El Dorado of pottery clay finally found!

It has been five years since getting and testing samples of an amazing porcelain-like, clean-burning, highly plastic middle-temperature stoneware raw material from south central Saskatchewan. It is far superior to anything we have now. But, due to mix-ups, it appeared its location had been lost! But coming here to search again has turned up new information and I am quite certain this is the site. Seeing and walking it has confirmed, contrary to the information we had, that the site is highly suitable for extraction. And, it is not the only site in the area, we are going to another that might be even better. The Whitemud clays here are quite different from those in our Ravenscrag quarry. On seeing the range and quality, I am beyond excited! There are a lot of ducks that have to be lined up to be able to actually extract from a site like this, but the location has a lot of advantages. The current economic realities will be a powerful motivator to developing Canadian clay sources.

Related Pictures

Getting a consultant on Upwork

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Notice I have searched: "3d printing fusion 360". Initially, it showed many North Americans, who typically charge $30-50/hr. But I refined the search and specified India and Bangladesh. This reduces the price by half or three-quarters. Notice that the highlighted consultant, although advertising as hourly, also does 'fixed price' work. And on the other jobs, notice how happy the client was. At the prices Asian engineers charge you can afford to pay them plenty of bonuses (part of the Upwork system) to keep good relations. Their skills are exceptional, they will make you look good! This being said, Ukraine is another country with excellent talent in this area (a consultant from there is the one I chose and have not regretted it).

CAD tools vs modelling tools

Fusion 360 T-Splines made this model possible

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I have been struggling to recreate a Medalta ball pitcher using the solid modelling tools in Fusion 360. The example on the left shows the issue (it was made by revolving a cross-section sketch and doing a cutout on the top). But I need a spherical body with an oval neck, the CAD design tools don't enable that.

The answer is 3D modelling. I veered away from Fusion 360 and searched and tried some 3D modelling apps. Nothing practical. Then I hired a freelancer who claimed to be able to do it in Fusion 360. He could not. My motivation to prove to him it is possible brought the solution: Revolving a fit point spline outline, in the form modelling workspace, to create a 3D T-Spline model. The points, lines and faces can be freely moved and the lines can be creased. This works really well, and it is going to open up for me the creation of very organic shapes. It took AutoDesk engineers years to get T-Splines working, but they are magic math now.

Videos

Links

Glossary	3D Modeling 3D surface modelling tools enable the creation of objects by starting with a basic shape having polygon surfaces and then subdividing, pushing and pulling the quadrilateral or triangle polygon meshes to form shapes.
Glossary	3D Design 3D Design software is used to create dimensionally accurate objects by sketching 2D geometry and transforming it using tools to rotate, extrude, sweep, etc. The software generates the polygon surface.
Glossary	3D-Printing Standard 3D printing technology (not printing with clay itself) is very useful to potters and ceramic industry in making objects that assist and enable production.
URLs	https://www.autodesk.ca/en/products/fusion-360 Fusion 360 Parametric 3D CAD software This is incredibly powerful software that available to anyone with a moderately powerful PC or Mac. Engineer, design, and create anything in 3D. Although a challenge to learn, the abilities that this provides can revolutionize any ceramic production effort.
URLs	https://www.solidworks.com/solution/solidworks-makers SOLIDWORKS for Makers Provides full-functionality 3D CAD tools for personal use for $48 USD a year. For makers, hobbyists, and DIY enthusiasts, who generate less than $2,000 USD annually from their projects. Choose between cloud and Windows native versions.
URLs	https://www.onshape.com OnShape parametric cloud-native CAD software
URLs	https://www.shapr3d.com Shapr 3D Parametric CAD modelling software The full power of Shapr3D is on Windows PCs and tablets, Macs, and iPads using the input methods like Apple Pencil, SpaceMouse, Wacom pen tablets, or keyboard and mouse. It runs on top of the ParaSolid engine that is the power behind SolidWorks.
URLs	https://www.freecadweb.org FreeCAD parametric CAD software An open-source parametric 3D modeller. FreeCAD is maturing more slowly than commercial products but is still very capable. It is useful for 3D printing things designed in other products (e.g. Nomad for iPad).
URLs	https://astocad.com AstoCAD parametric CAD is built on top of FreeCAD The author of AstoCad told us this: "AstoCAD is built upon the robust, open-source foundation of FreeCAD, AstoCAD's core mission is to deliver a more polished, intuitive user experience. By supporting AstoCAD, you not only get an affordable, constantly improving tool, but you also fund the development that makes powerful, accessible CAD a reality for everyone."

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