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Pluses:
-It actually does work well.
-Metal construction and appears strong.
-The wheelhead and pan are similar in size and quality to standard wheels.
-Can be used tabletop.
-Easily purchased online at Amazon or Vevor.com (.ca in Canada).
Minuses:
-Small, too light, be prepared to make leg extensions or a platform
-Not clear how to remove the wheelhead.
-Power limits how much clay can be handled (for novices, this is less of a limitation).
-The foot pedal is plastic (it could be 3D printed).
To accept this wheel's performance, it is important to understand the main reason it is so inexpensive. Typical wheels have AC motors with relatively complex electronics to control their speed (these combos are expensive). This wheel employs a stepper motor. These move in tiny, discrete steps and are perfect for things like robots and 3D printers. However, they can be force-fit to continuous motion (by the electronics delivering constant step-pulses). But pulse frequency must be gradually increased and decreased to ensure the motor does not miss any. Other issues: Stepper motors exhibit resonance at certain operating speeds (controllers need to move through these zones quickly) and torque changes in a non-linear relationship to speed (top speed is thus limited). It is easy to see that success depends on smart electronics to convert the variable voltage from the simple potentiometer in the foot pedal to a frequency of pulses the motor can handle.
URLs |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEjOnZvO3BY
Vevor Pottery Wheel footpedal sensitivity issue solved by their customer service. |
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