Marc Hudson on tue 2 mar 04
To Michael Leblanc,
RE: "retirement of your tempermental home made extruder and feedback of on
pro's and con's of different models"
Not knowing the size of your home made extruder or its use (hollow forms,
handles, bowls, etc.), and as I have only used the Northstar 4", wall-
mounted, lever/muscle actuated extruder I bought second hand a couple of
years ago, I can only speak of my experience with this model. I have been
making clay pots/vessels/forms for more than 30 years on a potter's wheel,
and thought I'd like to try another tool and another expression. My second
hand Northstar came with a compliment of some 10 or 12 factory made die, none
of which I have used. My interest in the extruder was/is to design fairly
complex hollow forms, most of which are stand-alone, that is, I typically
don't use extrusions as building blocks for a larger sculptural or functional
piece. I cast around for basic die making materials I could cut, drill,
form, modify in my single car garage pottery studio/wood shop (drill press,
miter saw, table saw, scroll saw). I found 1/2 " thick polycarbonate works
best for me. It is easily cut with the tools I have on hand and easily routed
on the inside leading edge of the cut pattern. I use 1: x 1/2" unequal leg
aluminum angle for the bridging and secure everything together with 3/16"
aluminum pop rivets (ealy to remove, ealy to replace). The whole die is made
with non-iron materials, so, I'm not concerned about rust when I extrude
porcelain. For the most part I like this Northstar extruder. My greatest
complaint is with the 1" thick band with only two opposing bolt connectors
that hold the die in place. That 1" separation from the bottom face of the
die makes it difficult to cut off the fresh extrusion without some
distortion. This is not an insurmountable problem. Recently I have been
successfully extruding porcelain walls thin enough (1/16") to be translucent,
these thin walls have structural handling issues that are causing me grief
right now !!
I hope this helps a bit. I'd like to eventually work with a much larger
pneumatic extruder, but, until I have the capital and the free space in my
studio, this will do ! !
Marc Hudson
Playing with Fire Pottery
Espanola, New Mexico
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