Lili Krakowski on sun 11 sep 05
Millie, you darned well better live to 120. I can't waste time on
instructions if people are not going to follow them/use them for years.
Anyway. What Mr K did was to extend the handle of the extruder--which was a
big one--and then attach a cable or a chain, don't remember which, to its
end. He then arranged a stirrup like contraption at the bottom of the
chain, into which the potter could slip her foot, standing in the stirrup
and using her body weight to "push" the extruder blunger in.
I am pretty sure that your ingenious son can come up with a variant of this.
I find that using my small extruder is easier if I stand on something like a
cinderblock which makes it unnecessary for me to reach up as far to get at
the handle and allows for more pushing rather than pulling.
To extruder manufacturers who read this; hello there. A lot of people are
short, a lot of people are "older" and a lot of people young and old have
neck and shoulder problems. Just ask your chiropractor. In other words
reaching above one's head or even reaching up is something a lot of people
should not be doing.
Hint. Redesign those things so that they either work off a wheel that can
be cranked, or with a pedal as above.
Lili Krakowski, now only 5'2" and shrinking!
Be of good courage
David Hendley on mon 12 sep 05
I missed the original question here, but I surmise that Millie is having
trouble pulling the handle on her extruder.
I just wanted to mention that the design of an extruder die can have
a big effect on how hard it is to pull the extruder handle.
A die with one small circle cut in it, to make coils, will require much
more force than a die that has a lot of its surface cut out, to allow a
lot of clay through.
If you are extruding small things, make your die so several of them
are formed at the same time, or just drill some holes in the die,
as "relief holes". The clay that comes through them will simply be
rewedged and used again, but the extruding will require less force.
Relief holes are also used for asymmetrical dies, to "tune" the die. For
instance, if most of the open area of the die is on its left side, a
relief hole can be drilled on the right side, to help balance the flow
of the clay, and make it come out straight. Of course dies can be
purposely asymmetrical so they will produce curved extrusions.
David Hendley
I don't know nothin' but the blues, cobalt that is.
david@farmpots.com
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message -----
> Anyway. What Mr K did was to extend the handle of the extruder--which was
> a
> big one--and then attach a cable or a chain, don't remember which, to its
> end. He then arranged a stirrup like contraption at the bottom of the
> chain, into which the potter could slip her foot, standing in the stirrup
> and using her body weight to "push" the extruder blunger in.
>
> I am pretty sure that your ingenious son can come up with a variant of
> this.
> I find that using my small extruder is easier if I stand on something like
> a
> cinderblock which makes it unnecessary for me to reach up as far to get at
> the handle and allows for more pushing rather than pulling.
>
> To extruder manufacturers who read this; hello there. A lot of people
> are
> short, a lot of people are "older" and a lot of people young and old have
> neck and shoulder problems. Just ask your chiropractor. In other words
> reaching above one's head or even reaching up is something a lot of people
> should not be doing.
> Hint. Redesign those things so that they either work off a wheel that can
> be cranked, or with a pedal as above.
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