George Koller on mon 29 dec 03
or another missed step on the slippery ramp to higher production.....
Hi All,
We are in production of tiles now. Just beginning to do about 50=20
per day - we are limited by kiln capacity - and our "crystal" effect
comes and goes with certain zones in our kiln. This is temporary.
Charley our Robot from the Isles of Cartesia (a 3 axis cartesian robot,=20
or a heavy duty Plotter, or as known from ancient times - a CNC)
To spray the base glaze on 100 tiles takes me about 1 hour so I have
considered this an area ripe for some labor saving. We are now using
a Harbor Freight compressor model with good results but it requires many =
passes to build up to our desired thickness. I have been looking for a =
way
to increase the volume of material that can be sprayed per unit of time.
(And I like the idea of gravity guns).
In the spirit of starting cheap I thought I'd try the Harbor Freight
Item number 47482 spray gun that uses a blower enabled "shopvac"
for air. This gun is less than $12. It is NOT made in China, it is =
made=20
in Ukraine. =20
To make my story short I'll just report that these units are being =
returned
without even testing with actual glaze. Using the blower feature of a =
shopvac
still seems doable to me but not with these units, and not for glazes. =
This=20
particular model failed even my most basic test using water. It leaked. =
=20
Control was poor. Atomization was poor=3Duneven. The volume was low =
(for
water!) so I did not see any reason to test with a medium thick glaze. =20
Everything about this gun from begin to end seemed to me to be of poor=20
design, poor manufacturing, and sub-standard materials.
Now that that is off my chest....
I will report that Harbor Freight seems to have a good and fair return =
policy
- they are even paying for return shipment. Of course only after the =
usual=20
telephone wait. Regarding the reason for return - I didn't get to =
finish my=20
explaination before they just said "ok". =20
As Charley will be able decorate 200 per day without breathing hard this =
is very
much an issue I will looking into again. Maybe there will be some sort =
of waterfall
gizmo in my future? =20
Best to all of you in the New Year!
george koller
sturgeon bay, wi - door county
northport, mi - leelanau county
imagesonclay.com
two great places separated by 100 miles of great lake.
Kaitai on tue 30 dec 03
Are you using a 3D cad program or 2D ?
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Koller"
To:
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 4:33 PM
Subject: Harbor Freight ShopVac Spray Gun report....
or another missed step on the slippery ramp to higher production.....
Hi All,
We are in production of tiles now. Just beginning to do about 50
per day - we are limited by kiln capacity - and our "crystal" effect
comes and goes with certain zones in our kiln. This is temporary.
Charley our Robot from the Isles of Cartesia (a 3 axis cartesian robot,
or a heavy duty Plotter, or as known from ancient times - a CNC)
To spray the base glaze on 100 tiles takes me about 1 hour so I have
considered this an area ripe for some labor saving. We are now using
a Harbor Freight compressor model with good results but it requires many
passes to build up to our desired thickness. I have been looking for a way
to increase the volume of material that can be sprayed per unit of time.
(And I like the idea of gravity guns).
In the spirit of starting cheap I thought I'd try the Harbor Freight
Item number 47482 spray gun that uses a blower enabled "shopvac"
for air. This gun is less than $12. It is NOT made in China, it is made
in Ukraine.
To make my story short I'll just report that these units are being returned
without even testing with actual glaze. Using the blower feature of a
shopvac
still seems doable to me but not with these units, and not for glazes. This
particular model failed even my most basic test using water. It leaked.
Control was poor. Atomization was poor=uneven. The volume was low (for
water!) so I did not see any reason to test with a medium thick glaze.
Everything about this gun from begin to end seemed to me to be of poor
design, poor manufacturing, and sub-standard materials.
Now that that is off my chest....
I will report that Harbor Freight seems to have a good and fair return
policy
- they are even paying for return shipment. Of course only after the
usual
telephone wait. Regarding the reason for return - I didn't get to finish
my
explaination before they just said "ok".
As Charley will be able decorate 200 per day without breathing hard this is
very
much an issue I will looking into again. Maybe there will be some sort of
waterfall
gizmo in my future?
Best to all of you in the New Year!
george koller
sturgeon bay, wi - door county
northport, mi - leelanau county
imagesonclay.com
two great places separated by 100 miles of great lake.
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