Joyce Lee on tue 4 feb 03
Joyce D. asked for comments from those of us
who own and use the above extruder. =20
I've used my Big Blue since the first year I entered
pottery, Joyce. I was fortunate enough to get
"show prices" in Las Vegas during my first
NCECA, which sale also included every die Northstar
offered at that time, some 200 total. I=20
haven't used all the dies to this day.
My concern after bringing it home to the=20
western part of the Mojave to live was that the
forms were too limited in size ..... since very
soon after being so thrilled with Big Blue, I
typically wanted to move on to bigger,
taller, wider forms. In time ..... either in Diana's
extruder book or from David Hendley ... I learned
that I could extrude several lengths of a form,
split them down their length, and join them into
one much larger piece with the desired shapes .... or
even an almost completed vessel.
Whatta revelation!=20
=20
I know most of you were born eyeballing the
mechanics of your work and immediately seeing
many possibilities. You may well be one of
those, Joyce D. If so, I apologize for insulting
your understandings .... but it's for sure that some
of you out there own a Big Blue and haven't become
aware of the many variations open to you. I see that
as one of my purposes for existing ..... to let some
of us know we are Not Alone.... those who, also,=20
need to plow our way through whatever New
Concept crosses our path, do it
all wrong ... and THEN with a lotta help from our
friends ..... feeling the heat from the lightbulb
overhead ... off we go on our own two, more creative
feet ... eventually turning out some pretty good
stuff .... stuff that resonates with the essence of Who
We Are. Don't give up. The struggle is worth it, and
to be enjoyed for what it is.
Joyce
In the Mojave where we're below freezing this
morning. Pleases me. Even in the desert, Winter
doesn't feel right when its cloaked in Spring .....
Les Crimp on tue 4 feb 03
Hi Joyce -
When we are talking "Big Blue", how big are we talking? The one we have
available up here in the Great Northwest Rainforest is a square extruder
with a 4 inch inside measurement.
Les Crimp on Vancouver Island.
lcrimp@shaw.ca
www.arrowsmithpottersguild.bc.ca
Joyce Donahue on wed 5 feb 03
Hi Les,
The big blue Northsar extruder is a wheel driven extruder(avoiding the
bumps on the head from the handle driven one) and accepts 25#'s of clay at
a time. It's my understanding it accepts dies up to 6 inches, it measures
6" by 6" by 12"...That's why I am asking for information on it......I would
love to talk to others that might own it to see it's advantages over the
one I currently use. I'm a might bit of a girl, who would have trouble
getting that 25# of clay over my head into an extruder unless this extruder
would be the ultimate in other areas. Joyce
Lily Krakowski on wed 5 feb 03
I know nothing about this extruder. But I have seen small people lift huge
lumps of clay into extruders in a neck-and-shoulder risking move, akin to
some basketball throws. Why can't they build a little platform that
permits them to go up two steps and be at a relative easy height compared to
the top aperture of the extruder...? Yes? No?
Joyce Donahue writes:
> Hi Les,
> The big blue Northsar extruder is a wheel driven extruder(avoiding the
> bumps on the head from the handle driven one) and accepts 25#'s of clay at
> a time. It's my understanding it accepts dies up to 6 inches, it measures
> 6" by 6" by 12"...That's why I am asking for information on it......I would
> love to talk to others that might own it to see it's advantages over the
> one I currently use. I'm a might bit of a girl, who would have trouble
> getting that 25# of clay over my head into an extruder unless this extruder
> would be the ultimate in other areas. Joyce
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 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.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
Gaff Pearce on wed 5 feb 03
Joyce:
I own a Big Blue and I love it. Mine is mounted on the wall and the bottom
is about waist high so I do not have to lift clay over my head. There is a
box in the extruder that holds 25lbs. (or less) of clay and detaches for
easy loading. You simply crank the extruder open, remove the box and set it
on a work bench, load in your clay, place the box back in the extruder and
secure with a pin, crank down the extruder and start extruding. Mine came
with a set of hollow dies (square, round, etc.) and they are cool but I
ordered a set of dies for extruding solid round coils so I can coil larger
pots and not have to roll those boogers out...I'm lazy that way. This is
the only extruder I have ever owned so I can not speak about other models
but if you mount it at a comfortable height and you can lift 25lbs of clay,
it should not be a problem for you to load.
Best wishes,
Gaff
gaff.pearce@gte.net
A clear cool day in Winston-Salem...waiting for the third big snow...
Sandy Cryer on wed 5 feb 03
In a message dated 2/5/2003 6:41:16 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
J1donahue@AOL.COM writes:
> . I'm a might bit of a girl, who would have trouble
> getting that 25# of clay over my head into an extruder unless this extruder
> would be the ultimate in other areas.
Joyce, this extruder loads from the bottom, but you still have to lift 25#
(max amt) or less up to waist height and hook the back of the clay holder
into a "ledge".
Sandy
Fredrick Paget on thu 6 feb 03
We have one of these at the College of Marin. It has given good service for
over 2 years now. It has a couple of problems but overall is a good design
and is heavily built so it has pretty well withstood the onslaught of
students who sometimes are shall we say, a little hard on equipment?
One defect is safety related. Sometimes a careless operator does not put
the pin in that holds the box down. This is after lifting the loaded clay
box body up into the extruder and onto the ledge. Then after extruding the
required amount of clay the operator starts to back up the plunger by
reversing the Handwheel. This lifts the heavy box off the ledge and it
falls out straight down onto the floor and hopefully not their toes. I
modified ours by making a little swinging catcher bar with a claw on the
end that prevents the drop.
The other defect if you can call it that is that the "spider" that holds
the inserts that form the inside of hollow tubes etc. is a little
underdesigned and ours started to cave in. I built a more rugged model and
all is well.
Fred
>Joyce, this extruder loads from the bottom, but you still have to lift 25#
>(max amt) or less up to waist height and hook the back of the clay holder
>into a "ledge".
>Sandy
>
From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
Joyce Donahue on sat 8 feb 03
Fred,
Thanks for your lesson - hopefully I'll remember the procedure
correctly.....
Joyce Donahue on sat 8 feb 03
Great idea on the step up to get the clay into the extruder........I just
purchased this extruder on e-bay and hopefully I'll be having my husband
build the steps..........the owner of this explained she had mounted it to
a table top.......interesting. Thanks for the idea.
Joyce (from NW Ohio where the
bitter cold was eased by the beautiful sunshine today)
Joyce Donahue on sat 8 feb 03
On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 09:08:14 -0800, Gaff Pearce
wrote:
>Joyce:
>
>I own a Big Blue and I love it. Mine is mounted on the wall and the bottom
>is about waist high so I do not have to lift clay over my head. There is a
>box in the extruder that holds 25lbs. (or less) of clay and detaches for
>easy loading. You simply crank the extruder open, remove the box and set
it
>on a work bench, load in your clay, place the box back in the extruder and
>secure with a pin, crank down the extruder and start extruding. Mine came
>with a set of hollow dies (square, round, etc.) and they are cool but I
>ordered a set of dies for extruding solid round coils so I can coil larger
>pots and not have to roll those boogers out...I'm lazy that way. This is
>the only extruder I have ever owned so I can not speak about other models
>but if you mount it at a comfortable height and you can lift 25lbs of clay,
>it should not be a problem for you to load.
>
>Best wishes,
>Gaff
>gaff.pearce@gte.net
>A clear cool day in Winston-Salem...waiting for the third big snow...
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
___
>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.
Gaff
Thanks for your help with this. I copied your thought into my pottery
subfile and then continued my bidding on e-bay for a slightly used Big Blue
and last night by just thin hairs I won the bidding on this......I'm so
relieved not to have to go to the guild to extrude and then try to hail
extruded pieces back........there are smiles causing wrinkles on my
face..... Joyce (from NW Ohio where
the bitter cold was eased by beautiful sunshine today.)
Gaff Pearce on mon 10 feb 03
Great news on your new acquisition...let me know how Big Blue works out for
you.
Gaff
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]
Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2003 2:08 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: Northstar's Big Blue Extruder
On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 09:08:14 -0800, Gaff Pearce
wrote:
>Joyce:
>
>I own a Big Blue and I love it. Mine is mounted on the wall and the
bottom
>is about waist high so I do not have to lift clay over my head. There is
a
>box in the extruder that holds 25lbs. (or less) of clay and detaches for
>easy loading. You simply crank the extruder open, remove the box and set
it
>on a work bench, load in your clay, place the box back in the extruder and
>secure with a pin, crank down the extruder and start extruding. Mine came
>with a set of hollow dies (square, round, etc.) and they are cool but I
>ordered a set of dies for extruding solid round coils so I can coil larger
>pots and not have to roll those boogers out...I'm lazy that way. This is
>the only extruder I have ever owned so I can not speak about other models
>but if you mount it at a comfortable height and you can lift 25lbs of
clay,
>it should not be a problem for you to load.
>
>Best wishes,
>Gaff
>gaff.pearce@gte.net
>A clear cool day in Winston-Salem...waiting for the third big snow...
>
>
___________________________________________________________________________
___
>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.
Gaff
Thanks for your help with this. I copied your thought into my pottery
subfile and then continued my bidding on e-bay for a slightly used Big Blue
and last night by just thin hairs I won the bidding on this......I'm so
relieved not to have to go to the guild to extrude and then try to hail
extruded pieces back........there are smiles causing wrinkles on my
face..... Joyce (from NW Ohio where
the bitter cold was eased by beautiful sunshine today.)
____________________________________________________________________________
__
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.
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