Doric T. Jemison-Ball II on fri 19 may 06
Thanks to everybody who gave me feedback on my earlier post "Deciding on a
Pugmill" I'm sitting here this morning with a "used" Peter Pugger VPM-20 in
the trunk of my car, waiting for some friends to come over and help me get
it out and into the Studio. The "used" part is a bit of a misnomer, as it
has some minor cosmetic blemishes that wouldn't allow it to be sold as new,
but otherwise it is NEW, and I got it for about as much as I would have paid
for the Shimpo NRA-04S. I'd considered the Peter Pugger early on but like
many of you have noted in the Pug Mill discussions here, Peter Puggers
aren't cheap. Jared at Peter Pugger took it as a matter of personal pride to
find a way for me to get a Peter Pugger for a price I could go for. I live
about 100 miles from their factory in Ukiah, CA, and Jared just wasn't going
to let anyone in the neighborhood not buy Peter Pugger.
I drove up through the redwoods to the factory to pick it up yesterday and
met everybody and got the personal tour. Not only is the VPM-20 a great [and
safe] Pugmill, but everybody at the factory are the nicest, most helpful
folks that you could meet or do business with. I was totally impressed. The
pug mills are all made in the U.S. and almost all of the work is done right
there in Ukiah. [Motors come from a manufacturer in the mid west, and the
aluminum housings are cast in San Jose, CA. but all of the mill work,
fitting, assembly and testing are done by what looked to be a team of about
8-10 of the happiest workers I've seen in a long time.] It was a delight to
meet and shake hands with the folks that actually built the Pug mill I was
buying and to see the pride and care they took in their product. And it is
reassuring to know the folks you talk to for customer support are the people
who actually built the it.
The VPM-20 I got is a true mixer/pugger. It has a reversing motor for
mixing and pugging. It is vacuum de-airing, and even has a variable speed
switch on the motor to allow it to be used as an extruder with accessory
aluminum dies. And after the long discussions of the old Walker pugmills and
their inherent lack of any safety features, all I can say about the Peter
Pugger is that it is so safe that about the only way you can hurt yourself
is if you laid on the floor next to it and had someone push it over on top
of you. Among a host of other things, the motor shuts off automatically
when you lift the tamper that covers the clay box so there's no way to
reach in while the blades are moving.
Ok. 'nuff said until I get it set up and running. I've got 1800 pounds of
slaked aged clay to reclaim. That should put the pugger through it's paces.
I'll follow up later with more. I'm happy with the choice I've made, and
knowing what I know now about both the product and the company, I think I'd
have paid the extra money to get a Peter Pugger at list if I hadn't been
able to get this deal.
Doric T.Jemison-Ball II
BBS-LA
14622 Ventura Blvd. #727
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
707-884-5067 Voice
707-884-4449 FAX
818-606-6678 CELL
buffalo@bbs-la.com
http://www.bbs-la.com
"You can always cure the sausage that is too long." Susan Gatherers
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