Thank you for the pug-mill lesson. It doesn’t seem to matter what you’re explaining or demonstrating, I find it all interesting and it feels like we’re just friends having a conversation. Wish I lived closer and could make an offer. Best of luck. I would love to see the difference in how your new pug-mill looks & works. 😊
Thank you so much for your time Vaughan. It’s incredibly generous of you to take on so many virtual apprentices! Hopefully it will help keep the ceramic tradition going into the future with vigour. x
I was recently gifted a vintage Venco MKII standard pug mill. It is like yours but has no provision for de-airing. It's a game changer for processing my recycle clay. It saves the old bones from a lot of wedging time. It's old-school but it gets a big messy job done for a lot less work. I hope someone jumps at it.
Another terrific teaching video. Ever since watching Bill Van Gilder dropping a block of clay on the floor to soften it I stopped wedging too. It worked well for me and did not have too many problems with air bubbles. Good to hear Poubelle is still hanging around. 50F here in Florida this morning, looking forward to moving to Wolfeboro March 2nd. where it is 19F this morning. Cheers...Freddie
I have the vpm9 stainless, maybe 7 years. When first mixing a batch I don't use the vaccum much either. I have a bag of dry powdered clay beside it. If the clay is spinning because it is too wet I chuck some in with some dryer clay. It's way slow by comparison, but really strong at daily wedging when you are old with poor hands which is why I bought it. I would keep the old one for mass processing if I had yours. I batch about 500 lbs of raw dug clay and amendments once a year, and then wedge away bit by bit. After a lot of kyanite grog runs through, the rubber 'o' ring in the middle of the unit will break down and need replaced... you will notice a black rubber goo show up at the front seam when it is time. If you let it really dry out, several months, when you turn it on to pug it may break the bolts and try to separate. Rare problem, but if I am stopping for a month I put a very wet cloth in the clean out to keep everything soft. When I pug from a long downtime I have my finger ready on the 'off' button in case of a bolt popping problem. I don't much adjust speed when underway running, as the thing is likely modulated by a variable frequency drive that doesn't need the strain. I shut it off at the switch in a long layup to prevent surge damage from a lightning strike. Other experience with VFD lathes suggest giving the capaciters a rest from power is a good idea, but there is debate on this obscure point. Lathe experience points to VFD capaciters breaking down after about 10 years service.
too bad there is a continent between our homes - a bit far to ship! I have just done some reclaiming on plaster bats and a ton of wedging!! Incidentally I found a small wooden object as I was wedging, who knows where it came from.
So far offers from Indiana and Ottawa, it seems a long way to come get it. I am in no rush so may be a nice spring driving holiday for one of them. Stay warm.
Hi Vaughan! I have a cheeky question, and wondering if I can bother you for some wisdom! I am a young highschool art teacher who has just taken over a really well resourced, but badly looked after classroom with all the bells and whistles when it comes to clay. My Pugmill looks almost exactly like yours, however has dried clay (bone dry) stuck all the way through. I'm wondering what you would recommend I do? Shall I soak it? Or would you recommend I pull it apart. Totally understand if this question is too annoying to ask. Thankyou for all your educational videos!
You need to take it apart. It takes about an hour. The nuts and bolts will probably be seized so you will need to replace them. Use WD40 to release them and be careful or they might break. I used a punch to hammer the bolt up through the casing, it too can be seized. You may need a second pair of hands to manoeuvre the pug mill if it is solid with clay. When you put it back together you will need some gasket sealant spread on all the contact areas of the two halves, and also the back circle. It is a good idea to sand the edges before applying the sealant. Good luck.
Our club has a Venco,, but ours have the de-airing unit. There are 9 of us in a small studio. We pug about twice a year and we love it.What are you going to do if you are selling this one.?
Are you getting a replacement? Oops, did not hear you already ordered a VPM-9. My VPM-9 works great but it will take a bit longer to pug clay because it shuts off when the hopper arm is up.
@@Vsmithpots I do throw in dry clay, really stiff clay and slip consistency clay and let-er-mix. Don’t let it get too wet or you’ll get “the spins” and then you have to add dry clay so it will start mixing again. I usually let min mix for at least 30 minutes before pugging it out. In my first use, I mixed up what ended up being about 300 pounds of clay which started out as mostly dry clay mixed with throwing water in which the clay precipitated out and poured out the water on top. It took me three days of about 8-hours per day to do.
@@darrellmelton1215 I am hoping that I can save space. I have a 4x4 feet table reserved for clay slops and it is always in use to slowly dry the clay out enough to put through the pugmill. I hope to open up that table for other things, then just put trimmings and slops in the VPN9 hopper until it is full. My Venco has been a workhorse but it does not have a mixing component and needs the table clay preparation first. At one time I dried clay vertically in jean legs, it worked but still needs space to hang them. In the winter they had to be indoors. Thanks.
My guess is because the Venco model he has does not have a mixing feature that the replacement has. With a mixing feature, along with de-airing, there is less need for feeding the clay through repeatedly. Less work.
You need to put your wheel next to a wall so you can wedge your elbow between it and the ball of clay, I show this in most of my throwing videos. It is all about strength or softness/stiffness of the clay. I will show it in a February video again.
