Modifications to a pottery wheel
Practical Action
with a ring of mild steel at its underside periphery was used. A larger inertia wheel with a higher
inertia to weight ratio is permissible.
Other modifications included:-
An adjustable (both horizontally and vertically) operator seat to allow for variation of
operator height and length of leg.
Swivelled pulleys to allow for variation of direction leg stroke for comfortable operations.
Adjustments in position of stirrups to allow for variation of length of operator legs.
Of the components of the wheel, it is possible to make the following parts from timber:
The whole framework
The spindle (with hardwood) connecting the work table to the inertia wheel
The worktable and the inertia wheel
The housing for bearings and the freewheel.
Furthermore, the steel cable and the stirrups can be replaced by inelastic synthetic cable with
leather strips. Thus, with a few exceptions (the bicycle freewheel and the steel ball bearings), the
whole wheel is capable of being produced by most village carpenters in a rural carpentry
workshop.
References and further reading
Decorative Tile Making With a Wet-clay Hydraulic Press Appropriate Technology Vol. 17
No 1 June 1990
Wooden Jolly to be Used on Adapted Kick Wheel Appropriate Technology Vol. 3 No 1
This article was originally produced for the Appropriate Technology Journal Vol. 4
No 3. Nov 1977 by D. Meemeduma.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Nairobi
P. O. Box 30197
Nairobi
Kenya
Acknowledgements:
D. Meemeduma would wish to record his appreciation of the work of my project
student, Mr A.J. Anwar who carried out these modifications as his project study.
My thanks are due to the University of Nairobi, for financing Mr. Anwar's project
study and the YMCA Craft Training Centre, Nairobi for initiating and testing.
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