algebraist 13 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Hi All, For what it's worth I recently bought a pair of hydrobats (12" or thereabouts) to check them out. Both of them have too much "play" in the holes drilled for the bat pins. One was worse than the other, so I took the better one and tried to throw a bowl with it. No good -- any lateral pressure, like you'd apply during centering, got it shifting back and forth with each turn of the wheel. Nothing good happened from there, the clay ended up in the recycling bin, and the bats are on the shelf, where they're going to stay. (Nothing wrong with my pins -- all of my other bats fit nice and snug, including the two new Medex bats I bought along with the HydroBats.) I know lots of people like the HydroBats, and maybe I just got some bad ones, but there it is: caveat emptor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
oldlady 2,753 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 can you invest a drill bit in drilling new holes? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GEP 2,121 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Are they HydrO-bats or HydrA-bats? Those are two different products, with different types of holes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
flowerdry 131 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 I have one hydrobat that I use occasionally for certain projects. The pin holes have always been ok, but now the bat is warped. I didn't think that would happen to a hydrobat. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
algebraist 13 Posted October 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 HydrO-bats -- just double checked. Nice idea drilling new holes -- I may as well give it a try. They rubber coat the holes, though, which I don't know how to do, and maybe without the coating the holes would wear down over time? Anyway, better than relegating them to drying bats. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rex Johnson 120 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 ...Hmmm....I sound like a shareholder for Hydrobats I guess The Ceramic Shop is the manufacturer ( http://www.theceramicshop.com) but Big Ceramics and other carry them as you know. I ordered a couple from The Ceramic Shop to try out and one came with one of the rubber 'pin holder's cockeyed in the casting. I let them know about this and the cheerfully sent me another bat. The other 4 I've ordered are fine. Hope I don't get a disappointment when I get the next 12 I just ordered. You might give them a ring-a-ding. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rex Johnson 120 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 HydrO-bats -- just double checked. Nice idea drilling new holes -- I may as well give it a try. They rubber coat the holes, though, which I don't know how to do, and maybe without the coating the holes would wear down over time? Anyway, better than relegating them to drying bats. I'm pretty sure they are rubber inserts cast into the bottom of the bat. They're designed to prevent wear on the plaster. Not so sure drilling new holes would hold up for long. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GEP 2,121 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 ^ Agree with Rex. Before you try drilling new holes, give them a call and explain the problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Min 3,248 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 I remember reading an article a few years ago where someone was making plaster batts with holes for the batt pins. They used aquarium plastic tubing to keep the holes snug. If you don't get anywhere with asking for replacement batts it might work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
algebraist 13 Posted October 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Thanks for the advice, and it's nice to hear they're a good company. I'm not sure what they can really do for me -- I bought them an hour's drive from here, and I'm not inclined to make the trip again for a while (or my first step would be to tell the store I wanted to return them). And the postage would probably be prohibitive to do it by mail. But maybe I'll contact the company anyway and see what they say. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Min 3,248 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 One other thing you could use if you can't get them replaced is to use the Xiem BatMate to hold the batts in place. I use the BatMate with plaster batts up to 18" diameter and no pins, it really works. (works with wood batts up to about 8" also) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
neilestrick 4,451 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Call them. Give them a chance to make it right. Tarantara 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Surubee 8 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 If they are not helpful perhaps you can try adding a little bit of clay to the batt pins to fill in the extra space before attaching the batt. I have several hydrobats and have found some of them fit better on the bat pins than others. The extra dab of clay on the pins usually solves the problem for me. Good luck. TallTayl 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marc McMillan 48 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 What about trying the bat-mates, or other version? They help with my older plastic bats that have too much play in them. It's a rubbery type material that goes between the bat and the wheelhead and helps hold them in place (in case you didn't know about them). good luck. Marc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jrgpots 273 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 You could cover the pins with plastic and place a small amount of epoxy in the bat pin holes, then press the bat onto the wheel head. The epoxy would "fill in" around the bat pins and dry. Once dry the plastic would allow the bat to be removed. Hopefully, all the extra wiggle room around the bat pins will be filled with hardened epoxy. Jed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Foxden 32 Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 I had a similar problem and found that purchasing new bat pins in a metric size (sold at Lowes) were a tad large and worked just fine. If you don't want to switch the pins back and forth based on which bats you are using, the clay trick usually works fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bjhough 0 Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 I had the same issue with Hydro-Bats. Locking the bat pins to the wheel with wing nuts eliminated the wobble. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sarah staub 2 Posted June 5 Report Share Posted June 5 (edited) has anyone gotten bad hydrobats recently and can attest to the quality or know of any way to make them level? I just bought 3 (2 x 14" and 1 x 12.5") and 2 of them were pretty uneven on the top (some bits were about .5cm and .7cm higher than other parts) I emailed the company asking if there was any way to fix them and sent 3 different videos of them and they just said that "Your hydrobats are probably wobbling a little bit because they weren't trimmed perfectly, but they should still be usable" and I could try adding clay or I could return them (which the shipping cost will probably make it not worth it). I have other hydrobats from years ago and they are nice and flat so it was a bit disappointing that these one's werent and that their response was that they arent always level, which I feel like is a lot of the reason to use a bat. edit- The bottoms are fine, they do not wobble on the wheel-head but the top of the bat itself has high and low spots on it so if your hand is resting on the bat while the wheel is on your hand will move up and down while it spins- its like a topographic map - versus if it were all nice and flat and level your hand shouldnt move up and down while the wheel turns. I could add a pretty thick layer of clay over the bat and make a new level surface and then throw on that but that is a pain- uses more clay that I then need to trim off -and not what I paid for. Edited June 6 by sarah staub add more info Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CactusPots 238 Posted June 5 Report Share Posted June 5 I use a little bit of slip under the larger size hydrobats to lock them down. I have to pry them up at the end. As long as the pins line up, they're usable to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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