Gen. info
....uses
for pasta machines (summary)
........getting acquainted... creating stock
....general care--important
Types
& brands of machines... (+ current problems with Atlas machines)
....bad
ones?
Where to buy?
Feeding Tray
Motors
Handles, clamps, scrapers, rollers
Making
sheets of clay
...thicknesses
& measuring
...very thin sheets...
+ narrow sheets
Problems
...uneven
or ragged edges & rippling (& too wide)
...sticking
...bubbles
...streaks! .....stressing
......using
clay barriers to avoid streaks, or colors
Cleaning
+ Taking Apart
...cleaning while using (alcohol, wipes, brushes, soft
clay, etc.)
...prevention
...removing parts (for cleanliness + lighter
weight)
...taking apart a
pasta machine (cleaning, repair)
Noodle attachments
No
pasta machine?--other ways ...guide rails
Misc
info. & books
PASTA
MACHINES
(the roller type)
General Info.... Uses, etc.
Having a pasta machine isn't essential...
...BUT...
having one sure does make a lot of clay things much quicker and
easier
......(actually some of those things may not be worth doing very
often if you don't have a pasta machine
......... though see below in "No
Pasta Machine" for other ways to make sheets and slabs)
SUMMARY
1..make the clay pliable and ready for use, or to "condition"
it ... (much quicker than conditioning by hand)
2..mix new colors
more easily
3..create sheets ......to be used in many ways:
.......use
alone
.......cut out shapes (with cutters, etc.)... or cut into
strips (for weaving or onlay or or mica techniques)
.......make cane
components (sheets for wrapping, stacks, etc.)
.......beautiful gradient
blends ("Skinner" and other blends)
.......marbled patterns
of color, or partially marbled
.......single, smooth sheets
from cane slices (or embed single cane slices or other clay
bits into sheets)
.........these can also be use as "fabric" for figures
.......create
textured sheets (...or texture mold sheets)
.......make
very thin sheets of translucent clay for see-through coverings
and other techniques
.......create
sheets for "covering" other items... or for making vessels,
draped bowls, etc.
.......do
technique called "mokume gane" (stacking of thin sheets, which are distorted
then shaved)
.......do
various techniques with clays which contain mica, etc. (like "ghost
impressions, "invisible canes")
(here
are a few GlassAttic pages which deal with the techniques mentioned above:)
...Conditioning
...Color
...Sheets
...Cutters
...Canes-gen
& Canes-instr.
...Blends
...Texture
...Translucent
& Transfers
...Covering
...Vessels
...Mokume
gane ...Mica
some suggestions for
just getting aquainted with your pasta machine,
...or to create
"stock" anytime you don't feel especially creative
condition some of your clays for future use
make regular
bullseye canes (also called wrapped canes) ....see this page if you want
more info: http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/canes--instructions.htm (click on
"Bullseye-Wrapped")
make Skinner blends
.....if you
then make plugs from the resulting blend sheets, they can be easily
turned back into blend sheets to be used in various ways
.....if you go ahead
and make your blends into bullseye canes (which are really jellyrolls,
aka spiral, canes --made with long, very thin strips of blend sheet), you can
later use these almost anywhere you'd use a plain log or a wrapped/bullseye log
When used, these blends make something simple look very complex, and just
generally give a lot of bang for the buck anywhere they're used!
To
extend the life of your pasta machine and to avoid problems &
repair (for those, see below):
... any time you pass clay through the rollers,
the clay slabs
should not
be much thicker than the
widest opening between the rollers (in order to avoid straining
the pasta machine.. could break off and
misalign the teeth, for
example)
... In other words, don't try to jam a
ball of clay, or even a thick slab of stiff
clay, through the rollers
.......You can also run the clay through a
thinner setting (before folding it in half and sending
it through a thicker setting); this will cause less stress on the teeth. Elizabeth.
...
If you let kids
use your machine, be especially vigilant because they are almost certain not to
be able to remember this!
(..if your clay is very soft, this may be
somewhat less important).
....I'm careful about running clay with inclusions
in it through my pasta machine - sand
in particular can scratch the rollers (so roll it
between sheets of waxed paper to prevent that).. and make sure the opening
is wide enough. Irene
It's a good idea to alternate the side of the machine you use when doing repeated passes. ...don't always use one side of the rollers or the other to condition color (can cause your rollers to wear out of alignment). Elizabeth
A
pasta machine won't be heavy enough to crank with its handle
unless it's clamped down (attaching a motor will allow it to
avoid clamping)
You'll need to have a table (or stool, etc.)
with a suface that's not too thick to accomodate the clamp in order to clamp it
successfully ...... if your tabletop is too thin, add a small block of
wood between the underside of the table and the top of the screw-in bolt
.......if
your table is too thick, you'll have to find somewhere else to clamp it,
or buy a larger clamp form the hardware store.
...my pasta machine, Dremel,
and a worklight on a pivoting arm, are all bolted to a wooden barstool
that sets next to my worktable and can easily be moved out of the
way. Lisa
When using a motor on your pasta machine, a
change in sound is normal when you feed a piece of clay through.
...however,
if you should hear the motor really
slowing down and laboring, to dissipate any excess heat that's
built up in there let it run for 10-15 seconds after the sheet is done ....then,
you can either continue to feed clay through again or turn the motor off (once
the motor is turned off, it has no way of bleeding off excess temperature other
than the slow exchange with surrounding air.)
If
you want to make a sheet which thicker than the widest
pasta machine setting (which is about 1/8"), just stack
several sheets together (be sure to roll the sheet down gradually to avoid
air bubbles.... a bit of liquid clay can be used between the layers if you feel
it necessary
.....unfortunately,
there isn't a way to seamlessly create sheets wider than
the pasta machine (6" for most pasta machines), though the sheets can be
widened after removing by stretching it, using a hand roller, etc. (adding a second
sheet underneath can keep the top sheet from thinning too much)
...sheet
length is practically unlimited.... just add more clay, or create a
narrower sheet with one of the techniques in Blends
> Width
I *knew* (I should get a pasta machine) but hesitated..."I
don't NEED it," said I, massaging my wrists. "I'm
saving money," said I, ignoring the days lost to CTS and aching hands. "I LIKE
working with tiny amounts of clay"...and so on, sez I...till I got a pasta roller
and saw the light after we started going through it in pounds. Ah, its SO much
better this way. Sarajane
TYPES & BRANDS of pasta machines
If you're in the US, due to the "Great Pasta" trend, pasta machines are quite common. Many stores that have a good array of kitchen applicances, will likely have some type of pasta machine (see below for more places to find one).
NOTE:
There are basically two "kinds" of pasta machines available
......(there's
also the roller attachment sold for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer).
...The
first is the kind which is electric, and mixes the
dough before extruding it through preset holes for the diff. shapes of
pasta (like macaroni, etc.)... this is not the type
we use!
...The second kind is usually hand cranked and looks
very different, having two long rollers to pass the clay through (it *may*
also have a set of attachment rollers for making long strands of linguini and
fettucini, though some machines may not offer these (you don't need them!). This
is the one we use, and they cost $20 - $45 bucks.
.......These usually come
with a hand crank, but a motor can be bought and substituted for
the hand crank (or I think some of them may come already that way). Motors are
wonderful!! ... but they're expensive. I would guess that most people who end
up doing very much with a pasta machine end up buying a motor, and most of us
with any physical problems definitely want to buy one. (see below for more on
motors).
.....Many of us eventually have a second pasta machine as well (some
are less expensive or sold without the extra rollers which makes them cheaper)
which we take to classes, or you can remove the motor and reinsert the
handle though that's a bit of bother. Classes have often not allowed motors in
the past, though they're being accepted more and more nowadays as long as people
don't use them while the teacher is talking ..and those with physical disabilities
certainly need to be accommodated as much as possible).
Pasta
mchines made in the Far
East
are cheaper
in price, but less sturdy than
Italian-made ones.
...however...
they'll usually work fine if you're
careful with them --especially being sure not to feed clay into the rollers
which is more than a tad thicker
than the opening which stresses the machine (see General Care
above for more details)
....these
machines are also fine for beginners or for those who aren't sure how much
clay they'll do (again as long as they're properly handled)
....they
can be purchased for around $25 in various stores and online, and the Amaco
can be purchased for around $15 from Micahels with their frequent 40%-off
coupon
Most
people who do a lot of clay especially buy one that's made in Italy
...Of those, mmany of those will buy an (Mercato) Atlas brand (not
a Villaware Altas--see below in Bad Ones), or a Pasta Queen or Imperia,
etc.. At least those are the most frequent brands we see from Italy.
Atlases
{2007--
there are currently problems with the Atlases though... please
see just below}
I'd recommend a Mercato Atlas, since I've found
other PMs that sport the
name "Atlas," but they're not of the same high quality. Desiree
The
most commonly available pasta machine and the one most clayers have
has a 5.75" roller width (150 mm) (...Mercato Atlas 150...
also others)
....The widest manual pasta machine for home use has 6.75"
rollers (180mm) ...Mercato Atlas 180
(...There is even a wider
pasta machine which has 7.8" rollers (190 mm) ...Trattorina
by Belpasta)
Desiree's photos of 150 mm Atlas, and also 180
mm, plus an unusual 110 mm (4.25") size (Mercato...
still available?)
http://www.desiredcreations.com/Misc_PCLittlePMTale.htm
( ..and for photos of Trattorina, see below)
I think you'd be able to more easily get replacement parts for Mercato Atlases, and Atlases are easier to disassemble (still true?), if ever you have to. Desiree
I
highly recommend the Atlas 180...it is the widest I have found.
Desiree
...If you do all small pieces then the more narrow machine may work
for you, but I do a lot of vases and votives where I want the widest
sheet of clay possible. Linda H.
... However, the thickest
setting on the wide Atlas is only about the same as on a medium
setting on the normal size Atlas!. Dorothy
The pasta
attachment which is sold as as option for Kitchen Aid
stand mixers is probably an Atlas (without the rest of the pasta machine --crank,
stand, etc.)
... the mixer itself functions as a motor for the
rollers, and can be set at any of the regular Kitchen Aid speeds, I thinki
....it's
made by the same Italian manufacturer as the hand-crank units, has spring-loaded
nylon scrapers (Old Salt)...and has plastic
gears inside. rob pinion (from 2 amazon.com customer reviews)
.......some
other amazon reviewers said metal shavings came out
when the machine was new, and also that there was grease ("streaks"
presumably) just when new?... so this may be the same as Atlas 180
rather than the 150
current
Atlas problems
(late summer 2006 - 2007)
There
appear to be at least two issues going on with the newer version of the Atlas
machines… the new non-metal scrapers, the new gears, and the fact that
once taken apart they many not work as well
…the new 150 has the scrapers problem
only
…the new 180 has the scraper problem and other problems
SCRAPERS
….white (rubber?-tipped) plastic scrapers have replaced the metal
scrapers
…rubber can cause drag
(rubber is okay tho’ for use with actual pasta dough
because it’s softer and also flour-covered which helps keep it from sticking)
…the new scrapers create ridges on
settings 1 and 2, and on thinner settings the clay ripples even more
……the
new scrapers may also cause small air pockets
in the clay from catching and pulling on it (caused by the rubber getting marred?)
…cleaning the
scrapers is much more difficult (especially with
stickier clays?),
so previously-used colors get onto the next clay (can’t easily get to
the scrapers because of a ridge that catches the clay)… so a lot more time needs
to be spent cleaning between colors
(There are replacement metal
scraper blades available and some machines are being sold with those already installed…
they make the situation much better, but those replacment blades also may
not be quite the same as older metal blades --see below in Fixes)
...(also
probably the pasta attachment unit which can be used on the
kitchen Aid stand mixer)
GEARS
+ SHREDDING + OTHER PROBLEMS in quality:
…new gears seem to be made of
different material or lower quality (thinner?) than before
…..they grind and
catch a lot (esp. on widest setting), and can wear out much more quickly
…rollers
become non-parallel
…fine black metal flakes sometimes fall under the gears
and get onto the sides of the clay as it passes through (worse with stiffer clays?)
TAKING APART ...if taken apart (even correctly), these newer machines may not function as well as they should or as well as older machines would when they had been taken apart (non-even openings, grinding, skipping, etc.)
fixes for Atlas problems?
One
can purchase replacement blades (metal) and put them into the newer machines,
following lessons on taking pasta machines apart if necessary (see below), but
the newer machines seem to be harder to take apart and may also have problems
afterward that older machines didn’t after being taken apart.
….also, these
replacement blades also may not be quite the same as the older metal ones
replacement
blades
Gary Valenti, Inc , 718-417-6227, www.marcatousa.com
(specify “all-metal” and give model #)
machines
with replacement blades….. or replacement blades alone:
….PolymerClayExpress is currently not selling the Atlas 180 because of
its problems, but is still carrying the Atlas 150 (which may have
replacement metal blades alread installed?) …they will carry the 180 again when
the problems are resolved
http://polymerclayexpress.com/equip.html
….Mona
Kissel and her husband are offering some fixes and machines:
..…..if you
send your machine to them, they will do a "modification" to it
which allows easy removal of blades without tools (for cleaning)
....
and will also adjust rollers to help with uneven sheets (will that
fix the gear problems though?), and remove fenders if your request
($20 + shipping both ways... 7-10 days)
.…..or buy an Atlas 180 with
replacement metal blades already installed (plus their "modification")
http://www.monakissel.com/toolspasta.html
other (reasonable) pasta machines
Italian
(no recent changes in blades?? for these other Italian machines --as with the Atlases)
I assume there
are other Italian brands floating about (that are of the same h
gh quality as an Atlas).
.... but there are others out there that only
look like those.
BEFORE PURCHASING at a store, check the machine very carefully
.
....the pasta machine should feel smooth to the
touch and be smooth in operation.
... It should feel solid and
substantial.
While in the store, take the machine out of the box. ...Crank
it. Twist it. ...Feel it.
...... If the surface has rough
areas, burrs, rust spots.....or if it feels wobbly
or loose... or it squeaks
or grinds when rolling or transitioning between
settings... "Put the machine down, step away, and no one will get hurt". ;-) Desiree
(NEW--2007) Eberhard Faber Fimo
Pasta Machine not yet available in the US?
http://craftcellar.co.uk/index.html?lmd=39142.949826
...
it may be that you've stumbled on one of the "new" pasta machines that was "coming
soon"....but don't know that for sure. The Craft Cellar site did say "New for
2007" though.
....I wasn't able to find it at the Eberhard Faber site,
or any other site besides the Craft Cellar (in the UK) for that matter
(!), although a search brought up some that looked like Amacos maybe, which were
listed as "Fimo pasta machines" (think the word Fimo was being used generically
for all polymer clay there though).
....I think it's not just a rebranded
Atlas either because the rollers are incoporated into the machine instead of being
removable. It does, however, look exactly like my oldest one which is one
of the Pasta Queens (made in Italy). If that's true and they haven't changed
the design, or if they've rebranded another machine that's similar to my old one,
I'd buy that in a heartbeat. It would be sturdy like the older Atlases, but without
their problems.
.....btw, since the rollers aren't removable, that
would add a bit of weight and size... BUT it also makes the machine better in
that it doesn't have to be clamped to a suitable edge (it's heavy
enough to stand alone, anywhere you want) ...it's also a bit more stable if using
a motor with it.
....it has 9 thicknesses, where I have 7 on my Pasta
Queen
...the opening sizes are a bit different from mine, I think (but
that could be just a later model?)... they range from 1.0mm (.04 inches)
for the thinnest setting to 3.5mm (.14 inches) for the thicknest which
is just a little thinner than the thickest on the Atlas--12.5 mm.
...sheet width is the normal width of around 6"
.. it's reasonably
cheap too for a "good" pasta machine... less than $30, but you'd have to add
shipping. DB
...one person reported it worked fine... a second one said that
one of the rollers on the first one she bought didn't revolve, but the second
machine was fine
I loved my Domus!
(Unfortunately I disassembled it before I ever found instructions for doing
so ("how hard can it be?") and could never get it back together. Now that I know
how, I can't find all its parts... It *is* possible to disassemble these.)
....The
Domus was such a workhorse! I didn't realize how ...sturdy it was until
I didn't have it any more, so I bought an Atlas, and was aghast that I bent the
scraper blades within a few weeks of having it. I was used to being able shove
chunks of clay through the rollers with ease.
.....I recently bought
another Domus on eBay, but the scraper blades are slightly rusted and I haven't
gotten around to derusting them yet. Irene NC
...mine says Excelsa Modello
Depositato... sounds like yours . . . a real workhorse. Sue
I
have had two Pasta Queens.
...the one with removable noodle
cutter rollers was fine, until I let some of the kids
in a class use it; now it works but clunks on each revolution
.
. . . the other Pasta Queen I have is a very heavy one, and the extra cutter
rollers aren't removable. (It says Made in Italy on the front plate—that’s
the important part).... It's a great pasta machine and has held up to everything
I've done with it so far
(of course, I've been careful to use sheets of clay
that are only slightly thicker than the setting I'm using though --that
is, since the kids messed up my other one!) Diane B.
I love mine! ...a Pastafast ...which isn't that popular I guess, but it's a wonderful machine. Never had a bit of trouble with it....it was my first machine (bought at Cost Plus). Jan
Imperia
... made in Italy ....great
pasta machine... sturdy
....Linens 'n Things carries Imperias (can use their
20% coupon... must sign up for mailings to get coupon?)
.....I
have an Imperia pasta machine that I've been using for about 2 years. It
works great for me. It is very sturdy, and cranks fine for me. Marlene
....The
Imperia has different widths and makes different thickness of clay
than the Atlas (doesn't have the thinnest settings?),
which could make it more difficult to use some of the instructions in books and
magazines for making a clay project . Dotty
....I had been initially impressed
by the solidness of nearly every aspect of the Imperia pasta machine. It's a heavy
and sturdy looking little beast. So, this weekend, I took apart a brand new one
to see what what was under the hood. My evaluation is based on taking apart and
comparing the components of pasta machine brands such as Pasta Queen, Atlas, Trattorina,
Imperia and a couple of no-names. I was very disappointed
with the scrapers
(those blades that keep whatever material that passes between the rollers
from wrapping around the rollers). They're little more than stiff aluminum
foil. The scrapers may be adequate for pasta dough, but IMHO they wouldn't
last under serious or over-zealous
polymer clay conditioning.
These scrapers can be easily bent (if rolling though too-thick clay) ... Desiree?
Most(?)
pasta machines come with a removable noodle cutter unit which creates
long strips of several widths (linguini, etc.). This unit is often removed to
reduce the weight and size of the pasta machine because it's seldom used (possibly
for weaving or making tiles). Some have permanent noddle cutter units built
in.
...And some pasta machines can be bought without noodle
cutters
...if you want to use a motor with
your pasta machine though, the ones without cutters may be
less stable and you might have to put a support under the motor or clamp the pasta
machine down to keep it from wobbling excessively?
... removing the
permanent rollers from a very-small Atlas with a hacksaw & Dremel
http://pcpolyzine.com/0301january/littlepm.html
and http://www.desiredcreations.com/Misc_PCLittlePMTale.htm
non-Italian
Amaco
(made in China for Amaco)
...Michaels (and other craft stores) now has a pasta machine
from Amaco which they're selling for around $25 (...using Michaels 40%
off coupon brings this to about $15)
...also available online, mail
order
...it would be fine though as long as it's handled
with care --e.g., never run through any clay that's much
thicker than the width of a particular opening
...mine works great...
and now I have a separate machine just for white and translucents.
Angela.
(when compared to an Italian-made machine:)
...the
dial for thick/thin settings are backwards from the Atlas settings. Patty
B.
...the widest setting on the Michael's machine is thinner
than the widest setting on the Atlas.
...when cranking, the handle is
harder to turn, and less smooth. Julie
...I
found it to be "clunky" when cranking (compared
to an Atlas). Patty B.
...I took mine back ...it would be ok
for just conditioning clay though
.....it also left lots of continual
horizontal lines on one side of the clay(??). Stephen C
"Ultimate
Clay Machine" ...from Makin's Clay (an
air dry clay)... Walnut Hollow is the US distributor of the Makin’s
Machine, which is manufactured by Hong-Kong based Sino Harvest Limited
....version
1 of this machine was removed from the market in 2006 for re-enginnering the
problems it was having
.....version 2 was re-introduced the next year
but may also have problems:
........the clay sticks to or scrapes
against the plastic scrapers... The friction from this plastic on plastic is causing
the surface marring at #1 setting and the rippling
at #4 and beyond.
........HOWEVER, not everyone has experienced the same issues
as I have. BUT some others have.
........I returned my machine and the company
(Walnut Hollow) sent me a technical sheet regarding use of the machine.... Makin’s
clearly states, “The Ultimate Clay Machine™ works best with
Makin’s ® Clay. Results may vary if machine is used with brands of
clay other than Makin’s Clay. Margaret Donnelly (unfortunately, Makins Clay is
an air dry clay, not a polymer clay, and is therefore
much softer than most polymer clays.)
http://polymerclayreview.com/2006/09/21/product-review-makins-clay-professional-ultimate-clay-machine
WRITTEN
PREVIOUSLY at various times:
....this new pasta machine is created
specifically for "clay" (but Makin's
clay is softer than most polymer clays)
....it has a non-stick
coating on the rollers (not the particular brand of non stick called "Teflon"
though)
....has 9 settings...and is 7" wide
....more
expensive than Michaels' Amaco pasta machine (about $50 --but good
place to use their 40% off coupon... and Joann's will match
their coupon?) ... in Michaels, there will be no "Makin's
green" color on these
machines, by their request ... also available by mail order
...the new Makin's
Clay pasta machine is very much like the Atlas 180, except
for the added coating... I have no idea yet how compatible the coating
is with the clay's plasticizers
....it works wonderfully with my motor
and comes with the standard handle and clamp, but no
cutters. Patty B.
http://www.clay-essentials.com/productpages/pastamachine.htm
Makin's guidelines and warnings re using its machine
... e.g., any particulate
inclusions besides mica powders may scratch
the non-stick rollers
...these guidelines are both for using their air-dry
clay and "other clays" on the same page, so some of them may not apply
to polymer clay
http://www.makinsclay.com/US/eng/products/UCMtechsheet.htm
MORE CONCERNS
about Makins' machine:
.... bottom line: may
want to wait till they get all problems fixed before buying one?
(written after Version 1 of machine?)
(....this machine originally
had a problem with burrs on
the metal when it was first introduced,
which left scratches, etc., on on the clay ....it was taken off the market, then
reissued with plastic scrapers)
... now
however, the plastic scrapers seem to get distorted
or out of place, causing rippling and/or
bowing of the clay sheets on the thinner settings... also
worse with the softer clays
...it
also seems to leave a fine grain
patterning on sheets of mica clay which
are put through its rollers (more than most other pasta
machines)... can roll over sheet with a brayer afterwards to remove them?
...mine
makes a much louder noise (like metal rubbing against
metal or something) than her older machine (Italian-made tho?) . Susan
What
to do?
....some clayers elect to return the machines, and some may wait
for a newer version
....some clayers report that this bowing tends to settle
down after awhile, but some extra passes or other things may have to be done (leaching
a short time, or powdering with cornstarch)
.......some people also feel that
cranking the handle slower makes less friction and works better... but some people
feel the best sheet is gotten from quickly passing the clay through (friction
may or may not be causing the problems)
...I had to take the 'fenders' off
tho -- the clay had been sticking to the fenders
and making it bunch up going into the rollers, or just plain tearing
the clay apart. I'm much happier with the machine since hubby took the fenders
off.
.... ...He took a screw out of the side where the handle (crank) is, and
took that cover off. Then he took the nuts off of the rods on either side of the
handle (holds support/braces in, which holds the whole thing together. That gave
him enough leeway to spread the sides apart just enough to pop the fenders off.
Watch out here tho, as he said one of the rollers popped out - he just
popped it back in. Squished the sides back together, put the nuts back on the
support rods and tightened them up. Put the side cover back on and put the screw
back in. Waa-laa. I'm sure you could probably just pop them off with a screwdriver,
which is what I was going to do till hubby saw me with a tool in my hand, lol.
(though this will void the ability to returj the machine because advised
against by Makin's -- no reason given)
...My old Imperia machine
seems so much sturdier and of higher quality (but it is small and doesn't have
the high settings unfortunately). Susan
The pasta bike is a little three wheeled hand gadget that lets you cut strips out of sheets of pasta... for making wide noodles, lasagne, etc. Like a quilter's cutting wheel, but has three wheels instead of one... not very sharp, and the one I got had a broken wheel, so I never did try it with clay. The wheels are hard plastic, so they'd probably get eaten by plasticizer, anyway. Elizabeth
(see below for
bad machines and wider ones)
7-8" Trattorina (pasta) machine
http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_AdvTrattMaint.htm (Desiree's photo of a Trattorina, and lessons on cleaning and lubing it; also removing noodle rollers from the Trattorina pasta machine)
The Tratt is approximately 195mm wide, as compared to Atlas's 180mm
width of their extra wide PM.
.... note that the Tratt is a unibody
PM....the flat and noodle roller pairs are permenantly built
on, which is different than the Altases where you can remove the noodle
rollers (noodle rollers usually account for about 60%-70% of the PMs weight and
are not usually used in polymer clay). Desiree
I bought my Tratt from Polymer Clay Express, but I think they are no
longer being made? Every once in a while you can find one on ebay.
Also there is a place in Canada that had a blurb a while back about carrying
them soon. http://www.italiankitchenware.com
. Valerie
The Belpasta
company is in Boston Massachusetts. This thing is huge! Check it out: http://www.belpasta-trattorina.com/pastamachine.html
( $99 at King Arthur Flour-- much more $$ now?)
-7.8" rollers
for bigger sheets
-2 clamps hold it down--this thing never moves
-best
of all, the roller "cleaners" are located so that clay that gets stuck
in them does NOT contaminate clay that comes out after it. I run color
after color through this thing, without having to clean it!
-2 sizes of noodles
(yeah, that's standard)
..Mine was also gritty
when I got it and seemed "stiff" as you state, although,
I figured out a way to put my Pasta Facile motor on it and don't know if it's
still stiff feeling or not. The motor doesn't seem to have any problem with it
and once I got rid of the gritty packing material
they shipped it in, everything has been fine. . . . The best way to get rid of
the gritty stuff is to run scrap clay through it quite a few times once
you've thoroughly cleaned it. Meredith
....As far as I can tell, the best
reason for having one is that you want to roll out wider and thicker
sheets. For anything else, I have to say that the Atlas is better. My Trattorina
is also stiff, though I figured out that the squeaky
sound was coming from the handle and a couple of drops of oil fixed that. It is
easier to dig out accumulated clay, but it also collects
a lot more accumulatd clay than an Atlas does.
I wish I could just lop off the huge noodle cutters
and save the space! Jody B.
...it's HEAVY . .
. it should be pointed out that it not only makes thicker sheets, but thinner
sheets of clay, too. I use the thinner settings for all kinds of things more
than I use the thicker settings. .. . I have heard some people say that they have
a hard time making the dial stay on the setting they want (they tape it). I have
only heard of two cases of this now. . . I am able to dial in between settings
and it stays, even. . . . Last thing is I really would suggest getting the
motor on this particular pasta machine. The only modification that
needs to be done to fit the motor onto it is to drill the casing in line with
the hole for the motor bracket, (the one that comes with the Pasta Facile motor).
If you buy the new stainless steel motor, www.appliances.com) it *doesn't* come
with a bracket and I think you really need the bracket to be able to adapt the
Trattorina for the motor. It runs very well with the motor. I can even change
settings when the motor is running and clay is being run through it to get a gradated
thickness for a wrap.... Meredith
...I got one of these for Christmas and
you will love it. Had hubby take a few of the guards off, without interupting
it's functioning properly.Threre's less you can remove on this one. It's nice
and heavy and so much better than the less expensive machines. Rolls like butter.
LOL I am sure this will become your favorite machine! deb jean
...
I plan to remove the two pairs of noodle rollers to really lighten
its weight, sand off any rust, clean and grease it good and put it back together,
making it *better* than new. Desiree
...I THOUGHT I was going to like it lots... because of the extra thick settings...
and the fact that it's wider than the atlas. But I found it way too bulky
to use comfortably.... for me anyway. I find it difficult to reach
all the way behind it to
get the clay as it rolls out. It doesn't fall *down* where you can catch it &
pull it towards you, like the atlas does.... and it's size is a drawback when
you have to reach around it. However, I hasten to say... I didn't really give
it a fair try yet. I think that it will be much better if I can get the noodle
units out of it as Desiree suggested.
...I feel the same way, Joanie! I have finally made peace
with my Brat the Tratt. It's my primary machine now. ...I have come to appreciate
the wider and thicker sheets because of the work I do but for the average
clayer, it might not be worth it. I'll have to go do a comparison, but
I don't think the #1 is twice as thick as the same setting on the Atlas.
I use the #4 setting a lot and it's just the slightest bit thicker.
I've used sheets from both machines together with no problem. Jody B.
Slab Rollers (the humongous rollers!)
slab rollers made for earth
clay come in various sizes (you can drool over these photos, but probably
can't afford one!)
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Supplies/slabrollers/slabrollers.htm
I'm going to try a do-it-yourself pc slab roller.... I've got some pvc pipe and endcaps in two sizes for diff. thickness slabs ...all I need now is a large smooth surface Pat
What about using the roller from an old wringer washing machine? I may be mis-remembering, but it seems as if those rollers were infinitely adjustable. I'm trying to remember just what my grandma's machine's rollers were made from. I think they were metal. I saw one at an estate sale recently... Talia
BAD machines??
The Dick Blick catolog also has a pasta machine for poly clay users. It's
$24.99, Al Dente, Villa Ware.
You can get a new pasta machine for $25.99 from Dick Blick catalog. 1-800-447-8192
It extrudes down to # 7 (made in China?)
This is something every polymer clay
player should know about when considering pasta machine purchases. The link you
provided http://www.jackbergsales.com/appliances/latlaspastamachine.htm
shows the box with the labels - 'Atlas' and 'VillaWare'... 170 mm. This
is not the same as the "Mercato
Atlas". I don't know why it isn't, but it isn't. I had the chance to do a
hands-on exam of a VillaWare PM and it was LOUSY, LOUSY. Very poor construction,
craftsmanship, scratched rollers, squeaky grinding feeling when cranking the handle,
jagged unfinished edges (which means you can get those tiny little cuts and scratches
on your hands and arms). If I recall, the box said Atlas and "VillaWare, but the
machine itself had the infamous label - Al Dente. [forming a cross with two fingers
to ward away evil spirits] . . . .:^O On the other hand, the Mercato Atlas
is a fine machine. I got my Mercato Atlas via appliances.com. I suspect you
can acquire that specific brand from a few vendors, but you want to ask what's
on the box. And if you happen to get any brand of PM that just doesn't seem to
be a quality product, send it back, complain and ask for a refund. Desiree
....It's an "Al Dente", has 7 settings, and mine lasted about one year - apparently
the gears stripped; the rollers slip very badly. Dawn S.
....I have to agree
with Sharon. My Al Dente is very problematic. At this point I have removed all
the guards and I am very careful with not letting the clay wrap around. Removing
the guards at least stopped the streaking and the other problems. Tara
....oh,nooooooooo!
i should have warned you guys about the al dente machines. i hadn't had mine a
month when the silver coating on the rollers began to peel off and transfer itself
onto the clay as it was passing thru.
...HOWEVER, I bought a Villa Ware
on eBay, and when I took it out of the box, it was an Atlas, only without the
Atlas name on it. *g* . . . A "Pasta Queen" is another Atlas brand. Just make
sure you're getting the roller type and not the extrusion type. Elizabeth
...Recently I checked out what was called an Altas pasta machine at a local cooking
supply store. The box said 'Atlas by VillaWare'. The brand label on
the actual pasta machine, however, said 'Al Dente'. The machine itself was
poorly made, IMHO. All the metal edges were rough and sharp, the gears
clanked and squeaked, the rollers were scratched. Perhaps this was a case of a
wolf in sheep's clothing. I trust a pasta machine that actually has the name "Atlas"
on the machine itself is a fine quality device. Desiree
You can get those little MINI PASTA MACHINES at appliances.com... they're cheaper
& fun for small skinner blends. I think they're called the Ampietta?
Joanie
...I purchased a few minis some time ago and found that they didn't
hold up too well. I dropped them (accidentally) and the plates from below popped
off. Donna
...Luckily they can be popped back on. I popped one off doing a
demo, once and it actually works better since I popped the blade back on. Given
that they're created as children's toys, they're pretty nifty, but definitely
not intended for heavy duty. I certainly wouldn't use it for conditioning. Halla
Since "Ampietta" could be translated as "little Ampia", perhaps it is the smaller version of (a regular size) Ampia (which is okay?)? Deb
(see also current problems with Atlas machines above, particularly the Atlas180)
12"
wide machine (.....orig. for cold porcelain)
(link
deactivated --now an "attack site") http://www.coldporcelaincreations.com/doughmachine.htm
from ColdPorcelainCreations... Bradenton FL, 941-727-7293 ... $70 ... 12" wide
....they say it's okay for polymer clay, though it was originally made for "cold porcelain" paste which is much softer, so probably not good for us)
....no housings to speak of...simple looking ..2 built-on clamps for table top??..hand-operated
...the rolls are made of metal, easy to adjust... can roll your paste thicker than #1 on the atlas and as thin as # 9, with the atlas... It is not heavy. Yvonne (of ColdPorcelainCreations)I have the Dough Machine from coldporcelain creations.com
...compared to an Atlas, it is almost useless for polymer clay
...If you are thinking of purchasing it to condition clay, don't bother. It's not the lack of scrapers... it's the spring-loaded width adjustment. If the clay is not dead soft/limp, it forces the rollers apart rather than the rollers forcing the clay to conform to the desired width. stargazerI got one, and so far I'm not sure I'm all that excited about it...... first, it is fairly pricey. $70 plus S/H.
.....The thickness settings are actually two knobs (one on either side of the top of the machine) and they don't have markings for thicknesses (and no easy way to mark them yourself)... you have to tighten down on both knobs to control the thickness and it's not easy to get them exactly the same (which will produce an uneven thickness of clay) ...takes some fiddling to get it straight (do-able, but just not as simple as turning a knob on the Atlas). Kat... (because there are no scrapers) the clay wants to feed out around the rollers ...that's ok so long as you're ready to catch it as it comes out the other side
...no option for motorizing it.
...no information included for replacement part options, if needed.
...setup was mostly easy, except for a white metal plate that came in the package with no explanation as to where it goes. The machine originally comes from Brazil, and the setup sheet is in another language. LOL! I figured out where the plate goes based on where there are screws on the machine, though I don't know if it's all that essential.
caneguru
Online & Mail Order
CHECK
all prices (and types) offered at the following online sites, since they seem
to change frequently!
...as of Feb. 2005, the lowest price for
an Italian-made one is about $40?
I suggest ordering
from Polymer Clay Express http://polymerclayexpress.com/equip.html
....I bought both of my machines from Polymer Clay Express, the Atlas
and the Trat. I just feel that supporting our community is important, so I try
to purchase from other clayers or businesses that support clayers. You will find
that Polymer Clay Express is VERY competitive in their pricing. Valerie
.
. .polymerclayexpress.com has pasta machines without (extra cutters
attachment?) for $30 or 40? plus shipping.. I just got one there for
Christmas.. .. dave
(NOTE: having no cutter attachment can mean that if you use the machine with a motor, it may have to be clamped down rather than standing on its ownbecause of the lack of counter-weight on the back of the pm)
lots of links to places that may have
pasta machines
http://tinyurl.com/4emoj
I
just got a brand-new Atlas 150 at Kitchen Etc. online for $29.99.
...This
is the price Donna Kato http://www.prairiecraft.com
was asking for the pasta machine without the cutting attachment.
It's the best price I found unless you want to compete on eBay. Barbara
http://prairiecraft.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PM
I finally found a pasta machine with a more than reasonable price and shipping cost at (Tammy Sims' supply site in Michigan) http://www.polymersuppliesonline.com/ , which was suggested to me by Geo and Dorothy. Emily (gone now?)
Canadian supplier (Atlas & motor)
http://www.shadesofclay.com/Articles/products/ToolsandAccessories.html
You
can order one from Kitchen Etc. http://www.kitchenetc.com/catalog/specialty/spec.htm
for $29.95...I think they charge $5 for shipping as well. It's the Atlas made
in Italy too... that's the best one.
....Kitchen Etc.
http://www.kitchenetc.com/ or http://www.kitchenetc.com/Products.cfm?sku=000177329
.This is an Atlas 150, made in Italy... I bought my pasta maker from Kitchen Etc.
It arrived in seven days, just like they said it would. gail
Italian
Home Cooking's pasta machines .....also motors
and extra handles or clamps
http://www.italianhomecooking.com/pastamakerbybrands.htm
Prizm http://www.prizmart.com sells ...flat shipping rates - $7.50 for up to $100... I bought my Atlas 180 PM from them for $35, and that's NOT a sale price (the 150 is $30). Lisa (no longer have?)
I bought mine from the King Arthur Flour Company. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/cgibin/htmlos/0383.3.0348356507 You can order their (free) catalog by calling 1-800-777-4434. Nuchi (all they have now is the Trattorina?)
http://www.calibex.com/serv/main
http://www.claros.com
http://www.appliances.com
E-Bay
online auction site: http://www.ebay.com.
. . I don't remember who it was that mentioned running searches on eBay for pasta
machines using "pasta maker" and "noodle maker", but bless you!!!!
I've had a search bookmarked for pasta machines for ages and have never been able
to win the high bid. I just got 2 Atlas pasta machines by checking the other searches…
Jean/PA
I
looked at a lot of auctions, and it seems to me that after you pay shipping, you're
not likely to get a really screaming deal, maybe just a kinda okay deal. gail
Have you tried eBay? I usually sell used pasta machines. I take them completely apart, clean them inside and out, put them back together and then sell them. ...These machines come to me extremly dirty. It's hard to believe that people won't take the time to take them apart and clean them throughly. They weight approx 9 - 10 lbs, so I do charge $15.00 for shipping.. . . You can check out my auction at eBay (to see if I have any listed at the time). . . The reserve price is $19.95 + $15.00 for postage. The machines weigh approx. 9 - 10 lbs. My eBay id is Daezhavue. Go to SEARCH, BY SELLER, type in Daezhavue, and click search. This will bring up items that I currently have up for auction. I usually check my mail on yahoo about every 5 days or so. Dee
What about Overstock.com http://www.overstock.com?
LOCAL
Always take the machine out of the
box, put the handle in and crank using a few different thickness settings
kand just make sure everything works (both rollers move, turns repeatedly,
etc.)
.... also check for any other difficulties such as grinding or
squeaking, feeling of looseness of the
parts, poor construction or craftsmanship, scratched rollers, jagged unfinished
edges, etc. (...all pasta machines have handles which will fall out
easily so that wouldn't count)
If you live in a large enough area, there may be some form of recycle store like a Salvation Army or Goodwill. Check them out for appliances. You might find a decent pasta machine for a song. Desiree (ALSO, garage sales –DB)
Just bought my Atlas
Pasta Maker in Linen & Things in San Diego for $29.95.
.....My
Bed, Bath and Beyond finally has Atlas 150's. With a 20% coupon
they are $31.99 plus $2.48 tax.
I've seen pasta machines at Lechter's, Service Merchandise, and Macy's - if you have any near to you. Other dept stores might have them. Italian groceries, too.
I got a tip from a woman who is "leader" of the local guild here where I live and she told me that Cost Plus has pasta machines all the time for around 25.00. and she told me that it is the good one.,, Katherine (see above)
I
got mine at Lechter's (kitchenware store found in a lot of shopping malls)
but I've also seen them at Butterfield's (more upscale kitchen store also
in shopping malls.)
Just got home from True Value Hardware, and what
I found was 2 different kinds of pasta machines...both only $24.99. One was a
"Pasta Queen" and the other was the good ol' ATLAS. Call around to your near by
stores...I found that not all of them had them in stock! Maggie (sale price through
Dec. 19, 1999)
FEEDING TRAY
an
upright, metal sheet which attaches to slots at top back of an Amoco pasta
machine (or Atlas 150?) (or other?
pasta machines) so that one won''t have to hold a long sheet or
strip of clay with the left hand while cranking or motoring it through
the rollers
http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/equip.html
http://www.shadesofclay.com/Articles/products/ToolsandAccessories.html
I read in a polymer book that you "should not use" a motor.... Apparently that book was wrong (!!)
When using a motor on your pasta
machine, a change in sound (slower and pitch change) is normal when
you feed a piece of clay through.
...however, if you should
hear the motor really
laboring (slowing down too much) when you're sending something
through, let it run empty for 10-15 sec after the sheet is done,
so that it can dissipate any excess heat that's built up in there.
......then, you can either continue to feed clay through again, or
you can turn the motor off (once the motor is turned off, it has no way
of bleeding off excess temperature other than the slow exchange with surrounding
air.)
...the laboring can be caused by putting too thick
a clay pad in the rollers too (which can also
mess up the gears), so only put through clay that's
just a bit thicker than the opening you've set between the rollers
(unless you're using very soft clay)
...You can also run the clay through
a thinner setting before folding it in half to send it through the
thicker setting- this will (make it thinner and) cause the machine to labor
less and build up less heat - it will also cause
less stress on the sprockets. Elizabeth
...Hmm,
my motor gets warm too but never noticed that it got hot
... never thought to turn it off to cool down either, but then I don't
generally let it run and run, since I usually turn it off after I've completed
a mini-task.
(....well, there were a couple of times when I had to condition
and mix colors of LOTS of clay for giving kids' classes. . . maybe I turned it
off occasionally then, but now I'd probably just pop an ice bag on the
sucker and keep going! . . . or maybe point a little fan at it). Diane
B.
My motor wobbles as soon as I put clay through! ...it doesn't
seem to be defective; just doesn't "fit tightly"). Barb
...You know, mine and many others' also wobble a bit... I also worried that something
was wrong at first, but turns out nothing is wrong... the thing just wobbles
normally (I never even notice the wobble anymore, after thinking
initially that it would drive me crazy!). Diane B.
....first, check and make
sure you have a tight fit on the bracket that holds the machine.
If it isn't a tight fit, take a good heavy duty pliers and squeeze that sucker
in so you have a good tight fit! (?).
..... also, I put a piece of Lucite (or
piece of wood) under the front of the pasta machine, under the bracket
so that it would be flush with the (surface the pm is sitting on) which also cuts
down on some of the movement!
....I had a similar problem. I have the noodle-cutter
attachment on the pasta machine and it balances the machine. You can
also use a clamp to hold it steady to the table. Sally
....the Pasta
Facile motor has the metal bracket that attaches onto the side of the pm &
clamps the motor into place. I'm using it with the Atlas 7" wide pasta
machine, without noodle cutters.... my clay guild has several Atlas machines
& one of them uses the Imperia motor with no problems or wobbles at all, so I
wasn't prepared for this one to do so... Barb
You should get a bracket-frame with your motor. It's a metal "arm" that attaches with a nut & bolt to the pasta machine itself, using that hole at the center bottom of the handle side..... The motor sits in the frame and you pivot the arm to hold the motor against the side. Irene NC
brands, types
There are some key differences between
motors that you should research
.......but you don't have to get your
motor right away because the motor
you buy will depend on
which pasta machine
you buy, or already have. Desiree
...You
can also buy pasta machines at various places which are already
fitted with an appropriate motor
.......there
doesn't seem to be any price break on those though.
Mercato's
PastaDrive, which has a silver housing, is
exclusively for Atlas pasta
machines (but see conversion
plate below
for extra $), ...it has only 1
speed ... and I think it's a little more powerful (??) than the
Imperia (Pasta Facile?, Pasta Ezee?). Desiree
Imperia's Pasta Facile
motor (white housing) is adaptable to most any pasta
machine, and has 2 speeds.
.... the Pasta Facile
comes with a brace which helps hold it in place on a pasta maker.
.....The
Pasta Facile seems to hold up better than the silver colored plastic one
(Pasta Drive) which is sold on some online clay companies.
.....I also like
that it has two forward gears (speeds) as well as the "pulse"
function which I don't use
.....I've had a used Pasta Facile motor
on my Atlas 180 for over 3 1/2 years, and it works beautifully.
.....it's
is available from chefscatalog.com for about $80.00 plus shipping. Patty B.
......the
Pasta Facile is made in Italy... and that 2nd speed can really zoom
!! ... a great advantage IMO! DB
...
I have used this brand of motor for a year and am very happy with it ( as is my
arm, formerly known as the Big Pain --tendonitis). The price is (was) $65 + S&H.
LynnDel
VillaWare
180 Pasta Machine Motorizer (...looks
like a Pasta Facile .... bit more expensive?)
...."powerful
and quiet".... 2 speeds ($70-90)... made in Italy...anyone
know more about this one??
..."works with
the Atlas pasta machine, and VillaWare's Imperia and Al Dente pasta machines".
Pasta
Ezee motor
....fits onto a standard pasta machine.... manufactured by AEPI
for A.I.T. and available in select gourmet specialty stores. Barbara McGuire
We
would like to introduce our new custom-made pasta machine motor.
We think it is the very best available on the market today.
...It is quiet,
powerful (1/3 hp), well made, and will give many years of good service.
It comes with a one year warranty on parts and labor and there is free email and
phone support for as long as you need it.($495)
...I am an engineer
and my wife is a polymer clay artist. When we could not find a pasta machine
motor that was good enough for Jeanne to use in her work, we set out to design
and build a motor that would do the job right. We think we have succeeded and
are now offering it to other polymer clay artists to help them in their work.
Photos and othe information are available at our new website . We would be happy
to answer any questions you might have.. Vince & Jeanne Rhea
http://www.heartofclay.com/motor/motor.htm
SUPPLIERS
I
got my motor at a local swanky kitchen supply store -- about $80
and worth every penny.
PolymerClayExpress has 2 (Altas)
pasta machines with motors (also with or without cutter attachement), &
also sells motors separately
http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/equip.html
http://tinyurl.com/8j2j8
(Google results for "Pasta Facile"... many places
to buy)
http://tinyurl.com/9anxe (Google
results for "PastaDrive"... many places to buy)
http://tinyurl.com/c484s
(Google results for "PastaEzee"... many places to buy)
(...not all places that sell pasta machines will also have pasta
machine motors)
eBay
auctions .....Before you shop, you might want to check out "completed auctions"
for *pasta motor* to get a general idea of what they have been selling
for in the past 30 days (if one is exceptionally high in price...re-read the description
to see what makes it mooooore wonderful than usual......OR if 2 inexperienced
bidders met!!! ;o)
.....Remember to have patience....there will be more
motors offered soon.
.... Lurk a bit. Read the descriptions carefully....ASK
the seller questions if in doubt. ...if it ain't in the description, ask --don't
just "assume"! (of "Bid in haste. Repent in leisure."!! IMHO) Cella in SD
.....(one seller at e-Bay) puts them up for sale about one each week).
. go to ebay and look for the seller category. ...type this seller's name:
pastamama20 .....then check under the page where it says seller's auctions.
mamadude
fit
Many (but
not all) pasta machines have 2 holes on the side which a motor
can fit into:
...the crank hole will be for the motor's shaft...
and the clamp hole will be for the bracket that holds the motor on.
LynnDel
Marcato's (Atlas) PastaDrive motor mounts
very differently from the Imperia one (and will not fit on
all pasta machines).
.....the only difference between a Marcato pasta machine
that doesn't take a Pastadrive motor and one that
does, is that side panel with the two little holes.
......it is
dependent on the pasta machine's side panel having two little holes for
the two little mounting bolts on the motor to fit into (the holes are positioned
kinda at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock)
..When
I got the Pasta Drive motor, the darn thing doesn't fit on my machine! There seem
to have to be other holes in the side of the machine to have the motor
attach to to keep it from falling off. Karen
(Or) you can buy an adapter so that you can use a
motor on a pasta machine that doesn't have those extra holes.
...I
had recently purchased the Pasta Drive motor, and found I couldn't use
it because my pasta machine frame didn't have the holes that the motor mounted
into....so I contacted Gary Valenti and they carry the conversion kit for
$6.50 total.
....(importer of Atlas Pasta Machines... sells replacement
parts --Gary Valenti, Inc. 54-36 Flushing Ave., Maspeth NY 11378, TEL.: 718-386-0896)
Gary Valenti, Inc. and Marcato both have new websites, but with only e-mail addresses
so far: http://www.garyvalenti.com
.....I
had contacted another vendor (appliances.com),
but theirs was $8 plus another $5.10 for shipping! slarussi
http://www.appliances.com/XPA19V177C.html
... You can purchase that side panel separately at applicances.com and,
remove the old panel and replace it with the one that will accept the motor
mounts. Desiree
I don't
think the "old" pasta motor fits the new wider Atlas
180, or even the newer 6", but if you order from appliancesonline.com
(gone?) by phone, you can tell them which pasta machine you have
and they will tell you which motor fits it, and vice-versa. Zig
....Howard
at the Clay Factory says that motors won't fit on the larger
7" pasta machines (Atlases?). However, someone else mentioned
that there are motors "for the newer machines". . . anyone
know about this?
....How odd that these motors aren't fitting standard machines.....I
have a Pasta Facile motor (from a kitchen supply store) that I got in 1997.
It's the kind with the white plastic housing. It fits any of the many Atlas machines
I have, including the new 180 mm wide, as well as the Domus machine
I bought on eBay. Irene NC
(For foot pedals, see Tools/Dremels/Misc)
WHY
TO TREAT YOURSELF TO A MOTOR!
(or, I'm-a-believer)
& NOISE
If my
motor ever burnt out, the first thing I would do is get on the phone and order
another.
.... I can do things with it that I couldn't do without a motor. I
can condition so much more clay then by having to hand crank. What a life saver
it is. Or I should say an arm saver. Lucille
Once
you get a motor you'll wonder how on earth you ever got by without
it
.........I got mine in 1997... it's still going strong, and I use it
a LOT. I've never heard of anyone burning out one of these motors.
.....My
shoulder and elbow no longer ache from hand cranking.
.... I can condition
*more* clay *faster.*
.... And I can make Skinner blends as long as my arm
since I have both hands free. Irene
10
Reasons Why You Should NOT Buy A Pasta Motor, by Donna Zeffren....
;-)
1) You might become spoiled, and lose your sensitivity for
those who still crank by hand...
2) You might finish conditioning your clay
so quickly that you will have extra time on your hands and have to do housework
or something unpleasant like that...
3) Your Skinner blends might be so perfect
and quick since you have both hands free that you might lose your excuse for not
making hundreds of them...
4) The noise it makes may disturb and scare off
your kids, dog, husband, inquisitive neighbors, and others who love to "visit"
your workspace when you are busy...
5) You won't be able to develop that attractive
enlarged right bicep which is so popular among Italian ravioli-makers...
6)
Your right hand may get bored, atrophy, and wither right off...
7) You might
feel left out of conversations where everyone is discussing how miserable it is
to condition FIMO...
8) You won't have anything to do with your clamp, and
might feel guilty for ignoring it...
9) You might let your hair dangle over
it while it's running, and get sucked in and be flattened like a pancake...
10) You might like it a lot, and lower your self esteem by feeling stupid that
you didn't buy one before...
.......So, by all means...DON'T BUY ONE!!
.:-D . . . A reformed crank, Donna
I
don't find it too noisy, either. I just turn up the music. :) Irene
........I use a Walkman radio --with earbuds--for long sessions
of pasta machining. . . Diane B.
........Most conclusive about how anyone can
get used to the (noise of the) machine... my cat used to bite my legs when
I first started using it. After 5 or 10 times, he stopped (even though he still
sat at my feet or right next to me at the table). He's the one who always hides
when he hears the vaccum cleaner. Randi
Another
advantage of having a motor is that you no longer have to clamp your
pasta machine to anything!
.... (I’m not sure if this is true for pasta
machines with the extra rollers removed though??).
Mine simply sits on a stool next to the work table, and it doesn’t move
around at all. ...seems so much more portable too since I don’t have
to clamp and unclamp any time I want to take it somewhere. Diane B.
If
you want to take your motor to a class or other group function
....first,
try to condition most of your clay before you go.
....Certainly
do not run it while a
teacher or demonstrator is talking!
....Ask your group how they feel about the noise... if motors haven't
caught on much in your area yet, you may need to use it in a corner or
in another room
...generally, those with physical problems who
need to use a motor are usually allowed to use one (but they should be
as considerate as possible)
...another possibility would be to have everyone
use the same pasta-machine-with-motor--especially those folks with arthritis or
other physical problems; they could stand in line (then there'd be only one going
at any one time).
HOWEVER
. . . (to quiet a pasta machine )
(this is new one Jeanne
and her DH built, or a first generation of it, or what?)
....We
used the (a?) motor which we already had and which we knew was very, very
quiet and yet very strong. It has no noise at all when just running and not hooked
up to the pasta machine. When hooked up it is like a very small fan motor--sounds
almost like a battery operated little motor--a soft purr.
.......All of the
(added?) "contraption" was as you guessed it, to slow down the turn of
the pasta rollers. Believe me, if hooked up directly, there is no way to keep
up with the clay shooting out of the machine. I counted my pasta machine roller
turns and it was about 30 + or - a few revolutions per minute. ( We had to do
that for him to do the calculations to know what size belts, etc he needed.)
The motor we were using was 1725 rpm. So without the "contraption", clay would
be flying all over the place! And I think unsafe for claywork. This is a standard
appliance motor and the kind that would not cost a fortune and the type that one
could easily run across in a garage sale. .... He has mentioned all kinds of things
about AC vs DC. (This I think I remember was in regards to using a foot pedal
for speed like a sewing machine. Slow and fast as you want it.) Gearing down,
etc....... We have wondered the same thing about a motor already being out there
that can be adapted. ...I'll keep you posted if we run across one that we can
just make a simple adjustment, it's quiet, it's inexpensive and it works! Of course,
I'll have them for sale. ;-) Jeanne Rhea
I'm guessing that the "transfer stuff"
(pretty technical, eh?) in the middle is because the motor is more powerful than
the regular pasta machine? I'm wondering if there is a motor out there that doesnt
need the conversion for the speed....that is, compatible rpms. I don't even know
what the rpms are for my own motor! Lori
To be cost effective he may
have the coupling shaft (or whatever it is called that must fit appropriately
into the pasta machine) custom made and sell that with instructions. He made the
shaft yesterday for mine and it is quite a job if not done in a machine shop.
It has to be exact or it would be no good for the pasta machine or the motor.
It will take a lot of legwork, research and experimenting to find exactly the
right motors which are currently being made, which have at least two speeds,
quiet, and then figure the specs so a person could get the materials and do
it themselves. And I'm not certain how many different shafts would have to be
made to fit all pasta machines. (I am ordering a new pasta machine just to see
what we need to work with. I want the best for claying there is so send me the
brands.)... I suggested that he try to teach a class at a retreat of some
sort so we could cover our expenses as a business expense--but I don't think he's
into that yet! Just imagine quiet pasta machines for conditioning as a retreat.
Hope I answered all of your questions. We will pursue this and see what can be
done. Jeanne Here's a picture for you to see.... We had picked up some old motors
at a garage sale ...Two of them are so quiet you can barely hear them run. Since
they have very fast rpm, DH did some math and figured out the size pulleys
and belts that he needed to make it run roughly the same revolutions
as my old motor. This one is faster, but I don't mind. It works
like a charm. I have pieces of clay that are over three feet long and smooth.
I can condition an entire pound of clay in just a couple of minutes. And it is
so quiet I watched the PBS special on Jazz in my work room and conditioned clay
for over an hour. DH didn't even know that I was using the pasta machine! Now
we will search for a good motor that has two speeds (OR MORE!) or he will
make one somehow. (It is so great to have a hubby who lived in the bush in Alaska
for several years and can adapt something for every thing. ...And he'll refine
the design so it doesn't take up so much space, and design a cover for the belts.
I hesitated with showing this to you all as it looks a little funky---but hey,
it works. http://www.glasgow-ky.com/vintage/pasta.jpg
Jeanne
If
you don't have a motor on your pasta machine, it won't be heavy enough to use
without clamping it down.
..You'll need to have a table (or stool,
etc.) with a suface that's not too thick to accomodate the clamp in order to clamp
it successfully ...... if your tabletop is too thin, add a small block
of wood between the underside of the table and the top of the screw-in bolt to
make it clamp tightly.
.......if your table is too thick, you'll have
to find somewhere else to clamp your pasta machine or buy a larger clamp form
the hardware store.
If you handle
seems to come out of its hole frequently, wrap a bit of plastic wrap or
the fingertip of a rubber glove or one of those fingertip mini-condom-looking
tyings around the end and reinsert it.
handle kept coming up until I slipt
a small, long balloon on the end and inserted back into it's slot. Works great.
Jeanette
At a recent Mike Buesseler workshop, Mike mentioned that he uses
a small strip of duct tape around the handle end. I didn't have any duct tape,
so I used a bit of masking tape, which I'm still using and it's still holding
(much to the relief of my cats). Bonnie
what about a balloon? Geo
My pasta machine is permanently attached to a small wooden board. When I use it without the motor, I use the Easy-grip type of clamps which pump on and then a little lever is pushed to quickly and easily release them. (With the motor on the machine, I don't need any type of clamp.) Dotty in CA
DON"T LOSE YOUR HANDLE (esp. if you buy a motor --and take it off) ….(if you do) you might consider taking your machine to a machine shop and have them make you one. I've done that for a couple of kitchen items, and they made the part while I waited. They weren't nice and shiny like the original, but in both cases they were an improvement on the original in functionality. Neither shop charged me nearly as much as I was willing to pay.
…if
you lose the clamp that comes with the machine . . . . (go to the hardware
store and buy a C clamp;) make sure you don't get a clamp that is too small. There
is a large-ish hole down near the base below the handle where the clamp can go.
Some people just clamp the base to the table without using the hole - that works
well, too. Meredith
..clamp to replace the one on my Atlas 150?
...... I
found my clamps at Home Depot ...they are black plastic and work
very well, much easier than the clamp that came with my machine. Look in the section
where the saws, buffing wheels, etc., are kept. Sarah
According to Appliance.com, these are the people to contact for replacement
parts for the Atlas machines. The Valenti Company, 54-36 Flushing Ave., Maspeth,
Queens N.Y. 11378, 718-386-0896. Kimba
Another online source is at http://www.happycookers.com/
...They also have a retail store near Gilroy, CA... They sell the Atlas replacement
handle for only $2.99 and the clamp ("vice") for $1.99. MLBee
I found yet another web site; a source for pasta machines, parts and accessories. Their prices aren't as good as appliances.com, however. http://www.fantes.com/marcato.htm The reason I thought it worth considering is they also sell, seperately, the clamps and handles (cranks). Desiree
I got my first atlas free at a garage sale because the handle and hold-down clamp were missing. The rollers were rusty, and a fair bit of sanding was needed to clean them up. Had to hold it with one hand and turn it one crank at a time with a screw driver in the other hand, but it "worked!" Don
Marcato does carry
just the scraper blades. Just email them and ask ...Judy
"Scrapers
and Rollers for the ATLAS 150 Pasta Machine can be purchased from
us.
The pricing would be as follows: SCRAPERS - $5.00 SET ROLLERS - $5.00
EA.
Payment can be sent with order or we accept Mastercard and Visa (name,
billing address and expiration date required). There are no additional shipping
charges.
54-36 Flushing Ave, Maspeth N.Y. 11378, 718-386-0896 http://www.MarcatoUSA.com
"
for info on scrapers, see below in "Problems"
for info on keeping clay from sticking to the rollers,
or to the stationary bars as it comes out of
the pasta machine when parts have been removed, see below in Problems >
Sticking
SHEETS of clay
making from slices, or from anything
One of the main things people like to do with a pasta machine is to create even sheets for stacking/stripes, rolling up, wrapping (see Canes), merging lots of cane slices or other squiggles/bits/etc, making drapable clothing or bowls (see Vessels/Draped Bowls), etc.. (lesson)
--To create
an even sheet of cane slices, the slices need to be laid close together
(or they can be overlapped) on a base sheet (which may show through or not depending
on whether areas aren't covered by the slices); or the slices can be laid on a
piece of paper/parchment without a backing.
--(Hint: square slices are easier
to lay together without overlapping than round ones; I sometimes sharpen the long
edges of a squared cane before slicing by pressing my thumb and forefinger down
each edge.)
--(For non-overlapping slices) the more consistent the
thickness of the slices are, the easier the rest of the job will be! You may
want to refrigerate your cane before slicing or rotate it between
slices to avoid squashing it more in one orientation than the other.
--Place canes really close to each other, straightening out/stretching any uneven
sides with your thumb and forefinger before placing.
--Now you may want to
eliminate any larger holes between slice corners by placing your finger on an
area and wiggling it around while pressing slightly --don't rub your finger
over the raw clay though or it will smear (could be sanded after baking though).
--At this point you can either run the sheet through the pasta machine, or you
can place a sheet of parchment or paper over the top of the slices and
press down any obvious bumps. Then rub your finger briskly over the entire
surface to smooth it; it won't smear because of the paper. You should be able
to feel any uneven areas through the parchment; you can also use a roller.
The sheet can be run through the pasta machine after rubbing also, if you want
(some people leave the paper, others don't, but be sure to peel back the papers
most of the way so that they won't cause drag/distortion if you don't remove them).
--Because there can be some unevenness around the sides of your rectangle
now (esp. if you used the pasta machine), you can use a fingernail or straight
edge to push them back a bit before removing the paper and using.
Anything you can put together can be flattened into this type of
sheet.
For example, You could also add other things in the spaces, mix up
your canes, add other patterns, flatten a wad of marbled colors, overlap slices
(spirals are popular here), or add squiggles, twisted square ropes (see Clay
Gun), or slices to a background sheet.
Laurie passing
a sheet of overlapped long spirals through the pasta machine after laying them
on a base scrap sheet
http://www.geocities.com/turkeymama/Clay/FIMORockPurse2000.html
Those (thin) sheets
can be used for all sorts of things. I've seen many miniatures done by some of
my guild mates that do the draped fabric thing - it seems to work very well. I
have a little tiny bear that is holding an afghan blanket that was made
from a slice of one of my canes - too cool. author?
my bear holding
a tiny quilt made from 4 cane slices (cane was thinly wrapped with lavender
before slicing, to create lattice and borders) (website
gone)
pressed-chunks sheets of clay
...chop
up some clay (mica or pearl-mixed clays will show a more 3-D crumbly
look), then run it through a pasta machine or brayer it flat . . the edges
will be very ragged, and the sheet will look stonelike
.
. Here’s what I would try. Condition your clay. If it very soft and sticky like
Premo leech it a little first. Roll it out to the thickness you want. Then chop
that sucker up all around the edges. It looks to me as if individual pieces/chunks
were pressed back together. Not sure if you should texture before or after the
chopping. Denise
...your theory about large chunks scattered onto a (base)
sheet sounds good . . . Catherine
http://www.good-night-irene.com/WallStuff.html
Just remember that the patterns are likely to be distorted to some degree. To minimize that you can send the clay through the pasta machine twice, once in each direction (especially if the amt. of flattening will be about the same), or you can try to have your sheet as close to the resulting pasta pass as possible before putting it through.
For keeping the sheets narrower than the full width of the pasta machine (e.g., for Skinner Blends), see Blends > Continuous Blends > Limiting Width
(for uneven
sheets, and/or ragged edges,
etc., see below in "Problems"
)
(for avoiding air bubbles in sheets, see below
in "Problems")
It's seldom important to
know *exactly* most of the thickness settings of a pasta machine... you really
only need 3-4 settings if trying to end up with a specific thickness.)
....the
most common numbers you'll hear referred to for pasta machines are:
1..
3.. 5.. 6or7 . . . those numbers should correspond
to something like : thick... medium... thin... very thin
Most Italian-made pasta machines are numbered with #1 being the thickest setting (going up to 7)... whereas many Far Eastern pasta machines are numbered with #7 being the thickest (going down to 1).
#
1 is the thickest setting on most pasta machines, and it results in a sheet just
a bit shy of 1/8" thick (2.8 mm).
# 7 (or the thinnest on most
pasta machines) is so thin you probably can't create it without a pasta machine.
You can probably figure out the thicknesses
in-between those two settings by creating 5 steps between them
(which sould correspond to #'s 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
...one way to do this would
be to use a deck of playing cards:
.......one card (if thin
enough) would be close to the thinnest setting
.......stack some cards
tightly together until the stack measures 1/8" thick, then tape them
together... that will be your thickest setting
...... now, create 5 stacks
that graduate in number between your thick stack and the single
card (....you probably can't get this exact, but you're only looking for an approximation
anyway)
Here are some other guidelines for thickness:
....#
5 is about the same thickness as five sheets of ordinary copier paper
....you can also use a smooth sided paint can to roll out a clay sheet .... the
seams on the ends will give you about a #4 to #6 thickness
....on
a regular pasta machine, there never seems to be much difference between a #1
and #2 thickness for some reason.
Elise Winters told
us something I think is VERY VERY important and wise...the different settings
on a pasta machine are numbered, but some pasta machines don't
have numbers at all.
.....When people write instructions for
other people, even if they use a number setting it might not correspond to
the numbers on everyone's pasta machine. Deirdre
(measure the thicknesses of your own
pasta machine):
...run clay through your thickest setting
& cut it into a little square....(repeat this process for each setting
on your pasta machine)
.....number the squares according to the setting
they were run through, and bake.
.....now! Borrow some calipers
and measure the thickness of each setting.
......write on each
piece of clay the thickness.
.....Number 1 (the thickest on some machines)
or Number 6 (the thickest on other machines) should be about 2.8 mm. . . . If
we start to discuss our clay in terms of mm instead of settings, we can all know
what each other is talking about! I think this is a great idea. Deirdre
....It
is simple enough to chart out the thicknesses any pasta machine makes... roll
a sheet at #1, then at other numbers, (bake?), and measure them
.........
if a sheet is too thin to measure, cut it in pieces and stack several together.
. .then divide by the number of sheets.
Rebecca
N's "fact sheet" for knowing how much clay will make certain
size sheets or logs
http://members.aol.com/nogybeads/page4/index.htm
making THIN Sheets
esp.
translucent-clay sheets (& avoiding sticking)
It's useful to
be able to make very thin sheets of translucent for various techniques:
...as
just a regular sheet of clay-- for example, in mokume gane or other stacks
of "colors", or for wrapping around canes, etc.
...as a transparent,
protective covering layer over transfers, or over any
other materials which need protection or sealing on clay (metallic leaf, colored
pencils, some inks, glitter, etc.)
.......when
used this way, the thin translucent sheets can also be sanded and buffed
to get a glassy effect
...as a transparent layer under
transfers to allow something behind them to show through
......for
example, Gwen's "faux enamel" technique where a
transfer is created on a very thin sheet of raw translucent & then it's flipper
over onto metal leaf, which will then show through as "background" for
the image .... Celie Fago has done some neat things that way too.
It's
not easy though to create very thin sheets of clay without
tearing or creating holes in the thin clay
though, especially in soft clays like translucents
or any that are sticky.
...Gwen feels the translucent sheet is thin enough
only if a newspaper can be read through it.
Here are some methods that clayers found helpful for making very thin sheets of clay... many of these methods proceed as usual until the thinnest settings on the pasta machine are used:
....these techniques may also be used to keep the clay from sticking
to the rollers...
.....and/or to keep stray colors
or grey streaks from getting onto clay sheets:
PAPERS:
Running
clay through the pasta machine between waxed paper
or parchment...(lessons)
1.... (Run a sheet
of clay alone through the pasta
machine, on the #1 setting.)
.... Fold a long piece of wax
or baking parchment in half.
.... Push the fold
between the rollers so that it can be grasped from below with one hand (pulling
it as you roll keeps the rollers from slipping on the paper).
....
Lay the ends of the paper over both rollers --looks
like a magazine flopped open. (this way the clay is not pressed
against the paper before it has a chance to slide or stretch.)
....
Place the sheet of clay into the paper pocket.
....
Roll the clay and paper through the machine, pulling on the paper
from below if needed. ....(if your clay extends
beyond the paper ends, you can tear it off before it goes
through and makes a mess of the machine).
....You can get your clay to run
through even the smallest settings on the pasta machine this
way.... However, you must do this progressively.
.....start
with the number one setting as above. Then, reinsert the bottom fold of the paper
and a bit of the edge of the clay into the machine, then move the setting to a
#3.
........with each pass, you'll need to
open the pieces of waxed paper and carefully... free up
the clay... then re-place it on the waxed paper before running
it through again, or the paper will get all wrinkled
..... If you want to go smaller, reinsert the paper and clay again on the #3 setting
and then change the setting to the #4 or #5 and repeat. . .
..You must also
be careful with the size & volume
of the clay sheet you start with, however (compared with size of
the waxed papers). If your sheet is too large, it will expand beyond the top edge
of the waxed paper as it is rolled down in size, and possibly stick on the rollers.....
once you have the clay to the thickness you want, very carefully peel back
the waxed paper. (author?)
2...Gwen's lesson and tips on making thin
sheet of translucent for applying a transfer to it... (she also uses an gold acrylic
wash after removing the photocopy, and then backs the transferred
translucent with metallic leaf crackled on a sheet of translucent sheet)
......remove
the wax paper that adheres to the convex side of the curve, and smooth
away wrinkles in the clay with your finger.
http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/jj/jun01jj.cfm (step 1)
...
in this lesson Gwen uses only two passes. . . she puts
(translucent) clay through the 3rd from smallest setting, then sandwiches
with two just-larger sheets of waxed paper and puts through the smallest setting
...5 min .video clip from Ancient
Images video, showing Gwen making her very thin translucent clay sheet with
waxed paper
http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/pages/vid/pc05.html
--need
to have, or install there, MacromediaFlash to view this
video clip)
.........(she
also cuts an oval stencil and uses it to cut out a clip art image before coloring
it in with colored pencils and transferring to the translucent sheet)
....This is
a great technique but you have to be careful that after you run the clay and waxed
papers together through the pasta machine that you loosen the
clay sheet from the paper if you run
it through again on a smaller
opening..... otherwise it will bunch up and
get stuck. Dotty in CA
EVEN
THINNER sheets with PAPERS:
..... If you want your layer even
thinner with this method, you could use more than one sheet of parchment
or waxed paper (or even plain paper), on either or both sides of the clay
while rolling it through....Gwen suggests adding a sheet of construction paper
on one side, which may give better tooth.
...I can't say that I'm very good
at this, but when I saw Donna Kato doing encased transfers on HGTV, she smoothed
down the forward edge of the translucent sheet (inside
the waxed papers?) with her finger so that it started through the rollers
evenly.... I wasn't being careful about that and it makes a difference. Jody
We all have this problem of the clay either rippling, tearing,
or shredding when you get to some of the thinner settings on the pasta
machine.
...the best way to avoid this is to run your clay to the setting
just before you know it will not work right
...then, sandwich
your clay inbetween two pieces of waxed paper --near the bottom of
the paper, but leave about one inch of just paper.
...run this through on
the same setting you last used, grabbing hold
of the inch of paper at the bottom to help tug it through the machine
...then
peel the clay away from both sides of the waxed paper.... and lay it loose
back between the two papers again.
...go to one
setting smaller and repeat this ...continue until you reach the
thinness you want.
(Be sure to loosen it from the paper each time you put
it through the machine... otherwise it will clump up and not work right). Dotty
...(see more on running very thin sheets of clay through the pasta
machine above in )
TEMPERATURE:
Word of advice, don't put translucents or very soft
clays through on the thinner settings if it's really warm!
....It's gonna gunk up the machine ALL THE TIME!!!
(can send through with waxed paper or parchment though).
....If I am doing
translucents I prefer a cold pasta machine (rather than a
warmed one--hot pack,etc.). . . another thing is before doing any work with translucents,
clean the scrapers well.
....What has worked pretty well
for me is letting the clay cool down between settings....
I have found that if I just set the sheet aside for even a few minutes,
especially between setting 6 & 7, I get much less weird ripples &
such.
... I use the idea (from Donna K, I think?) of keeping a gel ice
pack at your work space....I love using it when
rolling a really thin sheet of clay---starting on the thickest setting on
your pasta machine, and then cooling the clay on ice before putting it
through the thinnest setting
.......cooling also ensures that your
sheet will be nice and flat instead of "ruffled.
..Jana
...
take the thin sheet and place it in the refrigerator or freezer
for some amount of time, then run it through at the next thinner setting. Patti
...When I'm putting clay through smaller and
smaller settings on the pasta machine, I always put it in the freezer for
a few minutes first....that keeps it from stretching and distorting when
handling the very long piece you get
.......however, if it gets
too cold, it will shatter when
it's very thin ??. DottyinCA
Also
this seems to be affected by how soft a particular batch of clay
it is so I sometimes leach the clay & get a better result
.......if
it's that yucky cream cheese consistency, it's just not going to work for thin
sheets.
.......Of course, this all means that in Michigan in July, I almost
NEVER get a nice thin sheet unless I'm working in air conditioning. Lynne
...clays that are too sticky can also be leached to remove some of
the plasticizer which will make them less sticky
I
heard a great tip for getting thin sheets once... this person always kept on
hand several sheets of translucent that had been run through the pasta
machine to the smallest setting it would go without messing up, in storage
...... she says that once it sits for a day or so...
you can then take it through the smaller settings with no problems
.......the
person who gave the hint was talking about translucents in particular,
and what she does is keep a bunch of sheets of translucent already rolled out..
then she can just grab a sheet and roll it through the thinner setting when
she needs it. Joanie
...(for a possible way to enclose or store
thin sheets so they don't get "too dried out,"
see the vacuum-bag trick in Conditioning
> Marinading and also Storage)
Sculpey III's translucent clay can be rolled incredibly thin --then it can be stretched by hand even thinner! --compared to the other translucents.
I
have one solution that has helped me when trying to roll a thin sheet of clay.
I roll it as thin as I dare without distorting it and then slightly rub
it with cornstarch..,,It goes through the machine at the thinnest setting
with ease.
.....that might affect adherence to other
clay though (if you use too much?), but when using the encased photocopy
transfer onto clay to make large beads, it has worked very well
.....I've
only tried it when I've been able to pull the sheet tight to
the base and don't know how it will work when, say, rolling it onto
clay. ...Maybe it could be wiped down after rolling thin with something.
Pat
...(cornstarch, but not talcum powder, can
be easily removed with water --I would think that even if there were a little
ground down into the sheet, the uppermost part at least could be removed and would
then act as a suitable surface for adhering . . . what about trying to rub in
metallic powders later though?? Diane B.)
There was an excellent idea posted a while back about using packing foam to press the translucent down because it really works great. . . I just wrap it around the pad of my finger and press the clay down.... It seems to help by spreading the pressure over a larger area and by keeping the clay from sticking to my finger
Kathi Dustin's
press-hard technique for getting maximum transparency (on baked
clay) when applying thin translucent over a transfer,
or over other materials or clay (encasing)
....she rolls
the translucent to #6 on the pasta machine , then places it on the transfer
carefully
......like applying contact paper, gently press from the center
to the edges to move any bubbles to the
edges
......then she presses
down REALLY hard with plastic wrap over the transfer or clay
to be covered....it's necessary to WORK at it to get maximum transparency
..One
of the best ways that I have seen to encase (cover over) stuff in transparent
clay is to roll out the clay thin between wax paper and then to apply
it using plastic wrap. ....You can press it onto your bead or whatever
and spread it out, seeing the air bubbles, etc. without leaving
fingerprints on your clay. You can get it really thinned out this way...Meredith
But
why aren't folks just using clear liquid clay (instead
of translucent clay) if they wish to apply an extremely thin layer of polymer
clay on something? Desiree
... I tried
doing a transfer with liquid clayso that I would have a very thin sheet of translucent
"clay" backing the transfer. It worked perfectly! ....(this is something
you need to do when making Gwen Gibson's Faux Enamel.)... that was much easier
than trying to roll out the clay on the thinnest setting, even using wax paper.
Just this one thing alone makes getting liquid clay worth it!! Dotty
(see
also Translucents
> Thin Sheets)
NARROW sheets
Various "stops" or physical
barriers can be used to keep the clay from spreading (widthwise) as
it is passed repeatedly through the pasta machine which will keep the strip narrow.
...for example: /fingertip, end of palette knife,
paint stick + cardstock, wedge of baked clay, magnets of various kinds, and even
bars of raw clay still in the wrapper
...see
Blends > Limiting the Width for
all details on making narrow blends since those techniques are used
most often for making narrow Skinner blends
...see also a bit
below in Streaks
Or, you can stretch the clay lengthwise
after each pass, or pull on it from either end as it's passing through,
to help keep it narrow
...or fold the sheet, or cut-and-stack
the sheet, so that like colors fall on like-colors, then pass through the
pasta machine starting at one narrow end of the strip.
There
are two ways that unwanted color can end up on your rolled clay sheet
...
little crumbs of colored clay can be held under the scrapers and in the housing
of the pasta machine, which can then come out later on any clay put through it
(for more info, see Cleaning)
....you can get what we call "streaks,"
which are gray to black (for more info, see Streaks).
Before
you use your pasta machine for the first time, run light-colored
clay scrap through it until you're sure any oils, etc., which may cause discoloration
have been removed.
(don't get too overconfident about being clean though <g>--
see below under Those Dreaded Streaks...!)
Many
people like to just remove the outer housing pieces around the rollers
(or " fenders ") from their pasta machines permanently. This makes the
pasta machine easier to clean (and colored clay bits can't get stuck
there and be rolled into clay sheets); it's also lighter weight and
less bulky (see much more on doing this below)
...however, put
a note to yourself on the bottom as to date, and what brand/model
it is. Otherwise, you'll never know, because once the fenders are gone, the machine
becomes anonymous. Janey in MN
If
I am using translucents, I prefer a cold pasta machine
(rather than a warmed one)
. . . also, clean the scrapers well
to minimize the distortion,
compensate by pre-distorting your cane slice in the opposite
direction than they are going to go through the rollers. Squash your cane nearly
flat, cut the slices and apply them (as close to one another as possible) to a
flat sheet of clay, and then roll the sheet through so that the wider edge of
the cane slices is parallel to the roller
(see http://www.geocities.com/turkeymama/Clay/FIMORockPurse2000.html
for a photo of this technique)
I really dislike using the pasta machine for chopped crayons--takes forever to clean the machine. ?? Dianne C.
(.....for ways to keep sheets of clay from spreading out to the full width of the rollers when being passed through the pasta machine repeatedly, look in Blends > Size > "Limiting Width")
(
....crumbling
. . . some clay won't go through the pasta machine without breaking into pieces...it
seems kind of "dry.
.... I have noticed that it helps to set the pasta machine
to a thinner setting (I can run it through at #1 time after time
without improvement, but a couple passes at "3" fixes it.... the edges will still
crack though)
...(for more solutions and info on this problem, see Conditioning
> "Old Hard Clay" .....and Characteristics
> "Fimo")
(...for info on noise
made by the pasta machine, see above in "Why to Treat Yourself to
a Motor" above. . . .)
(...for clunking
or dings in rollers or
scraper problems, etc., see below in "Repairs".)
Uneven
Sheet Shapes
+ Ragged edges +
Rippling +
Ruffling (+
too wide)
(when doing a Skinner blend sheet especially, the clay will tend to become wider with each pass through the machine ...for techniques to keep it narrower, see Skinner Blends >Size > Limiting Width)
Is is possible
to make a sheet with nice straight sides?
...Well, if you figure
out how to do that *in one pass,* please let me know! ....LOL. I usually just
try to get my clay pad as rectangular as possible before putting it through
the pasta machine (and I especially like to over-square the 4 corners)
. If you don't have a consistent thinness throughout your whole pad beforehand,
the pasta machine will force the pad to the same thinness, and any excess will
get pressed to the sides creating a sort of ameoba.
...You can, however, get
one or two sides straight when it's really necessary... (Clean your rollers first,
then...) Put your clay through the pasta machine so that one clay edge rolls
through the opening slightly pressed up against one side; that edge should
then come out straight. . . . To get the edge on the opposite side straight,
firmly hold an object next to that opposite side of the clay sheet (like
Mike B's palette-knife handle, a baked clay shape you've made, or even a magnet),
and that will also force that side to be even. It's a bit of a hassle though and
you may not want to do it all the time. Diane B....One
thing I like to do is to fold the bottom end up toward the center and the top
edge down to the center. Then as you feed it through, slice the top fold
with your blade so you don't trap air bubbles. I find that helps maintain a good
square shape, plus it helps prevent uneven blobs of color at the top.
– Beth ( though you'll be cutting off some clay, at least it won't be mixed up
with a second color :)
One reason you get an uneven shape
of clay at the top of your clay sheet is because your rollers
are not quite even... Klew suggests turning the clay sheet around if
you're getting that and passing the sheet through in reverse. DB
... this is
practically impossible to avoid though, so just try to put the clay in with as
much volume of clay in the shape you want as you can . . . then trim
to the size you want.
If
you're running a sheet of clay through the pasta machine (numerous times especially),
the resulting sheet will most probably be uneven
or lopsided...when
you see sheets on TV, etc., they've most likely been pre-cut!
....Most pasta
machine rollers are the tiniest bit uneven, or closer together on one side
or the other. This may be inherent in a particular machine or it may be caused
by pushing too much clay through at once causing the rollers to push apart. (To
correct for the unevenness on the sides, it's easiest if you can make the clay)
the same width as the rollers (or I put a block of wood or something on
the rollers to keep it small...). . .also, with every pass through the
machine, I turn the piece around, so the edge that last went through
on the right is now feeding on the left. Carla
To "square up" a sheet,
I will sometimes fold across the width of the sheet... but then put the
fold to the side against the edge of the pasta machine. This will give
a long, narrow strip of clay....then I fold this strip in the middle,
and again with the fold against the edge, roll through the machine.. .
.This usually gives a fairly square or rectangular piece of clay instead one that
is uneven around the edges. Patty B.
....(to control (eliminate) "horns"
at the end (of Skinner Blend or any sheets)
....I
learned a trick from Marie Segal to "not distort" the piece. You must start
with the clay being the width of the pasta machine. If you get
a curved end at the top, it means your rollers are not exactly aligned (this happens
on many machines). Then you just put the curved side in first and
it should even out. The secret, according to Marie is to start with the clay the
width of the pasta machine-----
...AHA! I notice the side
near the motor starts to grow first. I think the motor exhaust
warms the clay on that side making it move faster. The motor itself may make the
pasta machine just a bit warmer on that side as well. What I do.... the minute
it starts growing on one side... I turn it, still keeping the fold side
down.. but flipping the longer side to the outside of the machine.
Also pressing the side that's NOT growing against the edge of the
machine just a bit will help it keep pace with the side that grows. You'll still
end up with some extended pieces on the end... but whatcha gonna do?.Joanie
When
using a pasta machine, the clay's curved leading
edge results from having more clay in the center of the rollers and
less toward the edges. The excess clay in the middle makes the center bulge into
that curved edge. It's a natural tendency of the process, especially when the
sheet is not as wide as the rollers. One way around it is to gently stretch
the clay in the middle so that your sheet is just a fraction
wider than the rollers. The stretch should be parallel to the rollers.
That way, as you fold and feed the clay into the rollers, the volume of clay is
less in the middle (where you have stretched it thinner) and more toward the edges.
. . . You also need to be careful to feed the edges of the clay sheet into the
machine at the same time as the center. Sometimes the rollers grab the
center of the sheet first, which contributes to that curve.
Any odd,
misshaped edge can be corrected in the same way, by stretching at the location
of the bulge, folding, and feeding through the machine again.
....Stretching
also works to keep straight side edges. (This applies to general
pasta machine technique, not just narrow Skinner blends.) After a number
of passes through the pasta machine, my sheets aren't always shaped like the neat
rectangles I started with, especially when the sheet is narrower than the rollers.
When fed fold-first, the trailing edge sometimes develops a bulge. That can be
corrected by stretching the sheet crosswise, along its full length, but only
along the line of the bulge. In other words, if the bulge is in the middle,
stretch only the middle of the sheet crosswise along the full length of the sheet.
This helps to distribute the clay evenly across the rollers, resulting in a rectangular
output again. Start by stretching only a little because you can always stretch
more with the next pass. Otherwise, the sheet will become too wide. (Judy Maddigan)
I
find that the sheets I run through have seriously ragged
(side) edges. Is this normal ?
You can always fold the sheet and
rotate 1/4 turn while conditioning--just fold the ragged edge in a little
from the straight edge. This very often happens (especially with clay that is
a little "stiff").kathy
The (random
rippling or
non-flatness of sheets on the thinnest setting) is caused by part
of the clay sticking to one roller, and the surrounding strips sticking to the
other. It has nothing to do with having bent scrapers --bent scrapers result in
seeing 'strips' of clay coming back around..... these strips are very common with
some soft translucent clays even at thicker setting).
.......the solution
is to keep the clay cool. Only make a few passes and then let the clay
cool down in the frig. Lysle
...What has worked pretty well for me is letting
the clay cool down between settings.... I have found that if I just set the sheet
aside for even a few minutes, especially between setting 6 & 7, I get much less
weird ripples & such.
...We all have this problem of the clay either rippling,
tearing, or shredding when you get to some of the thinner settings
on the pasta machine.
......to avoid these, run clay through the smallest
setting you can before getting the ripples, then put it through between two layers
of waxed paper or even regular paper.... remove from paper and lay it loose again
between papers... run through on the next thinnest setting & repeat until
as thin as you want.
when rolling a really thin sheet of clay. ...cooling your clay (on a gel pack or in the frig ...or letting it sit awhile) can also ensure that your sheet will be nice and flat, instead of "ruffled" (on edges, or in body?) . Jana
even rippling....I think I know the type of "rippling" you are talking about. Almost like minor indentation lines the width of the clay sheet, and spaced at about 1/4 inch intervals. I have had that with every pasta machine I've owned ..... It does seem that the indentations coincide with the rotation of the gears----like the gears don't roll smoothly, so it causes the indents. I know of no remedy. jana
(testing
pasta machine to see if the space between the rollers is even:)
...if
you have the chance to go to a store and see the machines before you buy,
bring a piece of paper with you that is about 5" wide and pretty
long, almost the width of the rollers! Put the paper in the pasta machine
and turn it to hte thinnest setting!!! ...Now try pulling the
paper out, see if it sticks anyplace.... if it doesn't fold it in half
and test again!. . . Keep doing it until you do get it to stick,
then see if it sticks in the right place!<G . . . When I first did this,
I put it in the machine and tried to pull it out, it stuck on one
corner of the machine and the rest was loose and wiggly, this means the
opening was not even!!! Leigh
(clay spreading, and growing too
wide)
...each time clay is passed through a pasta machine,
it will spread outwards because the space betweeen the rollers is narrower than
the clay (it will also lengthen)
... there are various ways to
avoid this widening if you want, and keep the sheet narrow
.. this problem is most relevant when making "blends," so see those
techniques in Blends
> Size & Shape > "Width"
Sticking
Suggestions for clay not
sticking inside the pasta
machine . . .. I use one sheet of waxed paper if I can't wait till the
rollers cool down. Clean just one roller. (thus the sheet will stick to the other).
Leave a tail of waxed paper extending off the end of the clay that you are going
to put in the pasta machine first. Open the machine a bit and slide the waxed
paper through the rollers. Put the setting back to #7(or extremely thin) and as
you are rolling the clay, pull gently on the waxed paper that is already through
the rollers. This should keep the paper and clay from getting rolled in the rollers.
KathyG (see thin sheets too)?
..... Help!!
my clay is sticking to my pasta machine. I've tried all the standard remedies,
leaching and chilling and still it sticks . . The rollers look very scratched
up. .. time for a new machine? Sally
I think I heard some where on
here to use talc powder. I haven't tried it yet. My clay stuck to the rollers
so bad I had my husband take the roller guards off the machine. Now the
clay still sticks but it does'nt jam up. I gently pull the clay with one
hand, turn the crank with another...Mia
Kris Richards sprays her pasta machine
with Pam cooking spray. Matilda
you might as well try wet sanding
it with automotive grit paper. That might give you a few more months with the
machine! Leigh
if the cover plates have been removed
on a pasta mchine, sheets may sometimes stick
as they come out of the rollers
(esp. long sheets)
....so slipping a tube of some kind around
the thin metal rod behind the back roller can keep the
clay moving as it's extruded:
.......I learned from the wonderful Irene
Yurkewych that the stationary bars that are left exposed if you've
removed the fenders on as pasta machine (see below for details) on
the front & back can be covered with a length of hollow PVC tube
while you have the machine
apart.
........then it's like having a second pair of
hands! ....especially when you're running a long sheet of skinner blend,
the pvc tubing will ROLL as the clay moves across it
instead of sticking to
stationary metal rod. So, instead of having to hold that tail end of the clay
off the machine... in order to keep it moving & unstretched... you can just let
it lay across the pvc roller & it'll keep moving along with no
help from you. Cool huh? Joanie
....styrene
tubes could also be used, and are lightweight, but clay will dissolve styrene
eventually
... some people like to add a piece of PVC pipe over the remaining
rods to allow the clay to rest on. However, since PVC and clay love each other
so much (and can stick together), perhaps either a brass, aluminum
or steel tube would work better although not necessarily
cheaper.
.......or maybe a coat or two of Flecto Varathane
on the PVC pipe would help prevent the sticking I have
observed. Patty B.
...I use a 3/4" lucite tube
and it works great... and better than PVC pipe.... luckily I have a plastics store
not far from me. (I sold every last tube I had at Sandy Camp!) ..... They certainly
are not necessary, I just like them. Esp. on the back rod where the clay comes
in contact. ... The front one, I found, is mostly for looks.Trina
for using paper, waxed paper, etc., on both sides of the clay to keep it from sticking to the roller (and also to be able to create very thin sheets), see above in Thin Sheets
CONDITIONING
......I
find that minimum conditioning of all clays works best for me (esp.
for translucent clays --see below)
.....as
often as possible, I like to condition it by using progressive
steps (# 1, 2-3, 4, 5...) when rolling it through pasta machine
which still stretches and warms it.
.....I just
slice clay off the block just a tiny bit thicker than the pasta machine
and run it through #1. ...then stack two pieces together and repeat until
I have the necessary size and the clay is pliable. . . .
.....
instead of folding the clay in the pasta machine, I cut or tear
the clay sheet in half, place one sheet on top of another, and roll
it through. Less chance to trap air bubbles....the
less folding you have to do, the better (...and
colors will blend faster too). Patty B
....I
do NO conditioning by hand since I don't want to
add moisture from my hands to the clay which would
expand inside the clay and cause plaquing and bubbles. Patty B.
...folding
or twisting
the clay by hand may introduce bubbles (....but if done right,
it may also wring them out, etc.?)
....OTOH,
conditioning by pasta machine
can add more air than by
hand conditioning (depending on
how it's done).
...sometimes
the pasta machine seems to make bubbling worse; so after conditioning,
try rolling the clay back into a solid lump, then squeeze and
roll it a bit, then flatten it out with a roller (acrylic rod, pvc
pipe, brayer, whatever...) ...this seems to help with stubborn bubbles . . . if
you need it in sheets, start with a mostly flattened pancake before you
put it through the for the last time. Sarajane H.
...since
I stopped wadding up scraps (or other bits
of clay) and started being more careful with them, I'm getting fewer air bubbles
(air gets trapped among the bits?).
.......... I now lay them (scraps?) carefully
on top of one another, then roll them through the pasta machine on increasingly
thinner settings until completely smooth ...then I fold the sheet into thirds,
and reverse directions rolling through on increasingly thicker settings.
Irene
....it looks like Dotty came up with the solution to nix my air bubbles....
staying on the thickest setting needed and not going thinner on
the machine was suggested (until final pass if thinner sheet desired). This is
the first time I have had things come out of the oven without the bubbles..hope
it's not a fluke. .Jacqui
Any
brand clay can have a problem with bubbles, but Kato
clay is a little more prone to bubbles if not handled right.
There
are things to do to avoid getting bubbles though. The main ones,
according to Donna Kato, are:
---when you first condition the clay:
...roll over the bar or whatever part you've cut off fairly hard
with an acrylic roller (or maybe even hit it with something) ... roll through
the pasta machine at #1, then 3, then 5... fold and
pass through 12 times .... finish on # 1 ...rest awhile before
baking ... don't skip numbers when decreasing thickness in a a pasta
machine
ALWAYS
feed folded-over clay sheets into the pasta machine rollers with the
folded edge entering first (or one of the 2 sides) ...if a sheet
is fed into pasta machine fold-last,
air can easily be trapped under the fold and may have nowhere to escape
...another
thing that may cause bubbles is my attempt to fold back in the ragged
edges of the clay to smooth the edges of the sheet, even though I still put
the folded edge through first. Karen C.
...if you've folded a long sheet in
thirds rather than in half to fit into the pasta machine, you'll have to
put one of the open sides in first
I discovered that if I brayered
the clay too hard in one spot, it would begin
to thin and then develop an air bubble nearby.
In other words,
I was stretching the clay. Finally figured that out
and stopped using my brayer and began to pat the clay
down (after making a slit for the air to escape).
......Also, I discovered
that if I rotated the item slowly under good light at an angle, I was able to
see air pockets easier. Patty B.
However, Judy Belcher recommends stretching sheets of clay in-between pasta machine passes to release any air that may be trapped inside the the sheet.
If your pasta machine scrapers have bits of clay trapped underneath them ...those can catch the clay as it goes by and give it a little pull in spots (particularly the thinner you roll it) . . . .either one can result in more likelihood of air pockets.
First,
I always look at both sides of the sheet of clay after
every pass through the machine
.... If I see bubbles in the clay, I fold
the sheet so that the most bubbles will be on the outside
of the sheet as it goes into the machine... they'll stretch and pop within
a pass or two. Eliz.
If I wipe down my pasta machine with alcohol, I then make sure the rollers are totally dry before using it . Patty B.
Another
thing that could be happening is that your clay itself is
too soft or
sticky
1. leach the clay a while
..........it's
easier to trap air in your clay if it's overly soft and floppy. The answer is
to "leach" your clay between a few sheets of clean printer paper weighted under
something substantial like a heavy book. If you check the clay after an hour
you will notice the plasticiser has stained the paper (the longer you leach, the
firmer your clay will become and less inclined to trap air). TanOz
2. cool
the clay (and the pasta machine).... before using
.......letting
your clay sit for awhile, instead of rushing
to bake it, helps bubbles get reabsorbed.
Trina
......
If I seem to have several air bubbles in a piece of clay, letting it cool and
rest for awhile sometimes leaching and sometimes not, does the trick for
me. Jeanne R.
....... when I get bubbles in soft, stretchy clay, I've noticed
that once the clay is well cooled, I can then run it through the pasta
machine at progressively thinner settings (without folding) and
get rid of those little suckers! LynnDel
moisture
can get into the clay in various ways (then cause bubbling when it expands
and turns to steam during baking)
(this causes "plaquing"
which is seen half-moons of opacity which can be seen in baked translucent
clays or any clay with translucent in it--originally or added.... see Translucents
> Plaquing for much more)
..humidity
in the air
is very important... esp. in summer
.....unfortunately
my workshop area is not air conditioned (it's
cool and extremely damp) so all the scopes we made there have bubbles (the scopes
I made in my air conditioned room do not). Valerie
..humidity
from hands... some people just have
sweatier hands than others, but everyone's hands may become unnoticeably
moister on humid days... when conditioning or handling the clay, the moisture
can then get into it
..moisture from inclusions,
encasements, or covering
....anything
that's added to the body of raw clay, or covered with clay, which
has moisture in it
.......acrylic
paints (before they dry, but not afterwards) have water in them... so if
very much acrylic paint is added to the clay
to color it, the clay may bubble (but
usually okay if use only a little paint, or if they are the thicker acyrlics
in tubes?)
........... acrylic paints
can also act as sealers for items which may contain residual moisture,
but allow to dry thoroughly before covering with clay
............ white glues
can also be used as sealers and may also act as heat buffers (also do contain
moisture till dry)
........organic materials which aren't
completely dried out
(wood, twigs, leaves/herbs, even rocks and sand) ...put in oven on low heat before
using
.......water when used as a release
(on a texture sheet, stamp, etc) ...wipe off well, or let dry
.....clay which
has been put into the freezer to firm up (wipe off well when condensation
happens)
.....lightly or completely covering or wrapping
clay or slices with plastic wrap or waxed paper, or storing in air tight
containers, may prevent any residual moisture on the clay from completely
drying out
...(again, leaving clay out overnight before baking may allow
much of this moisture to escape)
SOLUTIONS:...in
any questionable situations, or if you're getting a lot of bubbling you can't
figure out:
...... let your clay rest before baking
it (in a non-humid area) (somehow this allows the bubbles to work their way
to the surface and escape/evaporate, be "reabsorbed," or somehow
go away)
.......... may even be best also to let the clay rest a bit before
assembling separate parts (especially stacks)
.....also
keep hands dry, work in non-humid areas, wick moisture off
whenever possible, completely dry moisture out of inclusions, etc., which
often means baking them (alone)
.....sometimes applying a white glue
to the object, letting it dry completely, then adding the clay over
it can help prevent bubbles
...any time
you use the pasta machine and want a sheet thinner than # 1, don't
skip numbers as you decrease (in other words, always begin at # 1,
then run through at 3, 4, 5, or down as thin as you want --it's okay to skip #
2 because it's hardly ever any thinner than # 1 on most machines)
(see more
below in Baking & Correcting, etc.)
conditioning
translucent clays adds air pockets (something
I learned for sure from my tests ).... those air pockets then interfere with translucence
just the way rutilations break up the clarity of quartz crystal....so from now
on, I'll be "conditioning" those just enough to get it as thin as
I want it. Elizabeth
...Kathleen Dustin said it was important to
handle the translucent as little
as possible for maximum clarity (moisture and oil from your hands can cloud
it)
.........so her method is to take a fresh, out-of-the-wrapper
block of Sculpey translucent, smoosh one edge just so it will fit into
the pasta machine, runs it through at the thickest setting, and then again
at #6 (second thinnest)...she also advised me to use this fresh-rolled
sheet immediately.
....when making very thin translucent sheets, I
constantly remind myself to make certain the clay isn't sticking
to my hands (this causes
air pockets)...sometimes I rub my hands with cornstarch,
or wear gloves, during this step.....finger
buffing the surface with cornstarch or talcum powder is another
technique good for large areas...
Katherine Dewey
making sheets with guide rails (rather than in the pasta machine) may help avoid bubbles.
texturing
....seldom do I see a bubble if I've used a texture sheet ...I think
the added pressure of the sheet going
through the pasta machine may either force the air out ....or at least
hide it
.....apply the texture all over to the clay once it is in place
before baking
.....try textured fabric as well as the usual rubber stamps
and texture sheets.... I've used a rough surfaced rock, coarse sandpaper
and the green scrubbing pads from 3M. Patty B.
...using any fine-texture
on smooth clay will hide tiny bubbles ...and when the texture is small it doesn't
seem to distract from the overall design of a piece. DottyinCA
(bubbles ...especially when covering things, or making stacks or layers)
when
covering something with a clay sheet, it's important to apply it without
trapping air underneath, so roll the sheet down onto the surface
underneath gradually to avoid bubbles...Desiree
...apply
sheets of clay (from) the center of the sheet, then smooth it
outward to push the bubbles to the outer edges. zig
then
prick any you find with tiny needle then roll over to smooth. Desiree
...if
you find a bubble after you've already got everything stuck tight, use a very
sharp tissue blade to slice into the side of the bubble, then push
the air toward the cut and out... the diagonal
cut will be easy to mend with a little care.... brayer over
it with a pen or something. zig
...if
you get one that you can't push out, lift the
clay away from the votive or whatever to the edge of the bubble, smooth
it down and continue. zig
...Cover
the clay with tracing paper, and then burnish with a bone
folder before baking. It really aids in eliminating or at least reducing most
bubbles between the clay and the surface you are covering. Linda G.
When making stacks of clay (or even just two layers for a simple jellyroll cane), it's also important to roll the clay sheet gradually down onto the sheet below, it rather than just laying it on top to avoid trapping air underneath.
...as
above, it can always be a good idea to let the raw clay sit for awhile
before baking ... many bubbles seem to go away for some reason with this
precaution... and to make sur eyou aren't inadvertently trapping moisture
......(see
Covering > Bubbles & Cracking
for more on bubbles when covering with clay)
(bubbles... baking & correcting)
I
also try whenever possible, to bake pieces with the nice side down--
that way as air pockets enlarge and rise, they're enlarging and
rising toward the less-important surface ....that alone seems to eliminate any
problems with bubbles
...but, you can't always cure things (especially
dimensional ones) in that position. Elizabeth
(When I cover things)... to give bubbles a way to escape during baking, I usually poke 1-2 holes just under the surface in a couple of places on the raw clay. kleebug.
On way to keep some bubbles from happening with anything that's flat on the back, is to bake it stuck down on a smooth surface like a ceramic tile or metal sheet... if it's attached well (or if actually created from scratch on one of these surfaces), it will be held perfectly flat while baking.
moisture
in glues can bubble up and make your clay
bumpy because the vapors have nowhere to escape. Elizabeth (see more just above)
....when
using white glue on glass, wood, cardboard, etc. to prepare for
a covering of clay, it's very important to let the glue dry completely
(otherwise the water in it will make steam bubbles because
it has no way to escape)
....may
also help to let rest at least a while before baking, and bake and
cool as gradually as possible ..even tenting or enclosed baking
can moderate the temp too
...put the clay covered plate into the oven COLD,
and bring temp up to 200 degrees for 10 minutes, and then to final baking time
(to help avoid bubbling) .... keeps the plate from heating up faster than the
clay can. syndee
For
items you want to remain very flat (thin sheets
may be most susceptible to curling) and also to help
prevent air bubbles, bake your clay sheets (veneers) on a very flat
surface, and also weight them during baking and during cooling.....
Any time something touches clay while baking, it will transfer some of its texture
to the clay, so if you don't want your baked sheets to be shiny, use something
like terra cotta tiles or simply place a sheet of paper between
the (ceramic) tiles and the clay.
...
if the weight will harm the surface technique, then
wait until the pieces comes out of the oven and while it is still somewhat
hot, place heavy books on top of it until cool. Dotty
.
. . or (if the surface is embellished with onlays,
etc.), while it is still fairly hot but not so much so that you can't handle
it, fill the sink with cold water and then lay the piece down on
the bottom of the sink and hold it flat until it is cool. Dotty in CA
.....or
just use a shiny tile, then press the clay down firmly
against it for baking (....or if's it's embellished, etc., create the piece
on the tile in the first place)
......ff you want to prebake a bunch
of Kemper cutter shapes to use as inlays, etc., just press a sheet
of clay onto the tile and punch away.... then peel the excess clay
off, and bake the whole tile with the shapes on it. Works
great. Bean
(While still very hot) after baking, plunge into icy cold water. This will reduce air bubbles if they do form. . . Katherine Dewey
I re-heated the egg for about 10 minutes & then pushed the bubble down as I held it in a pot holder. Now I can't even tell where it was! Kay
To the person who posted the idea of using a metal file for smoothing out egg bubbles, THANKS! It's been a life saver! ....my files, being family antiques, were rusty so I used water anyway and had no problem. The rust washed off the eggs just fine.
or hide the bubbles.. . I had horrible air bubbles that I couldn't push down. So I cut out the bubbles and plan to add something on top (or something actually crawling out of the holes) .DeB
HOWEVER....
some bubbles formed (during curing in the incompletely mixed Premo
gold and red clay which created a copper color)
...and when I sanded
the little bubble bumps smooth, the vessel had a beautiful water-marked
look --or I suppose a muted mokume gane appearance.....Next time I
do this, I hope I get bubbles! Jody B.
According to the manufacturer, black or grey streaks on the clay are a chemical reaction between the steel rollers and the plasticizers in the clay.... Wilma sent them a bunch of different clays and Liquid Sculpey, and they took some pasta machines for testing to see which steel formulations react and which don't. Elizabeth
("streaks" are NOT the same problem as getting stray colors from other clays which were trapped in the scrapers, housing, or rollers onto sheets when putting them through a pasta machine --lots of clayers actually remove the housings permanently, and may also use barriers to avoid those... see below in "Using Barriers" and "Cleaning & Taking Apart")
The
reason I think some people have more problems with streaking than others?
....It depends on:
--the exact composition of the steel in a
particular pasta machine's rollers and scrapers (the machine manufacturer,
however, doesn't make the steel, and steel composition varies from batch
to batch at the foundry)
--the kinds of clay processed through
the machine (lots of soft and/or translucent
clay)
--how much stress/pressure the rollers and scrapers are
subjected to. . . increased stress facilitates the release of the accummulated
clay hiding inside the scrapers. . .. Desiree (...so try not to put clay through
that's more than a bit thicker than the opening of the rollers)
If
you already have a streak
on your clay sheet, don't put it through
the pasta machine again until you've cleaned
it off first.
.... I had some alcohol on a paper towel and had
just pulled a piece of white through the machine and without knowing what I was
doing, wiped over the clay with the
paper towel and 'voila' .... it wiped all the streaks away. Now
why didn't I think of that sooner? Judy
My Atlas, bought in
1970, never causes streaks and has never been cleaned. I have
new pasta machines (a 7" and a 5" Atlas), they both streak. To me that suggests
a different composition to the metal. They all look the same but something
is very different. Kay
...My new pasta machine is an Atlas 180, and
it always leaves black on everything . . . I had this problem with my old
one too, but then only on the ends and it didn't come back for a while after wiping...
Joyce
I have both an Atlas and Imperia and both leave streaks only
on certain brands
and colors of
clay! I am beginning to think that some clays have more of some chemical
or plasticizer that causes the rollers to leave streaks.
...I get no
streaks when using most brands of Cernit, but I get more streaks on really
fresh Premo.
...so far Pro-Sculpt
has been really good about not having any streaks. Jeanne R.
...And
it appears that the greater the amount of plasticizer
in the clay, the greater the reaction. .. the clay that seems to cause my pasta
machine the greatest streaking problem is plain ole soft
translucent, and it has the highest ratio of plasticizer
per weight/volume . . . Desiree
Black
or gray smears or streaks on various areas of the clay sheet: This
is the biggest complaint of all...... Many assume that these streaks are caused
by the pasta machine's lubricant. ....Most complain about being plagued
by some streaking throughout the course of using their pasta machine, no matter
how old it is. Other's don't notice it. Most say it's more noticeable when their
machine is new.
.... I learned the rollers and scrapers of apparently all
pasta machines are made of steel. Of all types of steel,
there are over 40 types of stainless steel... steel is not invincible, not inert.
Besides water, it can react to various chemicals, acids and alkalis.
And I now think it reacts to the plasticizer in the polymer clay.
And it appears that the greater the amount of plasticizer in the clay, the greater
the reaction. .. the clay that seems to cause my pasta machine the greatest streaking
problem is plain ole soft translucent and it has the highest ratio of plasticizer
per weight/volume.... My current hypothesis is when a sheet of clay is passed
between the rollers, sometimes a small amount of clay is scraped away off the
rollers and accummulates on the scrapers and it sits there, reacting. Minute traces
of plasticizer sit on the rollers, also slowly reacting with the steel. Desiree
I've taken my machine apart several times and still get streaks, not as many as when the machine was new (it's 8 yrs old now)... they still present themselves, but not as often......the effect will ease up over time, but never completely go away. Katherine D.
The
streaks happen most often after the
machine has been stressed
(by running a
too thick slab
of clay through the rollers-- remember pasta is very
soft compared to clay)... but it doesn't happen at
the moment of stress
........I find that stretching the clay sheet thinner before stepping down
to a narrower setting seems to help. Katherine Dewey
....I have found that if I step down one
increment at a time when using the pasta machine, the side streaks
do not appear
.......if I skip settings though,
and go from a 1 to a 3 or a 4, I notice more side streaks. mamadude
..I hate
to pick nits or shatter precepts, but there really isn't such a thing as 'stressed
rollers', at least WRT rolling polymer clay between them (you can stress
these hefty steel rods only by putting them through physical or chemical extremes.)....
What you may be referencing is act of stressing the scrapers,
which isn't too hard to do because they're so thin. Desiree
I have noticed that when one of my machines is left running with the motor and not a single streak was on the previous run of clay, then when new clay is put through after it just sat there running (with motor) it will have streaks toward the edge of the sheets next to roller ends. ...So if you have a roller, turn off the machine as each sheet of clay comes out (?). Jeanne R.
There can also be greasy,
oily smears along the very edge ...(these are not
the same as "streaks"):
...
Lubricants are used to keep a pasta machine's metal parts turning as smoothly
as possible. ...for whatever reason if there is too much lubrication, it can migrate
onto the roller surfaces and scrapers, then to your clay. This is the easiest
discoloration problem to correct. Hold a paper towel on the edge of the rollers
while cranking the pasta machine to absorb the excess lubricant. Then pass light
colored scrap clay through the pasta machine to see if the problem is gone. Desiree
using
"barriers"
(to prevent gray streaks, or color streaks, on
sheets)
A physical barrier can be used between the clay and
the pasta machine rollers to keep gray streaks or stray colors from inside the
pasta machine from being deposited on sheets of clay while passing through (esp.
important for lighter colors, and final sheets).
...This has most often
been a thin flexible material like waxed paper, parchment paper,
ordinary paper or cardstock, plastic sheets, and even plastic
wrap (though it's so thin and flexible that it wrinkles more easily).
Other things might work too.
Using a barrier can be helpful
when simply flattening a clay sheet with one pass though the pasta machine
(e.g., for "sheets of slices." or for mica or mokume gane sheets)
...and also with multiple passes (trying to get a very thin sheet
of clay, or when conditioning clay or mixing colors).
(since
the streaks appear mostly along the edges,) I put a block of clay
still in the plastic wrapper on it's side at either end of the
roller ...this keeps the clay from reaching the area where it picks up the black
streaks. Brenda R.
One-pass sheets are easier to
do than multiple passes because many of those materials
will wrinkle after the first pass, so the clay will
need to be removed and repositioned before each subsequent pass
through
.... the stiffer the material, the better it can work,
but stiffer materials can also add thickness to the
sandwich being put through the machine, so the clay will end up thinner.
Two sheets of material can be used (one on each side of the clay sheet), or one sheet of material can be folded in half creating two "sheets" (see above in "Thin Sheets for those methods)
....for much more on using barriers like paper, etc., see Thin Sheets above
CLEANING + PREVENTION + TAKING APART
cleaning while using
To clean the
inside of the pasta machine in preparation for the next pass through of clay,
I run scrap clay through the machine, especially
as I progress to thinner and thinner settings .Katherine
.....the best
material I found for cleaning was somewhat stale bread which works
great with sticky pasta, so I figured I'd try it on the clay. Worked... then I
wipe down with a paper towel and crank away. Marcia
....be sure to do this before passing through any light
clay especially .... or before any sheet you want to be perfect.
...or just clean periodically to help prevent
streaks
...You can usually get a few clean passes through
the machine after you've cleaned the rollers, but it only takes
a minute for the plasticizer to start reacting with the rollers and the streaks
to come back. Elizabeth
colored
bits or streaks which appear on the clay where you dont' want them
:
...crumbs of various colored clay can
be deposited on various areas of the clay sheet... sometimes the bits
are soft, sometimes they're hard.... What they are are little return gifts that
the scrapers had scraped off clay sheets as they passed by, clay that has accummulated
between the rollers and the scrapers over time. Desiree
The easiest way to correct the problem of colored chunks is to remove the scrapers and wipe away all that residue clay with a good degreaser or a thin lubricant like WD-40 or mineral oil (which is safe for the steel). Desiree
I
use baby wipes soaked in denatured alcohol to clean the rollers.
Elizabeth
....I'd strongly recommend using baby wipes that do NOT have any
glycerine in them though...glycerine is not the best
thing to use on rustable metal since it
coats like an oil, but moisturizes like
water.
......it's almost impossible to find baby wipes
that don't have glycerine
though.... (so this is what I do to remove most of the glycerin:)
......... I buy a refill package...open one end and saturate the
wipes with water ... then put the package in the bathtub with the opening
at the drain, and step on the package to smoosh all the water
out (they're nearly dry, at that point)..... then I
put them in the container and saturate them with alcohol (if there is any
glycerine left on the wipes, the alcohol will cause it to dry quickly). Elizabeth
...(for more materials & methods for
cleaning, see below in Cleaning)
the
other thing we use in our guild is Baby wipes called: Chubs baby wipes.
Only this brand works. They really help keep your machine clean. . .
... also
be sure to thread your wipies around in back of the rollers
(may be possible only at the thinner settings) --because a lot of clay
gets stuck in back where it can't be seen.
I
have a wad of light-colored scrap clay (or use SuperSculpey) that
I run thru to pick up any stray bits. I just run it thru a couple times till it’s
not picking up anymore left over colors, then it's safe for a new color. claylady
.... The easiest way to clean your food processor and pasta machine between colors
is to use plain white Sculpey. It's really sticky and will grab
all the crumbs of your previous color. It works even better once the piece gets
a little dirty and less sticky…
My
stiff bristled brush ("a glue brush"?) (like the one in a rubber cement
can) is my saviour! I use it to clean under the blades with no danger of damaging
them. I never get streaks (of course now that I said that I'll get them!) I clean
it out after every day of heavy use, so it doesn't build up enough to warrant
taking the machine apart. Dzmom
Set your machine at #7 (the thinnest setting) .... then take a fabric
softener sheet (I use a used Bounce) and thread it behind the roller from
the top to the bottom at one end of the roller..... firmly gripping both ends
of the sheet, pull it along to the other end of the roller.....It dislodges the
clay. Sometimes it will just fall out, other times you have to reach your fingers
in for it, but --on my machine at least-- it removes ALL the collected clay. Lynn
Del.
if I stick a single
sheet of paper between the front
roller and the covering (from top down)
....... and then roll
backwards...even more clay is cleaned out. Annette
....I
can get my pm pretty clean using a combination of old business cards
(they are nice and flexible-- don't use a regular thickness
credit card, it'll crack) and those faux credit cards
they send you in the mail (which are thinner and more flexible than a real
credit card)
.......then after I have gotten the big globs of clay out, I
cover the card with a wet wipe and use that, running
it across the lip of the cover plates where the gunk piles up
(I did that once and then took the pm apart, and there was barely anything left
to clean out).
...(It helps to take the pm off the table clamp so you can
turn it upside down, etc)
...Don't use
anything metal for this --you could gouge
your rollers. Melanie in DP
After
cleaning mine (with wipes) there was still some gunk left inside the rollers.
....so I used a dental floss or a strong sewing thread and
meticulously inserted it around the roller
......i don't know how i did it
but i started from the sides of the rollers where there's a tiny gap between the
roller and the wall of the pasta machine that you can insert the thread into and
underneath so much so that you can scrape off the gunk from the entire length
of the roller!... It worked!
.... The thread technique worked for me...it's
like flossing the entire roller...just be careful not to
pull the thread too much and it might break and you'll have to start
inserting (the hard part!) it again. Tanya
For
cleaning, and before each pass, I use Armor All on my pasta machine. It
cleans the rollers well, and as I always mostly use Flex (which can get quite
sticky), the Armor All keeps the clay from sticking to the rollers. Quixote
...however, ArmorAll can also prevent good things
from adhering later if it's present on the surface in sufficient
amounts ...finishes like Varathane (or glues? powders?)
I
use washrags with Vaseline Intesive Care Lotion
on them .... after wiping the top and the guards underneath, I sort of
bunch up the washrag and run it though the rollers which really cleans
up the black stuff. Adrienne
... lotions could be a problem because of the
glycerine/water in them which could stay on the rollers
and react with the steel. Desiree
Dr.
Robert K. Schlatzer, director of the Mississippi Polymer Institute & Pilot
Manufacturing Extension Center and he was as generous with his time as he was
informative. Here is his answer to the problem of (how to remove the) all clay
gunk in my pasta machine:
..."Polyvinyl chloride can be dissolved in
certain solvents which will not do anything negative
to the steel...Tetrahydrofuran
is very flammable and Carbon Tetrachloride and
Chloroform should not be used in a confined space without a good fresh
air supply. Ethyl Acetate (also flammable)
might be effective."
I take everything off my pasta machine that does not make it do what it's supposed to do ....& leave it off. . . it's then much easier to clean & you don't have parts for clay to get stuck under. deb jean (see below for instructions)
(.... see more on cleaning and prevention methods also above, under "Streaks" which are gray, not colors)
prevention?
treating
the steel ....(the rollers and/or the scraper blades)
... I ran a cloth with a type of light cleaning oil through
my pasta machine... and then I ran a dry cloth through it, pulling it
back and forth until the streak lessened ...I did this only once
...eventually the streaks went away and have never come back... Joy
I
know this sounds like a lot to do but it really works! ....you still eventually
get the black gunk again, but not as often.
... soak
a paper towel in mineral oil, run it through machine... then run
a plain paper towel through to soak up any leftover mineral oil and black
stuff.
....take another paper towel dampened with water
and Dawn liquid dish soap (natural
grease remover... this brand seems to work the best), and run it through
...
followed by another plain paper towel
Also, every so often
(and before I even see the streaks appear), I run a paper towel
through dampened with water and Dawn,
which helps even more.
I sparingly spritz a paper towel with WD-40
to wipe the rollers and scraper blades, wait a few minutes for the substance to
"sink" into the metal, then dry wipe
..... it's very important to dry
wipe, otherwise lack of friction will not allow
the clay to be grabbed when you feed the clay in between the rollers. Desiree
...http://www.wd40.com/Brands/wd40_faqs.html
...WD40 seems well suited to use on "non-food" pasta machines to remove plasticizer
residue and polymer clay from metal, since it is a degreaser and a water
displacer. Desiree
I'll have to try that. I've tried Armor All
a few times, and it doesn't do any harm, but it doesn't prevent sticking for a
long time either
when I'm using goopy clay. Elizabeth
...ArmorAll is silicone
though so can prevent things from sticking later (metallic powders, finishes,
etc.)
According to some of the literature I've found, it was common to see carbon steel knives quickly tarnish when exposed to strong acids like citrus fruits. Strictly as an experiment, if any of you are desperate and curious enough, you might try pH testing your clay to see if the pH is low (acidic or in the pH scale below 7).... If there is such a thing as acidic polymer clay, perhaps mixing in a tiny smidge of baking soda to raise the pH could neutralize the clay and reduce corrosion/tarnishing (what we call streaking). Desiree
I tried a couple of metal polishing compounds on an old Altas pasta machine (to see if they would prevent streaking). The compounds were Brasso metal polish and MAAS metal polishing cream.... (on the smooth, shiny pasta machine base, both worked fine.) However, when either substance was applied to the rollers - disaster! ... instant tarnishing! Since the MASS cream is concentrated, it created more tarnish than the Brasso. The research continues... Desiree
TAKING
APART, cleaning, LUBRICATING GEARS:
Now the good news is if you've got
a common household pasta machine like an Italian Pasta Queen or a Mercato Atlas
(AA), it's quite easy to take the machine apart to thoroughly clean
the scrapers as well as the rollers and then lubricate where
necessary - what I call a "2nd stage cleaning and lubing". (Third stage cleaning
is complete disassembly of the pasta machine . . . . When you've got the right
tools and you've done this once or twice, this entire procedure takes about 5-10
minutes!
http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLPQueenAtlasMaint.htm
http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLAdvPQueenMaint.htm
...(see more below in Taking Apart, etc.)
I think the streaks come from the lubrication (looks like molybdenum, or"moly" grease) that is used on the ends of the rollers. Some machines are probably born with more grease than others, and the streaks may be worse. They lessen after awhile, but that also means that your lubricant may be getting low. When I finally took my Atlas apart to clean it, I removed some of the grease and replaced it with vaseline. The streaks are definitely milder now. Bonnie
The guy at Marcato USA recommended white lithium grease to lubricate the gears. I just couldn't bring myself to spend 72 dollars on a quart tub of that, so I picked up a small tube of "white grease" to use on the gears. Kathy W.
I took the (new) pasta machine apart (again), and took a good look at those scrapers. I ran my fingernail down the inside edge and felt minute nicks and burrs. I sanded the edge with 600 grit wet dry sand paper and made it nice and smooth. Now, the black lines are still there, but much much fainter. They get darker towards the ends of the clay. Valerie
don't even need to clean?
I
just wanted to note that I seldom or never clean mine. After Steve Ford (City
Zen Cane) told me that he and David never (deep) clean their pasta machines
or their food processors, I decided I wouldn't either. They do have different
machines for their white clay, I believe.
.... I've had two pasta
machines in the past nine years and only cleaned one of them once. ...I do wipe
them off now and then on the underside where some clay residue tends to build
up. But mostly I just keep a piece of white clay that I run through the
machine whenever I change colors and let it pick up any stray bits of clay.
When the white is gray I get a new piece of white. So far, this scarce amount
of cleaning has not cause any problems at all.
. . . The only thing I would
warn you about is taking the whole machine apart for cleaning. A lot of people
who have done this have found that their machine doesn't work the same
afterward. Others have not had this problem. Dotty
I
took a great class from CityZenCane about 5 years ago...It is true...they said
they never clean their pasta machines, nor do they bother to run scrap
clay in between different colors. I think they may have said something about using
plain white, bulk sculpey to run through their machine if they are going
to use white or translucent. Kay
... (but do they primarily use their
pasta machine for mixing colors (and do a lot of caning), in which case it wouldn't
be as important; they never clean their food processor either --DB)
removing
parts
...to help prevent and/or aid cleaning & to lighten weight...
Removing the cover plates (fenders) of a pasta machine has many advantages and is commonly done by clayers:
1.
It makes the roller
areas much easier to keep clean!
...I take everything off
that does not make the pasta maker do what it's supposed to do, & leave it
off. . . then you don't have parts for clay to get stuck
under and therefore it's much easier to clean and stay clean. deb jean
......(see below in "Taking a pasta machine apart & cleaning" for
how to remove the fenders-covers)
2. The reason that Donna Kato removes the ("front and back cover "fenders," or housing pieces) of her pasta machine is to lighten it so that it's easier to shlep around from one place to another.
Btw,
removing the back-plate (fender?) has never given me trouble with clay falling
behind the roller. In fact there is a small roller on the back-shaft that actually
supports the clay and keeps the sheet of clay moving as it's being pulled through
the rollers.
..... My back roller collects most of the small pieces of clay
so with the guard-plate removed it's easy to reach in with a small tool and collect
all the gunk. DanaDeSigns
chopping off
the (permanent) noodle rollers of a small
Atlas
http://pcpolyzine.com/0301january/littlepm.html
(cleaning a whole pasta machine without taking it apart)
One
of our members, Jean Nicolaysen, cleans her pasta machine using rubbing alcohol
and a turkey baster!
She puts the pasta machine in a aluminum turkey roasting pan, pours in the rubbing
alcohol and uses the baster to squirt the rubbing alcohol into the hard to reach
places. I have tried this and it is surprising how much stuff comes out. .. The
force of the squirting and the rubbing alchohol eventually get the stuff out.
Give it some time to soften the clay. It usually takes two bottles of rubbing
alcohol for this procedure. (If you want to) Quick dry the pasta machine using
a blow dryer on high - just don't touch the pasta machine for awhile after that
or you'll get burned, (yes I got burned and know how hot it really gets!). You
won't believe that your pasta machine was ever used after one of these baths.
Looks brand new and acts like it, too. Meredith
....I put it upside down
in an alcohol bath ( with the setting at its narrowest- this brings the
rollers away from the blades). I use an old hospital basin and a quart and
a half of alcohol. Let it sit for 15-30 minutes and then take a turkey
baster and squirt it in all the crevices. You will be surprised at what
comes out. Swish it back and forth and squirt it again. Reserve
the last half bottle to pour through as a rinse. Take it out and dry
it off and use some sewing machine oil on the roller ends and
crank hole since the alcohol bath dissolved out the lubricant. Voila! You're
good to go. Sometimes I use a wooden skewer to clean along the edges of
the blades. You can strain and recycle the alcohol. Trina
....Using
a 1/2" wide paint brush with 2" bristles with that pan of rubbing alcohol
and baster also helps to dislodge those hidden globs under the bottom edges .
Cella in SD, who removes the chunks and reuses the alcohol many times.
.... (With my 6-7 yr.
old Pasta Queen) ...after the last really serious soaking
in alcohol, it became very squeaking and course
when cranking. All the oiling/greasing I tried didn't seem to get the oil in the
right spot. Desiree (see her "repair" below)
Many parts of
a pasta machine can be taken apart (to clean it, to remove parts, etc.), then
be put back together.
....... the putting-back-together is more difficult
though than taking one apart!
....Before
you take the thing apart, you might want to tie a string around
the rollers and blades to keep everything in order. Trina
...someone
also suggested using a digital camera to document the placements, or steps...
NOTE: Newer pasta machines may be a bit different from the lessons
below, but they're still very helpful.
If you've
got a common household pasta machine like an Italian Pasta Queen or a Mercato
Atlas, it's quite easy to take the machine apart to thoroughly
clean the scrapers as well as the rollers, and then lubricate
where necessary - what I call a "2nd stage cleaning and lubing" (third stage
cleaning is complete disassembly of the pasta machine) . . . . When you've got
the right tools and you've done this once or twice, this entire procedure takes
about 5-10 minutes! Desiree
http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLPQueenAtlasMaint.htm
And a second lesson on taking a pasta machine apart:
http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLAdvPQueenMaint.htm
Carl Krucke's lesson at sculpey.com,
with loads of photos (including removing fenders)
http://www.sculpey.com/sculpey301.htm
http://www.mhpcg.org/clayDays/claydays03/jan2003/people4.jpg
(putting back together?... note fender on table)
Polymer
Clay Central's lesson:
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/poleigh/pasta.html
Helen's lesson: -
there are four phillips head screws on the bottom - take these off.
- On
the side opposite the thickness dial there is another screw -take this off. Make
sure that you keep track of where you take off parts and screws.
- Underneath
this plate there should be a few tabs - these belong to the various guards. Take
off the inner plate from the guard tabs and you should be then able to take the
guards off and clean them and the rollers.
(Be careful not to use anything
sharp to get off the stuck on clay as this could affect your pasta machine performance.
It's been suggested that you should use a plastic or wood tool (or toothpick)
to get the scrap clay off.). Helen
Lysle's
and Irene's lesson: (Y'all are welcome to reprint and use, just please
acknowledge Lysle for his original post to the newsgroup about this, & me
for rewriting them with additions & alterations. Irene in western NC
1.
Unclamp the pasta machine from the table or bench and remove the crank handle.
Set the machine at the thickest setting (usually #1).
2. Use a Phillips head
screwdriver to remove the two screws from the foot plate on the bottom only on
the side where the handle would be inserted. Set the screws and foot plate aside.
3. Set the machine in your lap, thickness-setting knob side down. Remove the single
screw from the side with the hole for the handle and lift off the outer chrome
cover.
4. Tie a piece of elastic around the part of the machine with the rollers
to hold everything together for the next step.
5. Use a socket and handle
or an adjustable crescent wrench to remove the two nuts. Very carefully, lift
off the inner piece. Everything will sort of fall together, but the elastic should
keep stuff from falling apart.
What you’ll be looking at: two rollers, which
are stationary, two scraper blades, which are loose, two tubes around long bolts,
also loose, and two outer housing parts, also loose.
6. You can remove the
two outer housing pieces ("fenders")permanently. I like to do this because
it gives me easier access for quick cleanings. Leave the bolt tubes in place.
Remove the scraper blades. (...however,
put a note on the bottom as to date and brand/model. Janey
in MN)
7. Use alcohol or your
favorite solvent to remove all traces of clay from the scraper blades and the
rollers. You may need to scrape the clay from the scrapers if it is really dried
on there. Check the scrapers to see if they are bent (if they are, you’d have
noticed tears (and ripples?) in any sheets of clay).
8. When it’s all clean
and beautiful, insert the scrapers (and housing, if you want to leave it on) into
the appropriate slots.
9. Place the inner cover over the rollers, bolt tubes,
and scraper tabs. Align them as best as possible until you can slide the cover
completely down on the scraper blade tabs -- they'll sort of click into place.
This is a little tricky and takes some finagling. It may help to align the inner
cover over the long bolts and set the nuts on, turning them just enough (¼ turn)
to catch, and then aligning the rest.
10. Make sure everything is where it
should be, and tighten the nuts.
11. Replace the outer side and the screw
that holds it on.
12. Replace the foot plate with the screws that holds it
on.
Desiree's lesson
on taking a Belpasta Trattorina apart:
http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLAdvTrattMaint.htm
When taking the machine apart to clean it, I have found it is not necessary to remove the end with the knob that controls the settings...remove only the side plate on the crank side to disassemble your pasta machines.. It is very difficult to replace and make work correctly on some machines. Patty B.
at
our guild meeting, only two pasta machines could
be dismantled (with the tools we had with us)
.....out of the five machines we had
.........the Pasta Queen (which
one--Italian or Chinese?) had small nuts holding
on the foot plate instead of screws, and no one had the right tool to remove them....
so we didn't get far enough into it to find out if there were other differences.
.......for the other two: I forgot the allen wrench to remove the
motor bracket on mine... and no one had WD-40 to loosen very
tight screws on another.… Irene NC
...Imperia machine.... I never disassembled
mine completely, just sufficiently to remove pasta from inside... There is a screw
on the side, you can remove the side cover, then you need to remove the two nuts
(then you can move the parts that prevent the pasta to stick to the rolls). caribou
–Cindy’s woven vessels-- http://www.geocities.com/claycrazy1/boxes.html (gone)
Roll
the clay out to #4 thickness first. Thicker or thinner can be a problem. If it's
sticky, let the sheet rest overnight, though I have never had to do this. The
skinny noodles make those twisted, string-covered metallic gold baubles
a breeze (I think those were Mike Buessler's, right?).
At the thickest
setting, it wouldn't cut, but at the next thickest (#6 for me), it sucked the
clay right up and out of the other side came perfectly cut, same sized ribbons!
Deirdre
How do you get them to cut nicely? Mine leave such jagged
edges. Erum
Refrigerate the clay sheet for about 1 - 3 minutes
prior to cutting. This will reduce the inherent heat in the clay from the working
with it. Then once you take it out, let it sit for a moment. Wipe off any condensation,
then run through the cutters. Daibhi
I did a demo at Shrine Mont on my technique for making "rope" trim. I run clay through the #1 (thickest) setting of the pasta machine, apply foil to either one side of the clay sheet or both sides, and run it through the machine again--this time at the #2 setting. Then run it through the narrower "noodle" attachment. It will now look like a jumble of spaghetti. Take a strand of this "spaghetti" and twist it. This will make a "rope" which you can now use to decorate your clay creations. Twist in the opposite direction to get rope with a reverse twist--nice for decorating opposite sides of a piece or for alternating next to each other. Nuchi
I use the "noodles" to layer on stripes or to make a "woven" effect . . . or to make clay ribbons and bows.
Back in my Fimo days I used the spaghetti cutter for hair on my figurines. Ginger
~I use the noodle attachment when I am making square canes. Four flat noodles at #1 setting makes a lovely square cane with nice crisp edges. You do have to be careful to join without air bubbles, but it wasn't hard to do.
Or use the strips to add into or use with canes in other ways (inserting, stacking, wrapping, etc.)
To make "hair", to make uniform width strips and to wrap around the cornstarch peanuts. I use CFC and have had very few problem using most of the settings on the pasta machine. If the clay is too soft/sticky, I just let it rest for a little while before I run it through.
The cutter rollers are good for cutting even strips from your sheets of skinner blends... the way you stack your strips into a cane can make a neat zigzag or rippled pattern. The narrow cutter makes "hair" or "fur" or "string" - either will make "ribbons."
You can get some very interesting effects by running a blend of various metallics (not fully blended) through the linguini attachment, piling them up helter-skelter, then running them through the flattener again. It's not really mokume gane -- I don't know what you'd call it! LynnDel
I like the really skinny one for making teeny little checkerboards or copying cross-stitch patterns. and the bigger one can make quickie checkerboards too...if you stack the strips four high it makes a pretty accurate square!
I did see a interesting tool yesterday a 18" long board with a small board screwed on at both ends and thin wires stretched taut. It looked like a beading loom. The lady lay a sheet of pasta dough on (top of) it and pressed (the sheet of dough) through from the top use a rolling pin voila! instant spaghetti ! it took seconds… It had more wires of course maybe hundreds? I'm guessing stainless steal? reminded me of a potato or boiled egg slicer, but this should give you the general idea. It looked real easy to clean verses the pasta shredder from my pasta machine. Faun
…when
Patty, the basketmaker noticed my pasta machine, she commented that she uses one,
too, to cut paper and thin reed into strips for weaving.
She uses only **the fettucini attachment** for this, and doesn't use the front
sheet roller part at all, except to hold the attachment. So we swapped -- I gave
her my extra attachments and she gave me her completely virgin pasta machine.
Irene NC
I
even read somewhere that you can run baked sheets of clay through the cutters
too. Ginger
Freshly
flattened soft new Premo will gum up the linguini attachment, but
if I wait a little while until the #4 sheet is cool before making my little
strips, I won't get the gumming up. I've never used liquids to clean it, though
it sounds like it would work. I have an old piece of stiffer scrap clay
that I always keep in its flattened state, and it does a good job of pushing gummed-up
clay through the linguini and noodle attachment. LynnDel
I found out today
that Premo is too soft. Like Miki suggested, cornstarch the Premo first
or leach it. Ginger
In
SaraJane Helm's new book, she mentions using the linguini cutter. Apparently she
first bakes thin sheets of clay, then cuts it in the cutter! Valerie
...my then-10 YO son decided to make a ...pumpkin patch complete with Snoopy and
Linus! I had a punch in the scrapbook supply box that made maple leaves approx
1 inch across. I rolled the green clay real thin, then punched out the leaves.
They draped over the pumpkins beautifully. I'll get a picture taken and post when
it is available in my Photopoint album (website gone).
Denise
How about
making a "ravioli" and then making an "I" cut in one to open up like a
little cabinet? Then you could put all sorts of stuff inside. You could bake the
ravioli with removable filling so it would have a lot of room "inside"? Kelly
. . . *blink, blink* Ow, the ideas are falling on my head so hard and fast it
hurts! Ravioli pendants? Ravioli lockets? Ravioli dollhouses for tiny Poly dolls?
...ooo, now that would be a REAL Poly pocket. Ravioli birdhouses? Necklace modules?
Cut a hole in the "back", stuff with polyfil, bake and connect several to make
a puffy necklace. *marveling* What a lot of nifty things you can make from poly-ravioli!
-- Ann
(see Cleaning for chopping off the noodle rollers, if desired)
(see Trattorina category above for Desiree's demo on removing the noodle attachments from a Trattorina)
No
pasta machine?
OTHER WAYS of making
sheets, slabs, and blends
(& measuring thicknesses)
You
certainly don't HAVE to buy a pasta machine to make flat sheets
. .
. . Tory Hughes went many years without using anything but a straight-sided
drinking glass (...or substitute a smooth glass jar, or a cylindrical
glass vase, etc.) to make sheets, and did all her conditioning by hand.
conditioning and making sheets/slabs (for use alone, or for
special techniques like stripes and mokume gane) are the two most frequent uses
of the pasta machine beside mixing colors, mixing in inclusions,
and making continuous blends of colors.
...If you end up liking polymer
clay though, I'm pretty sure you'll *want* to have a pasta machine sooner rather
than later because so much will be easier and/or faster!
classes
or kids especially:
...for making a quick-and-irty flat sheet without
a pasta machine, use a smooth-sided paint can
......
the projecting seams at the ends will give you about a #4 to #6 pm thickness
(will give one thickness
only though).
... some canned foods might work too (....see
rolling pin with rubber rings below also)
I'm going to try something
for a larger slab of rolled clay-- a do-it-yourself pc slab roller.
....
I've got some pvc pipe and endcaps for them. All I need now is a
large smooth surface
.... Oh, and I have two sizes of endcaps, so I
can adjust if I need a thicker slab. Pat
Start flattening your clay with your hands. Then use waxed paper to roll the clay out ....lay down one sheet of waxed paper, a flattened ball of clay (try to get it flattened to near the desired (but not less than) thickness, place it on the waxed paper. Cover with another sheet. starting in the middle and roll away from the middle. (could use only one piece of waxed paper over the clay if you wanted to stick the rolled out clay down to a tile, etc., to hold it steady for transfers, etc.)
To make rectangles of flat clay (for making spiral canes, etc.), use your roller diagonally after flattening somewhat, to square up the corners as much as possible and not waste clay.
It
is possible to do a Skinner blend without a pasta machine, but it's
a bit tedious and time-consuming, and not as precise (though still pretty neat)
......for all info on making them (plus
other blend techniques, and all you can do withboth types of blends), see
Blends > Skinner blends > "Without
a Pasta Machine"
...a
graduated cane that's similar in effect to a Skinner blend can
be made by using the "discrete" blend technique ...see Blends
> "Discrete"
for those
spacers (guide rails)
Use 2
items of the same height on either side of your
clay
...then when you roll (or press) something hard on
top of the clay and the 2 "guide rails" at the same time,
you'll get a consistently thick sheet of clay
. . . you can make
very thick sheets (slabs) by using taller rails
.
. . you can make sheets which are wider than a pasta machine
will allow. Didilaros
. . . making sheets this way may results in fewer
air bubbles in a thick slab than when building one up from pasta-machined
layers!
(for creating the thicknesses used by a pasta machine, see below in " Thicknesses & Measuring")
photo
of Sunni making and using her style of paper rails + a jar
as a roller http://sunnisan.com/crafts/jellyroll2.html
...photo of Michelle Ross rolling clay with acrylic
tube roller over 8-playing card thickness (guiderails)
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_occasions_december/article/0,1789,HGTV_3270_2392071,00.html
Rails must be close enough together to allow the roller to reach both rails
You can temporarily
taped down your two strips onto your work surface
....or create
a permanent surface they're bonded to ...a tile, for instance... maybe
different widths or heights on diff. tiles.
....or you can try
leaving them loose.
If the height of the sides of the (not yet taped down) rails are different (e.g., 1/4" tall by 1/2" wide), you would then have two possibilities for sheet thickness
Sunni's
lesson on accordion-folding sheets of paper for rails, then
wrapping completely in clear, wide packing tape
http://sunnisan.com/crafts/jellyroll.html
(be sure and go to "Page 2" also )
...or
try pages from 2 books or magazines . . . or stacks of paper
(or two pads of paper)
Make
some wood pieces using a saw (or find some), with one side being the dimension
desired (balsa wood would prob. be too soft)
....long
ones could be 18" long, by 1/8" by 1/2", for example
...I
have also used boards that are every size from 1/16 " to 1/4
"of an inch to control the thickness of the clay. Bob
Use playing cards ...lots of possible height variations here (might have to wrap with plastic wrap, etc., to keep from sliding apart though... or permanent stacks could be made with tape, with on deck yielding several thicknessness ... playing cards aren't long enough for big sheets though)
Make several like-sized strips
from dense cardboard (not corragated) & make two duplicate stacks...fasten
at the ends w/ rubberbands or tape.
If you want to get some really 'hard' guide rails get rectangular brass tubing.. . . .if you get rectangular instead of square tubing, you will get two different sized rails.
I've been using square acrlic rods; I use them lots more than I thought I would... an acrylic sheet would work too.
Some other possibilities: jewel cases or CD's ...knitting needles (Didilarose), or just about anything!
You could also make your own rails with polymer clay . . . be sure to bake well so they'll be really strong
Before I got a pasta machine, I used a marble
rolling pin ... my wife found some rubber rings that fit over
the ends
.......we got different thicknesses of the rings
so I was able to choose how thick I wanted the clay to be. Bob
...Kato (acrylic)
Clay Roller (8" or 12" acrylic rod) also comes with three pairs
of rubber gaskets (O-rings?) that will enable you to roll sheets of three
thicknesses when slipped on
http://www.prairiecraft.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=P&Category_Code=KT1
...
(you can get the acrylic rods alone in craft stores, or cheaper at plastic suppliers....
I'll bet you could get O rings in hardware or automotive stores.) Lia
can
also use this technique also to make various size logs of clay,
but in this case a large and flat tile (rather than a round rod),
etc, is moved back and forth over a long blob of clay between two rails
....the
guide rails will need to be placed far enough apart to accommodate
the length of log you want to end up with
....the flat
tile/etc. will be rectangular or square... the width of the
tile should be at least as wide as the guiderails... and the height of
the tile should be
at least 3-4 times the diameter of the guide rails
....I
use knitting needles on each side of the clay snake (on a work surface)...(needles
without caps)... the snake willl end up the same
diameter as the needles
...(or use other small round,
square, or rectangular rods or tubes-- like brass
rods, wood skewers, or even small straws... or use any two
wood strips or books or other items which are flat and of the
same height ---see similar
way to make clay
sheets in
Pasta Machines > No Pasta Machine?)
....so
turn something flat like a ceramic tile upside down on top of
your needles, so you'll be rolling over both clay and needles
with it. Didilarose
.......(for skewers or straws, probably need to keep the
clay away from the needles to avoid sticking, or
add a bit of cornstarch or other release?)
..to make larger snakes,
you might be able to use something else as your guides such as brass
tubes (if you get rectangular instead of square tubing, you'll get
two different sizes), acrlic rods, pieces of wood,
jewel cases from CD's... or taped-together playing cards,
stacks of paper etc! . . . thought
the rolling might be a bit harder than with round items
Sunni's lesson
on accordion-folded and taped paper http://sunnisan.com/crafts/jellyroll.html
If you travel by airplane... take your motor ON the plane w/ you... you can explain what it is, but the airlines (after they agreed to replace mine) said anything with this kind of electrical stuff does not do well with all the throwing & banging around they do w/ luggage. Patsy
(When you are sandwiching several layers of clay just to make it thicker, and you won't be cutting into it later as for mokume gane, etc), I think I would using a small amount of liquid clay between the layers and then let the piece sit for several hours or more. . . .The reason for waiting for a while after sandwiching and using the liquid clay is because the liquid clay will then leach into the various layers and make for a stronger bond. (This advice was given to me by Marie Segal of The Clay Factory. Marie is the "mother" of Premo clay.) Dotty
Did you know, you can take the (Cerebral Palsy) rubber sheet of stamps, trimmed to fit, and roll it thru the pasta roller along with a sheet of clay? Very cool...)
...... see texture sheets and more things to use as texture sheets in Textures
Jeanne
R's "scenes" made by onlaying various colors of
soft clay she finds under her pasta machine on a clay sheet (often overlapped,
for sunsets, etc.) http://www.pcpolyzine.com/0303march/0303scrap.html
http://www.heartofclay.com/page7.htm
Glycerine could work to soften clay. But then you don't want glycerine (glycerin) or clay with glycerine in it anywhere near your pasta machine. . . . Think of glycerine as thick water. It is full of water and it coats like grease. If you wanna rust your pasta machine, glycerine is a great way to go! Desiree
BOOKS, etc.
...various
polymer clay books, videos, etc., have info on using pasta machines in
various ways, as well as online lessons, and other pages at this site
...
however, Maureen's Carlson's short book is focused on various pasta machine
techniques
Clay Techniques with a Pasta Machine (stripes, mokume gane...marbling...
Skinner blends and canes, other canes such as spirals, checkerboard, nine-patch
...and Watercolor mixing) .
http://www.polkadotcreations.com/books/detail_do3381.html
...http://tinyurl.com/2e4txb
(see above for more on taking a pasta machine apart)
Roller
or scraper problems ... rough or bent
Surely
you aren't suggested sanding the rollers? Maybe the scrapers?
. . .Well, think about it for a second, what's the sandpaper originally created
for? - sanding the surface of exterior car metal before it's painted. And I have
sanded the rollers of my Trattorina. They look like finely brushed aluminum and
feel very smooth. ...because the pasta
machine's rollers are chromed steel, I suspect it would best to stay in the high
end of the grit range - 1000, 1500, 2000.
.
. . I would caution that this should be tried *only* if the smooth rollers
are gouged or
really scratched. So likely, a new pasta machine would
not need this treatment (unless you got an Al Dente), but some old thing that
had been beat up and in need of some serious restoration. That's what I used on
a thrift shop pasta machine I rescued. Desiree
.....Carl K. shows
the scrapers when he takes apart a pasta machine http://www.sculpey.com/sculpey301.htm
.....The
scraper blades on my big expensive tratorina have been giving me a really
hard time. It's my own fault because I tried too hard to clean out some old clay
and bent them.
Out of desperation, I tried using a metalworker's burnisher to press them
back down - and it worked! Not perfect, but so much better than before. I did
work very carefully to avoid scratching the rollers. The poor rollers already
have a few dimples from glass beads being run through with clay. That's the trouble
with having your work space where a six-year old can decide to do a project on
his own! Jody
. . . . I have a small pair of pliers that are
smooth (no teeth) they come together with no gap at all. They sort of look
like needle nose, but they don't taper to a point, they're flat like a duck bill.
I use them to hold the folded spine of the scraper. I push on the back of the
blade and try my best to eyeball it straight. If I put enough tension on the blade,
it straightens out pretty well against the roll. I know I will not be able to
do this too many times before the metal cracks. ...it does work much better for
a while.
. . .I've also used 1500 and 2000 grit wet sand
paper (dry) to work the bur off the blades
and clean up a damaged edge. James
I
have tried for the last 5 hours but one of the bolts refuses to move...Joyce
A
frozen bolt is a fairly common hardware problem.
...get yourself a proper fitting socket wrench to fit on that bolt. Get
one that ends up being parallel (right angle wrench with tip on) to pasta machine
panel so that you get maximum leverage ...Another hardware trick is to apply a
metal un-siezer...
...I have noticed that those bolts are pretty hard
to loosen when it is first attempted. After that, however, it is
usually no problem to remove them. With a decent Phillips screwdriver or two,
and a proper sized socket wrench, you should be able to take apart, clean you
scraper blades and put your pasta machine back together in about 5 minutes...Desiree
Gear noises...
+ opening
wider on one side than other
...some
of the gear teeth may have actually worn down or unevenly, creating
noises and difficulty turning
......or
sometimes gear teeth have drifted apart too much due to
metal wear or looseness, making one side of the
opening wider than the other
......(simply retightening anything
with a nut (inside-underneath the dial area) may help sometimes....
but worn gear teeth are a bit more serious
and will need to be replaced.
...The lower the thickness setting
(the wider the roller gap) the farther apart the gears are from each other....
each roller has a classic toothed gear on at least one end....so the less room
there is for error with regard to the gear's teeth meeting each other.
...Sometimes
when a pasta machine has really been put through its paces, the rollers
loosen or drift
from their original position just enough such that you can actually
hear a 'clunk...clunk...clunk'
as the machine turns. That's the very tips of the gear teeth barely meshing. If
they get further apart than that, you may lose function, at least at the the wider
settings. As you noticed, Linda, when the rollers are brought closer
together, the machine operates better. That's because the gears are
closer and mesh better.
. . .How to cure this problem?
If
you have an Atlas or Atlas-like machine, I wrote some instructions for how
to access just the non-crank side of the machine
to fix this:
http://www.desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLAdvPQueenMaint.htm).
The non-crank side is where the gears hide. That's also where the mechanical
heart of the machine is. You'll need to get inside there and see if you can tighten
things a bit.
.... I do consider this level of maintenance to be advanced because
there are quite a few bits and pieces, springs and nuts and such...you'll need
to keep careful track and note where everything goes, exact positions, exact order
of removal, etc. If you have a digital camera, take good closeups as you open
and remove parts... Desiree
....The thumping
you hear, Geo, is because the gears that turn the two rollers are not meeting
up properly inside which makes one side slightly wider than
the other. If you feel comfortable taking your machine apart, there are two rods
inside that need to have the bolts at each end tightened. I had
this problem and was able to fix it when I realized that the gears were misaligned,
however, it did happen again and I had to do it all over again. The second time
seems to have worked and it's been ok for a while now. Lori
. . . Well, I
took your advice about trying the advanced pasta machine maintenance in order
to alleviate the clunking sounds on my pasta
machines. Thank you so much, Desiree. It was well worth the effort. My
DH and I rolled up our sleeves, set out the necessary tools and supplies as outlined
in Desiree's how-to
.........So we popped off the endcap of the thickness-setting
wheel and proceeded to remove the left side panel. Imagine our surprise when we
realized how simple and straightforward it was to tighten everything down. And
when we reassembled the machine, we only had one piece left over!
..........
On to machine number two, we quickly saw where that left over piece belonged.
......So
in less than two hours, we opened four machines, tightened everything on the left
(gears) side ( then also opened the right side to remove the front and back panels
and clean all the blades). Good as new! I'm thinking of applying for a temporary
job next summer on the production line of an Atlas factory--you know, the one
near Venice... Ciao, Linda
Sam Katz mentioned that she had dropped her pasta machine once, and then it wouldn't work because it was out of alignment. .... she took it apart, and when she put it back together it worked just fine. Trina
http://home.earthlink.net/~dddmcc/howTo_AdvPQueenMaint.htm
...my Pasta Queen of 6-7 years was really getting on my nerves. The rollers were
so misaligned, sheets were spiraling out, because one side of the roller
gap was signficantly wider than the other side. . . . In addition,
after the last really serious soaking in alcohol, it became very squeaking
and course when cranking. All the oiling/greasing I tried didn't seem to get the
oil in the right spot. ...Up till now, I had taken my machine apart a few times
- but not completely. I'd taken off the foot plate, removed the crankside side
plate, utlimately winding up with the pairs of scraper blades, rollers, fenders
and long tubes independently flailing about. But the thickness adjustment
side remained a mystery. And I knew that's where the secret lay to fixing
the squeakiness and correcting the roller gap differences between the left
and right sides. "All the way" for me meant somehow removing the springy thickness
adjusting dial and getting at what lurked underneath.
With nothing to lose,
I decided to wedge a screwdriver into the dial face, apply a little hammer force,
to try pry off the inside cap on the dial. It worked! Inside was a nut and
simple spring. I unscrewed the nut and removed the spring and then the numbered
portion of the dial knob. Then I removed the one little screw in the machine's
side panel, thus revealing the 'mystery of the inner scantum' - a small metal
brace, a couple of gears on the roller ends, other bits and pieces. I cleaned,
greased and tightened everything I could see with a little vaseline. Put
it all back together... and it's a good as new! For the brave, I needed the following
tools: - flat head screwdriver - a cross head screwdriver (phillips head) - a
couple of sockets 9mm, 10mm, and a socket wrench - hammer. Desiree
...To
get the gears more evenly spaced you must disassemble the knob side of the pasta
machine per the instructions, remove the brace (just slips out of its notches)
and GENTLY flex it either flatter or more curved depending on which side
is wider. This will take a little experimenting, and it is VERY IMPORTANT to flex
it only EVER SO SLIGHTLY at a time - 1, so it will still fit into the notches;
2, so it won't break or become unusably deformed. . . It will probably take a
few tried to get the spacing right - or tolerably right anyway. My spacing is
still ever-so-slightly off but usable. I will probably readjust when I have a
backup machine. Irwin
. . .gears! Right away I could see the
problem. There's a metal bar piece in there that holds the two roller ends a specific
distance apart. This piece is secured by the two outermost metal rods with nuts.
Apparently all the taking apart and cleaning had
jarred the
nut on the right enough to pop it right
off! No wonder the gears were slipping! . . So I unscrewed the rod
from the other end enough to put the nut back on this end, tightened everything
else, and it's as good as new! ... I feel so proud to have stripped down, rebuilt,
and restored my most vital polymer clay tool. There's something empowering about
knowing my machines inside and out. So thank you Desiree, for giving me the inspiration
and courage to go for the gears and the gusto. :) Julia, in sunny IL
...(see
above also in "taking a pasta machine apart")
(see also: Blends (Skinner), Translucents for more on getting thin sheets, )
