Hydrobat Complaint

[algebraist 9]

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.

[oldlady 2,255]

can you invest a drill bit in drilling new holes?

[GEP 1,675]

Are they HydrO-bats or HydrA-bats? Those are two different products, with different types of holes.

[flowerdry 129]

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.

[algebraist 9]

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.

[Rex Johnson 117]

...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.

[Rex Johnson 117]

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.

[GEP 1,675]

^ Agree with Rex. Before you try drilling new holes, give them a call and explain the problem.

[Min 2,120]

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.

[algebraist 9]

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.  

[Min 2,120]

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)

[neilestrick 3,162]

Call them. Give them a chance to make it right.

[Surubee 8]

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.

[Marc McMillan 46]

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

[jrgpots 245]

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

[Foxden 32]

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.

[bjhough 0]

I had the same issue with Hydro-Bats.  Locking the bat pins to the wheel with wing nuts eliminated the wobble.