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Hi. Has anyone ever made a pottery wheel if so, care to share some details on what and how you made it.
I’m mainly thinking of making a kick wheel (human powered) but may go electric If it’s simple enough.
I’ve watched plenty of YouTube videos and googled the subject.
Cheers
Arron
I made one for girlfriend 30 years ago there is nothing complicated about them, wheel mounted direct to a TEFC motor speed control or pulley, kick version would have a long shaft with bearing top and bottom and wheel at the bottom to kick
Back in the 70's our Woodwork class made several kick-wheels for the Art class.
I don't rightly recall how the top bearing was set up, but I do remember that the bottom bearing was quite simple. Basically, a nut welded to a plate that was fixed in the middle of the bottom leg cross-brace. A bolt (probably 1/2 - 3/4" dia) was ground to have a pointed tip and screwed into the nut from underneath so the point extended sufficiently past the top of the nut for clearance. The fly-wheel assembly sat on this point, centered by a dimple in the end of the shaft.
I remember it as I was quite impressed at how simple it was while being robust enough to carry the weight. (From memory the fly-wheel was several inches thick and quite a large diameter. Heavy enough that its' being "kicked off the pivot" wasn't a concern.)
Since then I've built a few random devices, such as a treadle lathe, that have used the same bearing design.
That’s a great simple solution Skew. How deep should the dimple on the shaft be? Do you think?
I have built a few over the years, but only have a shop bought one at the moment. Mostly I have used a cone drive rubbing against a rubber ring sitting in a pulley wheel. I have the makings of a good big wheel at the moment sitting in a shed. It would be able to hold at least 60kilo of clay. 50mm shaft and 40mm wheel head. Big bearings. It depends on what sort of pots you want to build.
Only rather small stuff planned at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pagie
Can you explain what is meant by a “cone drive rubbing against a rubber ring sitting in a pulley wheel” . Please
Cheers
Arron
It is easy to build. you need to move the motor on a cradle up and down so a cone on the drive shaft rubs against a rubber ring on the main shaft. The cone gives you variable speed. We could not afford a veryiable speed motor.
Attachment 465795
Sorry for the bad drawing and the fact it is on it's side.
Ok, so the motor is on a mount that is fixed at one end only - so the cone is kept against the V pulley by gravity.
Plus the whole motor and it’s mount is able to be moved up and down vertically to give the variable speed.
And the rubber provides a friction grip plus dampens noise.
Is that all correct.
I have a couple of old electic motor in 1/3 or 1/2 horsepower that should do the job. Where do you get a cone from, or should I expect to make one myself and is getting the speed range right just trial and error?
Cheers and thanks
Arron
For anyone with a knowledge of these things.
I also have a rather new industrial sewing machine clutch motor which I recently swapped out for a servo motor.
These motors are built to run 24x7 in an industrial environment. They run full speed all the time but don’t provide power till you press a pedal down, which engages a clutch. Would that be suitable ? I expect I could swap the foot pedal for a hand control, perhaps a lever with friction to make it stay where it is put?
I was originally thinking of using a kick wheel as I didn’t want to deal with motors, but seeing the size of the kick wheels and thinking about my bad back I’m now thinking maybe a motor would be better.
The motor with variable speed cone sounds attractive because I can use one of the daggy old motors I have, but the sewing machine clutch motor is attractive because it’s pretty much ready to go and I’m not good with anything engineering-oriented so may struggle to get the cone motor integrated.
And to further complicate things the clutch motor is very heavy too so in my case that is a significant negative.
Toss up between the three methods. Any input welcome.
Cheers
Arron
Arron the clutch motor would d you would need to devise a method of holding the wheel at a selected speed, once you select yours speed you don't want is speeding up or slowing down if you can avoid it
with the clutch motor a simple thumb screw arrangement on the pedal shaft would work, i.e. push the pedal to achieve the desired speed and lock with a thumb screw ( I hope that makes sense ) or replace the pedal and just use the haft as a push pull type set up.
If you are concerned about overall weight mount the entire thing on locking casters.
I have used a wooden cone for years without a problem. The motor needs to be held both ends but can be moved in an arc. In use you need to be able to stop or slow the speed of the wheel as you are working. Have a look at the Simon Leach kick wheel. Very heavy but very good control.