Classic Lines Pottery » Tools & Equipment

Bricks

Mike — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:13:48 +0000

brick from the press

The chamber on the press is 10×5 x4 inches. The depth of 4″ can be modified by adding a block of wood to the bottom and top. It is my intent to make the bricks 10x5x2.5 so they will lay up in multiple ways. By adding a wedge to the top and bottom of the chamber I can make custom arch bricks so that each brick of the arch is a key brick.

There are many recipies available for soft firebrick in Conrads book of ceramic formulas. The goal now is to find the most cost effective materials for the firebrick. I am looking at local clays to see if any are refractory enough to make bricks and pricing getting commercial fireclay to Boise. Either way the bricks will be 10% or less the cost of new IFB shipped here.

When I settle on a formula and start making brick in quantity I will make a short movie showing the process. Two people working together will be able to make about 300 bricks in a day. My oldest granddaughter will be helping me, she turns 13 on May 2nd.

Brick Press assembled

Mike — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:05:25 +0000

top view

: brick press assembled

The press after being assembled and painted;

Brick press steel

Mike — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:01:45 +0000

Once the pieces were cut out using a cutting torch they were then welded together with a stick welder. Here are some pics of the pieces;

: brick press pieces

: with cat

Brick Press

Mike — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:18:02 +0000

Wooden model of modified CINVA ram

Once I converted the plans I built a wooden model to make sure my figures were correct and it would still function. The test was a sucess and next was to build the press in steel. In order to do that I needed to buy a cutting torch and learn how to use it and get a bigger welder (my wire feed will not weld 3/8 inch steel plate) and learn how to use it as well. I found some tanks on craigslist and bought a victor torch/gages and a miller thunderbolt arc welder from another vendor at the farmers market where I sell my work. To drill the 1″ holes through the plate and bar stock I needed to modify my drill press and I found some plans online that would slow it down enough to drill through the steel.

IFB

Mike — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:01:00 +0000

Insulating firebrick:
I need 1000 new insulating firebricks to build a new kiln and due to cost considerations I have been looking at alternatives to just purchasing the brick. I decided to make my own and in order to do that I had to decide on the best method. I chose the “damp dust” method of making bricks which requires that a slightly damp mixture of firebrick raw material be pressed into shape with quite a bit of pressure. To do that I bought plans for a CINVA ram toggle press used to make building blocks in third world countries since the early 1950′s. To do what I want I needed to reconfigure the plans (which seem to be 2 or 3 different plans mixed together) that are in metric measurements and lacking all procedural data. That was just the begining of things I needed to do in order to make my own firebrick.

Pug Mill

Mike — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 15:39:20 +0000

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. HeÂ 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 wallÂ 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 atÂ 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.