I Need A New Wheel. Has To Be Slow, Precise, Good Torque. Thinking Of Brent B.

[hantremmer]

I will do, though I'll spend a few days with it first.

 

It also occured to me that Brent - and other manufacturers - could manufacture removable 'full' splashpans for their wheels.  I'm surprised they don't do that, or that a third party isn't doing it.

[hantremmer]

Oh boy.  I've spoken to an pottery teacher here in London that said, because of possible UK/US voltage and wiring differences, they had a Brent conk out after a few years that they couldn't repair.

 

I've placed a call to the place I ordered from to, just to see what the situation is.

[Sputty]

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[hantremmer]

Thanks Sputty.  I spoke to a man in the shop and told him what I'd heard.  He wondered if the person I'd spoken to had bought a US Brent wheel and if the 50/60hz difference between the US and UK might have been an issue. I think he said motors might be driven more slowly. (It's been a long day, so I don't know if that contradicts what you said.)

 

 

 

Obviously there's a big price difference between wheels in the US and UK, so I can see why grey market imports would be more appealing.

 

At any rate, he said that the BRent wheels he was selling had the right motor for the UK, so that was reassuring.  

 

Now I just have to wait for delivery and figure out how to get it upstairs.

 

We're putting mud on to wheels that turn round and round.  I had no idea it could be this complicated.

[Sputty]

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[hantremmer]

Thanks for the link, Sputty.  I'd not seen it before, so it's useful to know what to expect.

 

It struck me that I could be using the same wheel for many, many years.  Bit of a weird prospect.

[neilestrick]

Skutt wheels aren't an option, since there's only one shop I can find and the cheapest one is 1/3hp.  I'm trying to balance a realistic budget with a wheel that will give me enough grunt to experiment.  I'm now throwing big flower pots or vases now, but I might want to in the future.isdom.

 

The Skutt 1/3hp can handle 75-100 pounds. I've got 10 of them in my shop, and they don't slow down. It's not all about the motor size, it's also about the controller, and the Skutt controller is awesome. Look at the horsepower on Soldner wheels- tiny motors, huge power.

 

If I were you, I'd get a European wheel so you can get parts easily.

[hantremmer]

 

 

The Skutt 1/3hp can handle 75-100 pounds. I've got 10 of them in my shop, and they don't slow down. It's not all about the motor size, it's also about the controller, and the Skutt controller is awesome. Look at the horsepower on Soldner wheels- tiny motors, huge power.

 

If I were you, I'd get a European wheel so you can get parts easily.

 

 

I was aware of your recommendations - and thanks for posting in the thread -  but I've already ordered.  (Plus the shop I'm buying from doesn't sell Skutt wheels.)  As you've seen I was hoping to buy a European wheel, but this is how it's panned out.

 

Buying online for a big purchase is tricky, because one has to take several factors into account.  In the end Brent was the best option (or least worst), given price, knowledge of the shop and availability of YouTube videos. For example,  I did go looking for videos on the Skutt Prodigy, but there were more videos of Brent wheels.

 

Now, that's not to say that Brent are better - but it gave me a better look at them.  

 

I ordered from the same shop that my teacher got her kiln, so that was a tick in their favour.  Plus I found out they've become an official Brent supplier, so that's another good sign.

[hantremmer]

Oh boy.  

 

The wheel certainly has a lot of grunt, but at its slowest speed there's this deep vibration that shakes the floorboards and rattles things.  Plus the direction switch is behaving strangely.  It won't switch easily between directions, almost like it's stuck.  But then it will suddenly allow itself to move.  I'm being very careful not to force anything.

 

I'm in touch with seller.

[oldlady]

sorry it may not be exactly what you wanted.   bailey ceramics can ship to england.  their wheel is excellent but the splash pan is built in.

[Sputty]

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[hantremmer]

The vibration seems a bit odd! How much assembly did you have to undertake? Was there anything to tension?

I don't know anything about direction switches - I only ever go in one direction - but I imagine that they are made to be deliberately difficult to use, so that you don't try to reverse the spin when the thing is actually going round?

 

sorry it may not be exactly what you wanted.   bailey ceramics can ship to england.  their wheel is excellent but the splash pan is built in.

 

 

Thanks for this.  Right now I'm just trying to find out more about this wheel and how it works.

 

The vibration seems a bit odd! How much assembly did you have to undertake? Was there anything to tension?

I don't know anything about direction switches - I only ever go in one direction - but I imagine that they are made to be deliberately difficult to use, so that you don't try to reverse the spin when the thing is actually going round?

 

 

 

To be clear, I've not thrown on it yet.  This is me checking out of the box.  I suspect the switch thing might be a safety feature, like you do.

 

 

Anyway, it came assembled.  The only thing I did was to adjust the pedal, because the wheel took 3-4 seconds to stop spinning. There was a video on the Brent channel explaining how to do it.  It stops more quickly now, but there's not as much play anymore in the pedal.  That's OK, I can try to fine tune it.

 

There was a thumping sound, I think from the belt, but that went away a bit after running it a little.  I had the same thing on the Shimpo, so I know wheels do this after shipping.

 

Couldn't see anything to tension.

 

The vibration is very strange.  At slow speeds one can place one's hand on the wheel and feel a kind of buzzing and rhythm (and I've felt buzzing on other wheels).   However the vibration manifests more away from the wheel; if you're sitting in a chair, it feels a bit like you're at the back of a bus while it's idling, even sitting up to 5' away.

 

THis feeling doesn't happen at faster speeds.    The vibration is lessened if we put a rubber mat under the wheel.   It doesn't clearly match any of the sound issues listed on the BRent YouTube channel.

 

Maybe this is just what powerful wheels / Brents are like, but since I've not used one before I wouldn't know.   But I'd like to find out if this is just just typical of big wheels, or if there's some other issue that needs looking at.  Certainly sitting in a shivering chair doesn't seem normal.

[Sputty]

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[hantremmer]

Good suggestion.  I didn't have a spirit level to hand, but I did have a small ball.  It stayed centered in the wheelhead.

 

The Brent is in my sitting room at the moment, so any slight variance in the level of the floor is not big enough for us to notice - and so definitely shouldn't affect the wheel.

 

I'll wait to see what the shop says.  They've been very helpful and they're well-established, so I hope we can sort it out between us.  Right now I'm wondering if something happened during shipping.  The box was actually delivered on its side, but who knows if that would affect it?

[hantremmer]

This video shows what's happening.  As I said before, the vibration carries several feet.  

 

[Sputty]

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[dhPotter]

At one time I had the Brent wheel on a raised, pier construction, patio deck. The wheel vibrated like yours does. Is the floor of your sitting room solid concrete, or raised, on piers, construction? 

[ayjay]

  Plus the direction switch is behaving strangely.  It won't switch easily between directions, almost like it's stuck.  But then it will suddenly allow itself to move.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have the same wheel as you, (mine is a Cowley Double Drive) but it has a reverse switch: it takes a lot longer than just the wheel head stopping before you can switch direction, you can hear the motor (or something) still spinning down, only when that has completely stopped will it change direction on command from the switch. If you switch it too soon, although the switch position has changed the wheel rotation won't have

[oldlady]

WOW!  THAT IS AWFUL!  though i really do not like brent at all i cannot imagine living with that situation.  let us know what is wrong with it.

[hantremmer]

At one time I had the Brent wheel on a raised, pier construction, patio deck. The wheel vibrated like yours does. Is the floor of your sitting room solid concrete, or raised, on piers, construction? 

 

Your post got me thinking, so now the wheel is on thick concrete paving slabs.  Still vibrating.

 

Ayjay,

 

Thanks for that.   Perhaps that's what's happening here.

 

Oldlady,

 

Will do.  Waiting to hear from shop and after tweeting to Amaco Brent, they told me to contact their technical team - so waiting for a reply from them, too.

[hantremmer]

Things are a bit up in the air at the moment, so purely as a theoretical question....What do people think of Shimpo VL Whispers RK3?  Same criteria required as mentioned in first post.

[S. Dean]

Just brainstorming here, but did the wheel vibrate the same before you adjusted the pedal?  

[hantremmer]

Thanks S.Dean, but I'm in the middle of sorting things out.  Will update thread properly when I'm able.

[hantremmer]

 Here’s an update:

 Brent wheels do vibrate at very slow speeds.

 I got in touch with the shop I bought my Brent C from.  They told me they tested their own Brents B, C and CXC, to see if they could recreate what happened to me.

 Their B and C vibrated like mine.  Weirdly, I think the CXC did too, but to a lesser extent . When the wheels were spinning faster, the pulsing vibration lessened a lot.  This is what happened with my wheel.

 The shop wondered whether the wheel on a wooden floor might have amplified the effect. It seems that vibration in my video is normal, but it might have been made worse by my floor.

 That’s something to consider if you’re buying a wheel, but live in an older building or a flat.

 While waiting, I sent my own email to Brent about my model C.   They sent me a graph about RPM ranges.    The graph said the wheel wasn’t designed to be used at speeds between 5-10 RPM (and presumably lower).   It also said that speeds of 25RPM weren’t practical in use, but people do test their wheels in that range.

 Obviously these are a very slow RPM ranges. Most people might never need to use them at this speed, but that’s a feature I specifically wanted. 

 I told Brent that their website does reference 0-240 RPM control and perhaps this should be amended.

 It’s a shame, because the Brent had the power that I wanted.  But I didn’t want to work with floorboards rattling.  I would have kept the wheel if I’d been working on a concrete floor.

 I decided get a Shimpo RK3E instead.  It doesn’t have the power or the torque of the Brent, but neither does it have the vibration.  I've not had a chance to use the Shimpo yet.

Thanks for all the help and advice.  

[neilestrick]

I would sit down at a Shimpo and try it out before buying. They have sacrificed a lot of torque for the quietness. It may run smooth at very low RPMs, but it may not have the torque to allow you to actually work the clay at speeds that slow.