Dan and Laurel on sat 23 jul 05
We just got in axers new small pugmill but it did not come with any clue as
to how to use it. So the question I have is what should we look out for? can
you break a pugmill by anything other then running dry clay through it? Is
there such a thing as too much vacuum or is more better? Any general
operation hints would be much appreciated.
Dan & Laurel in Elkmont Al
Vince Pitelka on sun 24 jul 05
> We just got in axners new small pugmill but it did not come with any clue
> as
> to how to use it. So the question I have is what should we look out for?
> can
> you break a pugmill by anything other then running dry clay through it? Is
> there such a thing as too much vacuum or is more better? Any general
> operation hints would be much appreciated.
Dan and Laurel -
Howard Axner is usually very responsive to the needs of potters. That's his
business. If this pugmill came without complete operating instructions,
that is a fairly serious shortcoming. It is the manufacturer's
responsibility to provide such a document, especially with a piece of
equipment that has the potential to be very dangerous. I would contact
Howard and tell that you need operating instructions for this pugmill. They
obviously did considerable research and development in designing and
building this pugmill, so it should be little trouble for them to put
together a comprehensive set of operating instructions.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Pfeiffer, Dan R (Dan) on thu 28 jul 05
Vince wrote >>> Howard Axner is usually very responsive to the needs of
potters. That's his
business. If this pugmill came without complete operating instructions,
that is a fairly serious shortcoming. >>>
I do not think there was anything missing in that would be a safety problem
and what was provided was helpfully just not complete for the needs of
someone who never used a pugmill before. After a few emails to explain what
info we would like to know we got a call from T. Robert of Axner who when
over the question we had and will be writing a new version of the manual
with more detail. A pugmill is a very simple piece of hardware and we
guessed a good bit of what to do right but it is great to have a guideline
to work from. We are very happy with the response we got from Axner and with
the pugmill, works great!
With some very useful tips from Bonnie Hellman we got a pug of our reclaim
made and what a joy to throw! We have been saving all the throwing water and
clay from any source (all of one type) in a large trash can for almost a
year. Filled it to the top and this was the first time to tried to do
anything with it. It will be very hard to go back to bagged clay after
seeing just what a good soft clay is like. Hopefully we can pug the bagged
version into a softer clay and hope is throws as well.
Dan & Laurel in Elkmont Al
Potters Council Members
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