I am currently looking at building a deairing pug mill based on the design in the Harry Davis book “The Potters Alternative“. I have to say the more I read about him the more I realize he had the same basic attitude about pottery that I do. I had been making pottery for a couple years when he started his Peru project and would have loved to have been there.
Back to the pug mill, I am going to use what is available to me and modify the design accordingly and will post my progress here. Yesterday I priced scrap metal, custom cutting and visited with an old friend who is somewhat of a “Yankee Machinist” , blacksmith and metal worker. He is 88 years old he still works in his shop every day. He said he is not up to helping build the pug mill but will allow me to use his tools (most of them he made) and give adivce. He put together the jolley arm I use based on the plans from the same book and yesterday I gave him some finished plates made with it.
It turns out there isn’t any such thing as 8″ ID thin wall pipe, Harry made his own pipe and his directions are based on that size. I can hower get 8″ OD thin wall pipe and this changes the internal diameter of the pug mill by 1/4″ and all internal parts will need to be resized. Also, I can get the pieces cut at a local steel recycling place with a plasma cutter for $100 an hour and if laid out correctly all the pieces could be cut to size in an hour. So the process begins. My reason for doing this is mainly financial, a new manufactured deairing pug mill costs in the neighborhood of $5000 and I think I can build one for a tenth that price.
