Newbie

[miab]

Hi I am a newbie just haven't even got a wheel yet waiting on my husband to build it because wheels are to expensive especially for a beginner. I would like as many tips as possible thanks.

[Joseph Fireborn]

Welcome to the forums! 

[MatthewV]

I don't think I would have gotten very far without taking classes.

[Denice]

If your building a kickwheel you might try to find a large metal fly wheel instead of making your kick wheel out of concrete.  I bought one that has a metal flywheel, much easier to kick up to speed and it holds it's speed longer, also easier to take apart and move.  Some kind of industrial salvage would probably have something like that.  I have seen kick wheels on Craigs list for $100 every so often, most people are looking for electric.  There is nothing like a smooth running kickwheel for trimming.   Potter

[Guest]

I'm pretty good at building things, I even brought a couple of items to market. With the exception of the wheel head (and that would have been easy to make) I already had all the parts to build a variable speed electric wheel. My original plan was to create a stick shift to control the speed. I'd like to mention up to this point the only wheel I ever saw and threw on was an old 2 speed Amaco that has a three position toggle switch (low - off - high).

 

Then a friend lent me her wheel with a foot pedal to regulate the speed. Well, after about 10 minutes on that wheel I realized I wasn't going to build one better with the parts I had on hand. I also knew that If I purchased a variable speed DC motor and designed a foot pedal my cost would have exceeded the price of a Speedball Clay Boss.  And that wouldn't have included my time along with the possibility that my wheel may not have been as good.

 

So, I bought a Bailey instead.

 

Sometimes building isn't quicker, better or cheaper, especially when you wind up with a Rube Goldberg type of contraption. So my point of all this is I would suggest that you keep an eye out for a used wheel and remind your husband that a happy wife means a happy life.

 

Good Luck

 

Edit In:

In my first version the variable speed stick shift would have been mechanical. With the DC motor it would have been electronic

 

 

[GEP]

I agree with Matthew's advice. Hold off on builidng a wheel, and start by finding some classes in your area. Don't invest in your own equipment until you have a better idea of what you want out of this pursuit, and a better idea of how much space and equipment you'll need if you want to have your own studio. I also agree with RonSa that building your own wheel could potentially be much costlier than finding a used wheel.