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Old Potters Wheel Is New Again.


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As a newbie I didn't know the first thing about equipment so when a friend gave me an old Model 402 Amaco potters wheel that had been converted to motor drive, I didn't know that it was considered to be a relic.  It has been cut down so you can sit at the wheel and an angle drive was added so the motor is horizontal.  initially it had a single speed AC motor hooked up and that spun the head clockwise at a pretty quick pace.  Not knowing any better, I started making stuff but admitt that it got to be a challange cause wide thin things tended to spin out of shape very easily.  And right now $400 is just not in the budget for a decent wheel.

 

On the internet there are tons of examples of building your own wheel.  I am handy enough, but I didn't need a home built wheel, I need the one I have to work better.  I will add that I am very content with the wheel's heavy frame, metal splash/drip tray and general layout.  The  solution was to use part of the "build your own" formula and fit a variable speed 1.5 hp electric motor to my old wheel.  I already had the dead treadmill, I just needed the electronics from E-bay.  $50 and I have a varialbe speed setup that now turns counterclockwise.  Seems like a lot of these older wheels could serve very well with a motor/controller upgrade.   

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That particular model has a pretty small foot print as compared to one that I had in my classroom and have at home in the basement.  This was a very durable wheel, but as you can see from the size of the flywheel it is pretty big on the floor.

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?start=166&client=firefox-a&hs=NHs&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=sb&biw=1536&bih=735&tbm=isch&tbnid=HV656TgHnpYDJM%

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