[Clayart] pug mill plans

[mel jacobson via Clayart]

Now that I have your attention, let me qualify this offer a bit. I have available to any potter who values their self-sufficiency, a set of plans to build your own pug mill. It’s basically a homemade clone of the Walker-Jamar pug mill from ‘way back in the day. I found the plans years ago in “Keramos—The Teaching of Pottery” by Franz Kriwanak, a
Texas ceramic teacher who also had a successful summer pottery up in a Colorado tourist town. The design was easy to follow and the result flat out worked. (I’d toyed with the idea of building one of the Harry Davis design mills but it seemed far too large for my needs and not easy to downscale.)

Like the Walker, the clay in this pug mill is compressed against the far end of the mill and exits at 90 degrees and that compression seems to be all the de-airing the clay needs.

The heart of the mill is the auger (technically an Archimedes Screw) from the inside of what’s called a feed tube in farm country—the device that moves grain up and into trucks or silos. The author’s mill was a 3” one: I lucked on a slightly bigger one that nested perfectly inside a 4” steel pipe. A friend with a rudimentary shop taught me the basics of cutting and welding, and with a scrounged motor and gear reducer and 2 new pillow block bearings, I had a pug mill that just did the job—from about $200 parts and my free labor.

Any takers?

Dick Lumaghi
Potter Valley, CA
dlum...@cybermesa.com


website: www.melpots.com
WWW.clayartarchives.com

[ronroy--- via Clayart]

Thanks for the offer Dick,

When I had my clay mixing business back in the 70's we used walker's
for all the mixing. The later models had safety shut offs built in.
Just a bar in front that could be activated just by leaning on them.
We never had an accident but there were a few scrapers that went
around the screw.

I did have a few nightmares about them.

RR

Quoting mel jacobson via Clayart <cla...@lists.clayartforum.com>:

> Now that I have your attention, let me qualify this offer a bit. I
> have available to any potter who values their self-sufficiency, a

> set of plans to build your own pug mill. It?s basically a homemade
> clone of the Walker-Jamar pug mill from ?way back in the day. I
> found the plans years ago in ?Keramos?The Teaching of Pottery? by

> Franz Kriwanak, a
> Texas ceramic teacher who also had a successful summer pottery up in
> a Colorado tourist town. The design was easy to follow and the

> result flat out worked. (I?d toyed with the idea of building one of

> the Harry Davis design mills but it seemed far too large for my
> needs and not easy to downscale.)
>
> Like the Walker, the clay in this pug mill is compressed against the
> far end of the mill and exits at 90 degrees and that compression
> seems to be all the de-airing the clay needs.
>
> The heart of the mill is the auger (technically an Archimedes Screw)

> from the inside of what?s called a feed tube in farm country?the
> device that moves grain up and into trucks or silos. The author?s
> mill was a 3? one: I lucked on a slightly bigger one that nested
> perfectly inside a 4? steel pipe. A friend with a rudimentary shop

> taught me the basics of cutting and welding, and with a scrounged
> motor and gear reducer and 2 new pillow block bearings, I had a pug

> mill that just did the job?from about $200 parts and my free labor.

>
> Any takers?
>
> Dick Lumaghi
> Potter Valley, CA
> dlum...@cybermesa.com
>
>
> website: www.melpots.com
> WWW.clayartarchives.com
>
>

Ron Roy
ron...@ca.inter.net
Web page ronroy.net

[Dick Lumaghi via Clayart]

I don’t have pug mill nightmares but I did once attend a throwing demo by a master potter from Japan and his young assistant had only a thumb and an index finger on one hand…yup, the other ones went into the mill.

That memory has accompanied my every subsequent use of my pugmill…

D.
Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 4, 2025, at 11:50 AM, ronroy--- via Clayart <cla...@lists.clayartforum.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the offer Dick,

[Vince Pitelka via Clayart]

On the documents and handouts page of my website, there is a long article detailing my experience building the Harry Davis vacuum-deairing pugmill, which is a huge step up from the Walker. Mel will be the first to agree that the Walker is incredibly dangerous if used improperly, and it is unfortunately easy to use it improperly. During my years as a full-time studio potter in Northern California in the 70s and 80s, the Harry Davis deairing pugmill that I built wedged all my clay and blended claybodies. It would process a ton of clay per hour if I wanted it to. There are links where you can get the plans, and in combination with my article, anyone with advanced welding-fabricating skills can build the pugmill. There are images of the pugmill on the Railroad Stoneware page in the gallery on my website.
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Potter, Writer, Teacher
Chapel Hill, NC
vincep...@gmail.com
www.vincepitelka.com
https://chathamartistsguild.org/

[David Woof via Clayart]

On a related note: I have a Walker that some folks referred to as the "widow maker" because of lost fingers and if it can grab an unwary hand, that hungry screw can auger in and mangle enough body parts to make one found dead.

It has a reverse so one can mix and blend before sending the clay to "pug" in the auger tube.
And the safety shut off "Bump Bar" Ron mentioned.

Without running up to the clay mixing studio I visualize that this Walker auger and tube is at least 6 inches in diameter. It's a throaty beast that just sits there mindlessly pugging anything one asks it to pug.

I fabricated a coupling at the final bearing end of the Walker pugging tube. To this coupling I attached a 55 gallon steel drum on bearing shafts that revolve the barrel at Walker speed. This drum is used for mixing and thouroughly blending my 150 lb (or there abouts) dry clay recipes.

Then the dry clay is added to throwing scrap in the Soldner tub mixer. Or wetted in buckets and run thru the Walker for blending and pugging.
The Soldner Tub is dedicated to darker clay bodies. Walker dedicated strictly for porcelain and white bodies as desired.

I don't ask the Walker to pug clay and turn the dry mixing drum simultainesly if the dry mix barrel is not emptied before pugging.

I can text pictures. I've been at this long enough, and not hungry enough, to bother myself with maintaining a Web Site.
"Fine Clay Vessels" for table and spirit.

Misneach,

David Woof...........my card says:
Wild Coast Pottery
David Woof
"Who drempt that we might dwell among ourselves
in rain and scoured light and wind dried stones."
Seamus Heaney
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from: Clayart <clayart...@lists.clayartforum.com> on behalf of ronroy--- via Clayart <cla...@lists.clayartforum.com>
Sent: Monday, August 4, 2025 12:46 PM
To: Clayart international pottery discussion forum <cla...@lists.clayartforum.com>
Cc: ron...@ca.inter.net <ron...@ca.inter.net>

Subject: Re: [Clayart] pug mill plans

> website: www.melpots.com<http://www.melpots.com>

> WWW.clayartarchives.com
>
>



Ron Roy
ron...@ca.inter.net
Web page ronroy.net

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