Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

One year update: Still glad I bought this. It’s now my dedicated trimming wheel with a griffin grip attached. I did end up spoiling myself with a shimpo, and its nice to have this one for trimming. I miss the smaller incremental speed changes I could make with this wheel. The shimpo isn’t as subtle. I actually preferred the hand control for speed on this one. Overall, I still think this is an excellent option for people who want to get into pottery without shelling out the dough for professional equipment. Only real issue is that you must throw directly on the wheelhead and wire pieces off (a good skill to learn) or drill bat pins - but very workable. Update with issue: After about six weeks of daily use, Wheel started a regular thumping noise and didn’t seem true anymore. Removed belt and didn’t see an issue there. Next step was to remove wheelhead. Cleaned out clay under plate and its now mostly smooth again. Tried putting silicone caulk around the plate to prevent recurrence. I think the issue was caused by swamping the wheel bearing. I don't know if other wheels have a way to keep the wheel bearing water proof, but I'd recommend being careful when removing the splash pan to make sure no water or clay gets under the plate attaching the wheel head to the body. It's been throwing smoothly again; I've been throwing 7-8 lb platters on it and its still mostly a smooth experience, though at this level its starting to be a bit more strained - still a smooth throwing experience, and I actually cancelled my speedball big boss order because this one is still working fine. Need bats now; it's very easy to drill holes for bat pins so wish I'd done that at the start! Planning on doing that in the next couple days. I've been throwing on it most days since the start of covid. Original review: I was very glad I bought this and could keep throwing through coronavirus I was worried about it because I've only heard of people using the expensive name brand wheels. But this has been better than I expected. It's a smooth throwing experience, it's easy to adjust the wheel speed in small increments, and it spins very fast and has easily handled the four-five pounds of clay I've thrown at a time on it. I have no idea what the max amount you could comfortably throw on it is; I've never done more than six pounds (been doing pottery about a year) so not sure where you'd start running into issues. It's great for bowls, mugs, jars, teapots etc - I’ve just been wiring pots off so far, but since it has no pins, my long term plan was to make plaster bats. I've read about people placing plaster bats on a wheel over a thin layer of clay, but I haven't tried that out myself. Not sure how hard it would be to drill bat pins in it. However, very easy to just wire the pieces off with water for now. The wheel does come with a thin layer of machine oil on the wheel and probably the motorized parts, too, so it will smell like oil the first couple times you use it, the first 6 or so times I used it, I was still wiping a little oil off the grooves on the wheel head when I cleaned the wheel. It’s lower to the ground than standard wheels in the USA. I find I am very comfortable with it on the ground (in a kiddie swimming pool in a bedroom) while I sit on the lower step of a stool. You could prop it up in bricks or a table or something; the rule seems to be have your seat same height as the wheel, and I know in some parts of the world people have their wheels on the ground so this isn't that unusual (though it's not the same setup as most American wheels) UPDATE: Used it about 25 times now. Still good. Wheel goes fast so I’ve had to learn to adjust downward when centering. I’d say the top speed on this wheel is a fair bit higher than you want! Will update again ifI encounter any issues.