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I have an Estrin pottery wheel with a large steel fly wheel driven by a rubber drive disc attached to an electric motor via a 5/8inch shaft. Where can I buy these drive discs? It was manufactured in BC. It works fine but I always think ahead. I trained on one of these 40 years ago so it has nostalgic appeal.

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Vsmithpots;

This is an example of you not giving us enough information in your profile. These wheels were a staple all through highschools in Canada.

1.If you look closely at the motor mount, you can see that it is very easy to have your left foot suck into the motor. If you or someone else accidentally touches the flywheel with your foot..wham,sucked or actually pulled into the spinning"puck"

2. Later versions have a safety cage that goes on the left side of the motor.

3.Most beginning potters I know get rid of these old clunkers in favour of a Brent or a Creative Industries wheel.

4.If you were working in a co-operative studio, your studio neighbours would insist that you sell this wheel, as it produces a high pitched whine once it gets going.

If you live in Canada, I can tell you where to get a replacement rubber drive.Can't help you if you are in the U.S.

TJR.

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Guest JBaymore

I have one of those Estrin wheels as well!!!!!  It is going on 40 years old.  Estrin went out of business a good while back.

 

GREAT little wheel........ I love it for trimming.  The light flywheel is great for using like a Japanese/Korean kickwheel,........ I pull it using the left foot (trimming counterclockwise).

 

My original "hockey puck" drive wheel is still fine.  I almost never use the motor.  Prefer to kick.  Motor is easy to remove... it spends 99 pecent of the time not on the wheel.

 

best,

 

.........................john

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A lot of these wheels that used a drive puck on the motor are still around. Lockerbies, Amacos, and others are sitting in studios and junk piles unused for want of a drive puck. Hard to find them nowadays. I have been looking for one for an older Amaco that I used to use a lot before I got my CXC, but no luck.

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Guest JBaymore

Never had to do a thing to mine.... still in mint condition...... so I don't know if there is another hex nut. When I get a chance I'll take a look.

 

best,

 

.....................john

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  • 2 weeks later...

Vsmithpots;

This is an example of you not giving us enough information in your profile. These wheels were a staple all through highschools in Canada.

1.If you look closely at the motor mount, you can see that it is very easy to have your left foot suck into the motor. If you or someone else accidentally touches the flywheel with your foot..wham,sucked or actually pulled into the spinning"puck"

2. Later versions have a safety cage that goes on the left side of the motor.

3.Most beginning potters I know get rid of these old clunkers in favour of a Brent or a Creative Industries wheel.

4.If you were working in a co-operative studio, your studio neighbours would insist that you sell this wheel, as it produces a high pitched whine once it gets going.

If you live in Canada, I can tell you where to get a replacement rubber drive.Can't help you if you are in the U.S.

TJR.

I do live in Nova Scotia. I bought this wheel and it is working fine, but the drive wheel has very hard rubber, so it vibrates just a touch. I assume a newer rubber drive wheel will be smoother. I have 11 potters wheels, Brent, Creative Industry, Shimpo, Amaco and Pacifica, for some reason I love the feeling of the Estrin wheel. It is like the difference between a manual and an automatic car, I can throw faster on any of the other wheels but the challenge of the Estrin wheel is preferable to me. After 40 years on potters wheels I like the challenge. It does not have the whine you describe and I only engage the motor for centering, the flywheel has enough momentum for anything under 2lbs weight, most pieces need foot braking to take them off the wheel. I will attach a shield to the motor, thanks for the heads up on that. I will also try turning it around and attach the seat to the other side, so that the motor is out of reach.

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Lockerbie Kick Wheels... Lockerbie Rubber Drive Wheel,

Lockerbie Hardware Only for Drive Wheel

These parts may be just what you need.

As far as the safety cover. What fun is it if you can't get hurt!

For those of you on the other side of the fence...I can see it is a necestity when you are in a studio with other potters.

These wheels where made when common sence ran rapid.

I don't know any one legged potters, but thier were probably a few.

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I replaced the drive wheel with a hockey puck. I had a machinist bore out the middle. Works perfectly. I would happily buy another Estrin if I could find one.

I used to teach kids pottery classes on Saturday mornings at our main art gallery. Had a call from a parent;"Why is my daughter's foot all black?"

Apparently she had jammed her left foot into the motor and was too shy to tell me.If you put your left foot down on the flywheel, it'll shoot right into the motor. Great wheels for trimming and small stuff.I had eight in a classroom, and they all whined when they got going.

I have a chance to pick one up for free-I'm tempted. I will wear work boots.

TJR.

Edit; The whining was from the wheels, not the students. :rolleyes:

T.

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  • 3 months later...

In Feb, Lucinda said she would like another Estrin wheel. There is one for sale on kijiji in Montreal. The price is way too high - $1000! It will have to come down as there are wheels for sale frequently. It is not as well put together as the one I have.  I was delighted to see this listing because, at long last I have a brand name for the wheel I love which was given to me many years ago. 

 

However, the seat was stolen. As the company is out of business, does anyone know where I can get a seat!!!! 

 

The way mine is put together, there is no way to catch one's foot. At least, I have not come close in 20 years. 

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  • 1 year later...

I love how my Estrin wheel works. Simple,  smooth operation and simple to repair if you need to. You do not require a special replacement  motor, almost any good hardware store would have one that would work. You might not find one with a switch on the motor but I think a switch close at hand would be better anyway .

Just purchased a second one for $250 complete with working motor. 

I replaced the rubber drive wheel on my first one as it had gone hard and cracked. Went out and purchased a $1.50 hockey puck, went for the softer one. Found the centre and rilled in a hole. Then mounted the puck and then ran the motor and used a coarse rasp and sander to reduce the size and true it up to perfect round.  Works great now, 

I do agree that the drive wheel could do with a shield, might add one to it with a piece of sheet metal and a welder.

The other thing I did to it was to put in 3 allen bolts in the wheel and made a bunch of bats out of MDF board to fit the pin alignment. The hard part was to get all 3 pins perfectly spaced around centre. The groves in the plater worked well for a guide, problem came when I went to do the same to the 2nd wheel  the groves where not the same as the first one. Just a hint to those who want to do the same thing, don't put your pins in the area that has the rib on the bottom side of the platter like I did, that gave me some problems.

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*advocating the use of a HOCKEY PUCK for replacement parts for a Canadian made wheel.*

This made my day, and made me face palm all at once.

 

I played around with an Estrin with no foot guard for about a semester before it started to throw my SI joint out of whack. I liked the motion and how quiet it was, but the way I had to sit at it put my hips at a really bad angle. Definitely made for six foot dudes, not 5'6" girls.

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When these Estrin wheels were first made they used a hockey puck for the drive wheel.  If you can take the shaft and the puck apart, (some of them you were able to and others were welded at the end of the shaft, thus making the puck non removable), you can have a hole drilled through the puck to attach it back on to the shaft.  If she shaft and puck are welded together, the best bet is to have someone in a machine shop replace the shaft and have them attach a puck on the end of the shaft.  The parts for these wheels were standard, off the shelf parts, no unusual sized threads.  

 

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I have an Estrin pottery wheel with a large steel fly wheel driven by a rubber drive disc attached to an electric motor via a 5/8inch shaft. Where can I buy these drive discs? It was manufactured in BC. It works fine but I always think ahead. I trained on one of these 40 years ago so it has nostalgic appeal.

I also have a kickwheel that was given to me in pretty bad shape. I spent a little time refurbishing it...tightened up the bolts, replaced the bearings, made a splash pan for it and installed my own motor. I was able to Rube Goldberg the motor setup with a modified foot pedal and used an inline skate wheel for the driver. I kick the wheel to get things moving, then apply the motorized contraption to keep it going. My foot-hand coordination is not that great so I had to come up with the motor rig. I use the kickwheel for trimming and my CI wheel for throwing. The attached photos show the motor setup and in the seat end view you can see the skate wheel on the flywheel.post-17674-0-38364300-1441577039_thumb.jpgpost-17674-0-78906900-1441577060_thumb.jpg

post-17674-0-38364300-1441577039_thumb.jpg

post-17674-0-78906900-1441577060_thumb.jpg

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In Feb, Lucinda said she would like another Estrin wheel. There is one for sale on kijiji in Montreal. The price is way too high - $1000! It will have to come down as there are wheels for sale frequently. It is not as well put together as the one I have.  I was delighted to see this listing because, at long last I have a brand name for the wheel I love which was given to me many years ago. 

 

However, the seat was stolen. As the company is out of business, does anyone know where I can get a seat!!!! 

 

The way mine is put together, there is no way to catch one's foot. At least, I have not come close in 20 years. 

Talk to Grant at Sounding Stone Pottery Supply in Wpg. I know that he just sold a used one for $350..Pretty sure he has a seat kicking around.

Tom.

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Hi all, new, and not a potter.

Just removed an Estrin from a studio and it's sitting on my boulevard waiting to see if a

scapper will come to pick it up.

However it is in good shape ---- the motor is there but i have removed it because it was

already heavy enough moving it without the motor on it.

The table's bearings appear to be in fine shape as it will spin forever.

If someone wants to pick it up they are more than welcome to contact me -- but I'm not

sure I want to put it in my garage so time is of the essence.

I'm in south-eastern Scarborough.

Just looking fthe grandkids some Hot Wheels ---- it's a craft item in need of a home,

it's dirt cheap, it's Canadian, and I almost killed myself getting it this far.

It's complete as far as I know ---- public school seat and desktop, all adjust, the slurry

pan (sorry) adjusts, there's a "puck" on the motor's shaft but I don't know if it's usable.

Sounds dangerous anyway (no cage).  I don't have the bolts to attach the motor, but

that's an easy fix if needed.

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  • 8 months later...

Rubber Drive Wheel

Rubber drive wheel

Hi there, 

 

I'd love to know more about the hockey puck repair for the rubber piece.

 

I just acquired an old Estrin wheel that had sat outside (uncovered) for years. It is quite rusty but to my surprise I plugged it in and the drive wheel started whiling. Unfortunately the rubber is completely worn away so it makes a terrible metal dragging metal sound.

 

The rubber piece appears to be sandwiched by metal disks, one of which is spot welded in two places. I'd like to remove the shaft from the motor to have a bit better access to the drive wheel. Does anyone know how to remove the shaft from the motor? There appears to be a screw sticking out of one side of the shaft.

 

Here are a few pictures if anyone has suggestions for tackling removing the shaft, rubber drive wheel, or doing a hockey puck fix I'd much appreciate any suggestions. 

 

Cheers! 

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The "screw" on the shaft is an allen set screw and might be able to be removed with an allen key but it looks a little rusty. the shaft should be removable once the set screw is removed. You can place the shaft end in  a bucket of vinegar for a few days will remove the rust. Once the shaft is removed take it to a machine shop and have a tread cut on the end with a nut so you can replace the rubber wheel. I use a hockey puck with a hole drilled in the centre. The puck will get a true round after a few uses as it wears in or use a coarse file or sandpaper against it while the motor is running.

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