into
smaller pieces, loaded them in the mixer with a few gallons of water, turned
it on, and left it for a week. It did a magnificent job, and I still have a
few of those shards, beautifully softened and rounded.
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://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
James Bledsoe on thu 23 jan 03
yes indeed i have used a cement mixer for more than folding i ground many
batches of glaze in my mixer
i simply placed a sheet of canvas over the mouth and with a bit of bailing
wire the same stuff sold at home depot as tie wire ( black malleable
iron) wired the thing shut i was able to adjust the the bail sothat it
could be removed and resued with out cutting the wire. because the mixer
is deep and round i could keep the mouth at about 30 degrees to the
ground. this kept the powders falling on the steel and the canvas was a
dust controler
i used stones from my yard for grinding they were in my case hard enough .
jim
> Greetings to all machine lovers,
>
> I've been thinking of getting a new cement mixer and using it to blend
> dry powdered clays. Maybe make some kind of lid that snaps onto the
> mouth of the thing. I bet you could stuff a hundred pounds of dry
> claybody in there and turn it on and? Mixomatic!
>
> There is of course my OLD cement mixer, but it's crusty like Vince's was
> (well, not quite that bad) and I want to keep it for mixing cement.
>
> Has anyone done this, or made some other kind of dry blending machine?
>
> Happy mixing, grinding, etc... Are we potters trying to imitate Geology
> or what?
>
> Paul Herman
> Great Basin Pottery
> 423-725 Scott Road
> Doyle, California 96109 US
> potter@psln.com
Cindy Gatto on thu 23 jan 03
A cement mixer that we had experimented with for mixing clay, so it is not
all crusty with cement. In fact we bought it new and only used it 5 or 6
times. It is in great shape. So if anyone is interested we want $200 for it.
Just let us know.
Thanks:
Cindy & Mark
The Mudpit
228 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn NY 11206
718-218-9424
mudpitnyc@aol.com
www.mudpitnyc.com
Vince Pitelka on thu 23 jan 03
> Has anyone done this, or made some other kind of dry blending machine?
Paul -
Dry blending of claybodies is a pretty simple matter, and doesn't require a
machine at all. Just get a large cardboard shipping drum with the lid and
the locking band in good condition. cut several lengths of 2x2 lumber
slightly shorter than the drum. Attach them vertically on opposite sides
inside of the drum, using drywall screws driven in from the outside. Dump
in all your dry materials, fasten the lid and clamp locking band, tip the
drum over on its side, and roll it around for a few minutes. It will handle
as much dry materials as a cement mixer would, it doesn't make any dust
(leave it alone for ten or fifteen minutes after you finish mixing, so the
internal dust can settle), and it does a great job. This is low-tech at its
best.
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://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
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