Claire Reishman on thu 2 sep 04
I teach in a high school and also direct Shakerag Workshops, a summer
workshop program, and we have 16 Brent electric wheels in our clay room. We
are now ready to purchase two more wheels, but because we have had some
problems with the foot pedals of our Brent wheels, we are looking at other
options. One store manager recommended highly the Thomas Stuart classic
wheels. He said that the Stuart 1/3 horse power wheels can handle more clay
than most other wheels with larger motors, and that Stuart wheels have
thicker belts, and that the belts are rubber rather than silicone so are
supposed to hold up better. All that sounds good, but I am concerned that
the Stuart wheels have no removable splash pans - one removes the wheelhead
to clean rather than the splash pan. Knowing that these wheels will have
multiple users (and knowing that teenagers are not necessarily the most
careful potters around, and might remove wheelheads by jerking or pulling
unnecessarily), this seems like a large drawback to me. Does anybody have
any recommendations about Stuart wheels, or any wheels for our situation?
Claire Reishman, St. Andrew's-Sewanee School, Sewanee, TN
---
=?iso-8859-1?q?Lina=20Pardo?= on thu 2 sep 04
I would recommend to forbid your students the removal of the wheelhead, and simply use a wet sponge for clean-up, which is what I do in my two piece removable splash pan. Works fine.
Claire Reishman wrote:I teach in a high school and also direct Shakerag Workshops, a summer
workshop program, and we have 16 Brent electric wheels in our clay room. We
are now ready to purchase two more wheels, but because we have had some
problems with the foot pedals of our Brent wheels, we are looking at other
options. One store manager recommended highly the Thomas Stuart classic
wheels. He said that the Stuart 1/3 horse power wheels can handle more clay
than most other wheels with larger motors, and that Stuart wheels have
thicker belts, and that the belts are rubber rather than silicone so are
supposed to hold up better. All that sounds good, but I am concerned that
the Stuart wheels have no removable splash pans - one removes the wheelhead
to clean rather than the splash pan. Knowing that these wheels will have
multiple users (and knowing that teenagers are not necessarily the most
careful potters around, and might remove wheelheads by jerking or pulling
unnecessarily), this seems like a large drawback to me. Does anybody have
any recommendations about Stuart wheels, or any wheels for our situation?
Claire Reishman, St. Andrew's-Sewanee School, Sewanee, TN
---
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Rob on fri 3 sep 04
Claire,
While it is true that the Thomas Stuart wheels do require the user to remove
the wheelhead, there are two types of removable splash pans availible for
the Legend and Elite lines - one is a smaller, round splash pan, and one is
a larger, tear-drop shaped pan. Both are removable after the wheel-head is
removed.
We use 6 Thomas Stuart wheels in the studio here - two are the older,
fixed-splash-pan models, and four are the newer removable splash pans. The
users LOVE them - they are powerful, responsive, and operate smoothly. The
removable splash pans are more popular for ease of cleaning, and we've not
had any mechanical trouble with any of them. They're cheaper than Brents,
too.
Rob Van Rens
Frederick Clay Art Center
tmadar@YAHOO.COM on fri 3 sep 04
Claire,
I have just ordered a TS Premier wheel and did quite a bit of
research on them. For the money, they really do seem like the most
well made option out there. They do have a Legend model that is the
same as the Classic, but with a removable splashpan (round or full
size). However, the removable pans are one piece, so you would still
have the problem of students removing the heads to clean up. I have
read that the Classic does allow for a hole to be drilled in the pan
and then a hose may be attached and directed to a bucket on the
floor. This way you could simply dump out the water bucket into the
pan with a bit of clean water to finish and wipe clean with a sponge.
You may want to contact Thomas Stuart directly and ask for their
advice. I have heard they are extremely helpful. Go to their site for
more information: http://thomasstuart.com
-Todd
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Claire Reishman
wrote:
> I teach in a high school and also direct Shakerag Workshops, a
summer
> workshop program, and we have 16 Brent electric wheels in our clay
room. We
> are now ready to purchase two more wheels, but because we have had
some
> problems with the foot pedals of our Brent wheels, we are looking
at other
> options. One store manager recommended highly the Thomas Stuart
classic
> wheels. He said that the Stuart 1/3 horse power wheels can handle
more clay
> than most other wheels with larger motors, and that Stuart wheels
have
> thicker belts, and that the belts are rubber rather than silicone
so are
> supposed to hold up better. All that sounds good, but I am
concerned that
> the Stuart wheels have no removable splash pans - one removes the
wheelhead
> to clean rather than the splash pan. Knowing that these wheels
will have
> multiple users (and knowing that teenagers are not necessarily the
most
> careful potters around, and might remove wheelheads by jerking or
pulling
> unnecessarily), this seems like a large drawback to me. Does
anybody have
> any recommendations about Stuart wheels, or any wheels for our
situation?
>
> Claire Reishman, St. Andrew's-Sewanee School, Sewanee, TN
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
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