Bonnie Staffel on sat 6 may 06
Hi Ken,
I have limited experience with other pug mills, but I purchased one of =
the
early Bluebirds. It had a nice sized hopper. Then figuring that that =
large
hopper was a danger to users, they cut the opening size in half. It =
takes a
lot of cutting up your block to feed this new size. So in choosing one, =
I
would look at the size of the hopper, who will be using it besides you =
(as
to the danger aspect) and start there. I have had wonderful service =
from my
Bluebird which I purchased in 1968 and XXX fingers, it is still working. =
I
do not have an air compressor and it still gives me no air bubbles in =
the
extrusions. You also should look for the metal used in the =
construction.
Stainless steel is the best, IMO. Aluminum sometimes reacts in =
discoloring
the clay, porcelain in particular. There may be some metal mixtures =
that
give good service. If you plan on putting reducers on the end of the =
pug
mill, or want to extrude hollow forms, you need to look specifically for
this aspect as well. Some do not do this. I use mine for extruding the
coils for throwing as well as smaller shapes for handles.
Hope this helps.
Bonnie Staffel
http://webpages.charter.net/bstaffel/
DVD Throwing with Coils and Slabs
DVD Beginning Processes
Charter Member Potters Council
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