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Venco Vs. Peter Pugger For Porcelain?


claude

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Dear colleagues,

I have to make a decision as I could have a Venco Super Twin in a few days here in my studio what would normally take months to be delivered and I have a big order of lots of plates to throw.

 

In my research about pugmills I have come as far as that I think I have to decide between buying a Peter Pugger vpmss20 and a Venco Super Twin, both stainless steel and de-airing.

I throw porcelain and run a studio production, means around 2 tons a year, getting more (sorry, I'm not a native speaker)...

 

 

I'll need it in the first place for replacing the wedging of new porcelain clay as I find this extremely power- and timeconsuming for production.

I let the wet material dry a little bit down to have a stiffer clay for throwing thin bigger pots. That means the clay has stiffer parts outside from the drying and softer ones inside even if I dry it slowly under a soft fabric to avoid too fast drying. I hope such a machine could mix and de-air it for having a homogen porcelain body ready for throwing. That's what I intend mainly.

 

To reclaim crap is also an idea but not really important as I can sell trimming crap for a small money to someone who re-uses it for small sculptures.

 

i know in stoneware de-aired clay is a gorgeous thing for throwing, but porcelain is different and it seems to absorb air whenever possible so the vacuum effect might be a problem?

 

 

What I have heard about the Peter Puggers:

Some potters have problems with porcelain coming out with no plasticity. Also heard a rumour that the pugging chamber of the PP is too short for good de-airing. The advantage of PP seems to be that the clay can be stiffened or dried down easily and that any stiffness doesn't seem to be a problem at all as the mill is very strong so it won't stop with stiffer clay.

 

About the Venco:

the twin spiral shall have a quite well mixing effect but the de-airing pump shall also not be so good.

Another disadvantage of the Venco is that I heard it stands still if the clay is too stiff and you have to open it to pull the clay out before going on with softer clay.

 

 

I'm afraid I will have spent so much money to have small air bubbles in my fired ware what must be quite horrifying and / or that I have a machine that stops when i put a bit stiffer clay for bigger pots into it.

 

 

It would be SO GREAT if anyone working with porcelain with these machines could share his/her experiences...

thanks so much, claude

 

 

 

 

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Cluade

I have never used a Venco but have heard the same issues.

I am a production Porcelain only Potter working with 10 tons a year

I have a peter pugger VM 30-it holds 85#s-I bought it used so I could not choose stainless barrel model.

Its alumuminum barrel not stainless-the largest stainless Peter pugger makes is the vm 20SS

I have had zero issues with air bubbles-I only use wet clay in mine and leave it with clay in it all the time-over time porcelain will pit the aluminum-but by then I myself will be out of time myself (old)so I do not care-If I had your choice I would buy the Peter Pugger 20SS stainess or the largest stainless one they make (they are always coming out with new stuff).

The motor is super strong as is the vacuum pump-they are trouble free.

I assume you are in the Us or Canada?

Mark

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I do not use anywhere near the amount of clay you use annually.   However, my husband has an electro-mechanical engineering background, and when he looked at all of the pug mills on display at NCECA, he had no doubt that the Peter Pugger was the best mechanically.   So we have one and it has been wonderful.

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I do not use anywhere near the amount of clay you use annually.   However, my husband has an electro-mechanical engineering background, and when he looked at all of the pug mills on display at NCECA, he had no doubt that the Peter Pugger was the best mechanically.   So we have one and it has been wonderful.

I am in total agreement with your husband-buit I'm also a mechanical person as well.After touring their plant I was sold. as well.May not be the best with customer service but honestly you will not need much as the machine is a tabk and will not need much ever-its well thought out.

Mark

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  • 4 years later...
On 9/2/2015 at 12:41 AM, claude said:

Dear Mark,

I'm in Europe but there is a retailer dealing with Peter Puggers... thanks for your reply! Good to hear you never had Problems with de-airing... Claude

Hi Claude, did you buy a Peter Pugger after all? I'm in Europe too and thinking of buying a PP pug mill, wanted to ask you about your experience. Also work with porcelain and need a good, strong, durable pug mill which will not need to be cleaned often, which will de-air my porcelain and not render it short either. Could you please let me know what you think of yours? Thanks, Ipek

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  • 8 months later...

Someone is offering me a free Venco here in the US.  I know it’s free, but is it worth me driving to get?  I’ll be renting a car to drive 3 hours there and back.  It looks in decent condition.  I will be recycling white stoneware.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  

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1 hour ago, Kyle SL said:

Someone is offering me a free Venco here in the US.  I know it’s free, but is it worth me driving to get?  I’ll be renting a car to drive 3 hours there and back.  It looks in decent condition.  I will be recycling white stoneware.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  

If you want to recycle clay, it sounds like this would be a good deal, even with car rental costs. Assuming it's in working condition.

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