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The New Extruder


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well we got the new extruder - the Scott Creek 4" one.  Its hard to get the dies to line up with the inner piece - seems to take a lot more fiddling around than it should.    anybody know the secret?  the directions say that this can be a challenge and to use some wood shims. seems like kind of a hokey solution.   suggestions please.    rakuku

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well the two part dies are hard to line up and keep an even wall. we had to use a little wrench that didn't come with to tighten down the inner die.

 

but also when you put the 3 pins in to hold the die collar in place the whole thing still seems wiggly and not closely fitted enough.  I am wondering if i should call the maker.  might just be learning curve for me since i have little experience.     rakuku

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There is some play room. But once you start extruding I found it centers itself. Next back hollow die , the piece attached to "tripod", off of plane. This makes smaller die slightly inside....Also make sure your clay is appropriate moisture level and well wedged

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I extrude 100s of small boxes, round, square and triangle and don't have this issue of movement or off center uneven extruded hollow pieces.

 

What I do is put the head on a table upside down then assemble everything there, measure to make sure the center plate is in the middle of the hollow one, then using 3-4 pieces of painters tape tape the pieces together on the top, which will be the bottom once you turn it over and attach it to the extruder. The tape keeps everything from shifting around as you handle it and get the holding pins in place. Leave the tape on the plate and pull a bit of an extrusion until you can see a bit of clay protruding from the die ring. Pull the tape and then pull a full extrusion. Once you have done the taped beginning the clay holds everything in place and just as long as you don't remove the head from the tube you can pull as many extrusions as you want and they will all be equal.

 

Doing these steps I get perfectly equal walled extrusions every time.

Hope this helps... I can send pics if my descriptions leave you head scratching.

 

T

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As far as using their dies for hollow extrusions -as Pug says there are some tricks. Keeping it lined up is key and it will take you some learning curve time. I used to shoot lots of hollow core stuff but that was a few decades ago with a scott creek.

My scott creek is so modified now now with a Brent cap system you would never recognize it as a scott creek.

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Poor Scott Creek! I won't tell mine that it can be altered as it is very happy with itself just the way it is!

 

 

 

I pull almost exclusively hollow forms on mine. For small box forms it's really the fastest way for me to get a form that I can then decorate. The rolling, measuring, cutting, assembling, cleaning, etc etc etc of a small box I only get $10-20 for is just to labor intensive.

 

T

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My three holes wore out decades ago from thge threaded pins. I just wieled a few brent pins on the barrel.

Now a brent cap snaps right on easy. The handle was made to soft so I had another handle made beeey on the plunger. Speaking og plungers mine wore out twice-that is it wore down so to much clay was blowing back. I have twice wielded a new 1/4 plate round to get back to what it should work like. Now as to the ladder its had to be beefed up as well and wielding more to the whole unit as it was coming loose.

Now I have the best of both 1/2 beant 1/2 scott creek. on the other wall is a Brent so I do know which holds uop better to a life of extruding.

Its a Brent -they are just made better thicker and stronger

Mark

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I have the 5" square Scott Creek, and it nearly drove me nuts until I figured out how to keep the center in the center. I put the die set up on the box end, and BEFORE I drop the plug of clay in the box, I sort of stand on my head, center the die and push lugs of clay up into the space that the clay will come out of. The plugs hold the center where it needs to be until the extruding clay pushes the plugs out. I guess you could cut come material that would be exactly the thickness of the wall measurement and that would work as well. I understand how irritating this is, and it took me a LONG time to get a system worked out that settled this problem. But now I get along well with it .

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  • 1 month later...

I am interested to buy a hand held extruder but don't know which seems to be the prefered choice. Has anyone heard of IKEG - Industrial Klay Extruder Gun. I know there is Scott Creek and Bailey. But which one to buy?

I have the Northstar Big Blue extruder and, frankly, don't use it too often.  Just haven't taken the time to mess with it.  But, I needed a smaller hand-held extruder and made the one shown on the Ceramics Arts Daily website.  It works well for my needs.  I occasionally teach hand building classes and showed this extruder to the students…..several made their own and are happy with it.  

http://ceramicartsda...-clay-extruder/

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I am interested to buy a hand held extruder but don't know which seems to be the prefered choice. Has anyone heard of IKEG - Industrial Klay Extruder Gun. I know there is Scott Creek and Bailey. But which one to buy?

I have the Northstar Big Blue extruder and, frankly, don't use it too often.  Just haven't taken the time to mess with it.  But, I needed a smaller hand-held extruder and made the one shown on the Ceramics Arts Daily website.  It works well for my needs.  I occasionally teach hand building classes and showed this extruder to the students…..several made their own and are happy with it.  

http://ceramicartsda...-clay-extruder/

 

 

Thanks for the link! Just went out and bought the stuff for less than 15 dollars.

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The homemade version, is a terrific solution.  The only downside, over the commercially made ones, is the tubes on the commercial variety are longer, so hold more clay at a time.  

 

If I'm not mistake though, they do make larger than normal caulk guns.

 

I may make a couple, for my classroom.  I have two commercial extruders, but they wear out fast.  

 

I'd like a large one, but not sure if I can fit it in the budget.  I do realize, there is a homemade version of a large extruder as well, but it doesn't lend itself well to wall mounting.

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LOL, great home-made extruder video. 

 

But clearly he is doing something illegal because you can hear the police sirens closing in on him in the background.  May he is wasting too much water...or maybe the plumbers union is after him for unauthorized caulking gun use.... not sure.

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Cambria, I use the the IKEG extruder that I purchased from Bailey about 2 years ago for about $35. It's about 18-20 inches long, very sturdy and holds about 2 pounds of clay. At the time I was thinking of making one myself after seeing a few videos including the one posted here but for the few extra dollars and the time involved I felt it was worth it to order one.

 

Paul

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Thanks for this input Paul. It helps to hear what you have to say. I won't be making an extruder myself as I am using it for children class I will be teaching so the budget will pay for it. It seems to indicate it is strong with the description industrial in its name.

 

Joan

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