Marge Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 I'm looking into purchasing a pugger. I am trying to ease my aching wrists and elbow and would like to lessen wedging. (Reusing my scraps would be an added bonus.) Does anyone have any words of wisdom regarding the Peter Pugger VPM 7 vs 9? I realize that the 9 has a larger capacity, but is it worth saving the $ and just feeding clay into the hopper more often? I don't throw over 7lbs at a time. I always use the same clay and wouldn't have to clean it out often (if ever?) Any advice would be helpful! Thanks a bunch! Margie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 No its worth the extra money to get the 9. Both are for the hobby market.What you need to know is at least about 1/3 of the clay stays in the machine ,so 7 lbs does not come out its far less. Same with the 9 only you will get 1/3 of that 9 or a litle more That 7 is toy size really . Get the 9 and you still we be getting about a 1/3 less than 25 out the nozzle .My friend has a 9. There wil be no to clean it ever. They are sealed and the clay does not dry out. I have not ever cleaned mine in 7 years and I switch bodies a bit. Thats my 2 cents-the 9 will resell far better as well.If you ever want to part with it. I also suggest the Stainless model in the line so pitting will never occur inside the barrel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 We use the 9 and perfectly happy with it. Not sure I would want to drop from 25 ibs to 14 but not sure I wouldn't either. Like you said it comes down to feeding clay in more often, mixing and then pugging out logs of clay. Our 9 seems to be built very sturdy and fit for pro use and we have had it for over 10 years. The 7 looks to be made just as well but you might call the company and ask them if its of lower quality than the 9 in addition to being smaller. The way we pug is to accumulate scrape in buckets (with plastic trash liner and lid) and when it builds up to a few of those we process it. 10 years ago that was often but now we produce a lot less scrape so it takes a couple of months to have enough to reclaim. We are not hobbyist but not particularly high volume either, doing a dozen shows a year these days. I just put some tunes on and feed the mixer and pug. It's just kind of a continuous process until all the scrape is done. With the 9 I fill it up, mix and then pug out about 4 or so 18" clay logs and then repeat. If you had the 7 then I would guess that it would be 2-3 logs in between filling. That's the decision I think you are making. I can go through three 5 gallon buckets of reclaim in 5-6 cycles of this process and a 7 would be about twice that I assume. I don't know if the extra mixing might wear out the motor faster though and another good question for the company rep. Not seeing any wear on ours after over a decade of moderate use. It takes about an hour or so for me to process the 3 or so buckets but we stopped putting dry clay in. That always meant longer mixing times but the reason we stopped is that if we used the clay fairly quickly we found small chunks of clay. Mixing longer or letting it sit for a longer time probably would have fixed it as well but just keeping wet scrap wet and slaking the occasional bone dry reclaim both fixed it and keeps the mixing time short. Not sure the size difference but that might make a difference as well. I built a 6x2 foot cart with a Formica counter top and would love it to be smaller and take up less space but we use a 600 foot garagio and space is a premium. I bet you will be happy regardless of which one you choose, they seem to be a great company with well made machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 All the machines are made the same great quality only differ in sizes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marge Posted June 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 Thanks for the input!! I'm very excited to say I just purchased the VPM 9. I've been thinking about this purchase for a long time and everyone's words of wisdom helped me finally follow through! Margie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 Good choice ,I'm sure you will be happy with it. Solid machine. Works great for so many things-I use mine alot to soften firm clay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnmicheal Posted June 8, 2019 Report Share Posted June 8, 2019 How long do you run a pugmill before you can pug out the material, say 5 gal of broken down clay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.