heidi h on wed 7 sep 05
hi carole
i've had my venco for about 5 years now and adore it but it did take
some getting used to and the original manual was not helpful. there is
a new manual though that venco
did that is very nice. i'll offer my experience on a few of your questions.
i don't mix different consistency clays for the most part. i will
separate the clay onto the ware board for pugging into a harder and
softer pile and mix the two in the hopper.
i keep my waste clay in 5 gallon buckets next to my wheel in water so it
is a slurry. i don't blunge or mix that at all...when the buckets are
full i empty them into my 'bray tray' which is just a
giant plaster vat. it dries in there for a few days and then i scoop it
out (almost working consistency at this point) onto ware boards and then
pug away.
we stand on a bucket to get some leverage as it takes some muscle to
push the clay through the hopper...when mine was getting really
difficult to depress i finally realized that
i had never cracked open the barrel to clean the screen....oh my, the
first time i did that the screen was nearly full of bits of bisque,
sponge, rocks, etc... now i do it pretty
regularly.
the exhaust on the pump shoots out an oily mist which is probably the
smell....mine smells too. i asked axner about it and it sounds like
it's typical. just be sure to check the
oil on both the mill and the vac. pump.
my handle gets pretty messy too, but i try to pug when my husband is
around and he handles the lever while i throw in the clay blobs and cut
off the pugs. way faster
and easier this way.
i haven't noticed the paint chipping but i can't imagine it's a problem.
yes, it's all right to idle the machine..just turn off the auger part
and leave the pump running so that the air stays out of the clay in the
barrel.
i think the most important thing is the oil level and greasing the motor
by twisting the grease disc on the back of the mill.
hope this helps.
heidi haugen, west glacier montana, usa
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