Ram press for ceramics?

[uglyknees]

I’m investigating some different types of construction methods. A ram press for ceramics would be a new avenue for me to try out. This is totally new to me and something I’ve never had in a studio to work with. However - it’s something thats more for industrial production and not exactly “artistry” (let’s not begin that debate as they are both valid. I fell into it while researching how to make truly “perfect” tiles for a backsplash. Any interest in bringing in one? I would give this a vote of a 3 out of 10 as far as places to put money but others might have more of an interest in this so I wanted to share the concept.

All in all it looks like a pain in the arse and something that hobbyists might not be suited for aka perfecting mother molds and obtaining dies and all that. Why not hand build or use a slab roller? - this just allows for true mechanical consistency - tiles and productionware. Again - looks awesome and I can imagine lots of projects to knock out but I’m not sure it would be a high use tool.

[Nick]

I’ve only ever seen one of these in an artist’s shop. They are exactly as you say, production machinery. You need to be good at designing and building molds, a skill I never excelled in, to make them work. The shop I saw it in was making simple pieces for a Pot Painting store chain, before they went completely over seas with their purchasing. This kind of production is a similar mind set to Vacuum Forming, which is a production method that hasn’t yet taken off at DMS. But, we are hopeful the more we become comfortable with the process, maybe the more we can pull in other tools that work on similar principals.

I’d give is a 1 out of 10 for feasibility. Doesn’t fit the space at the moment, but who knows what is in store for the future.

[cmcooper0]

Super cool and excellent for production. Let’s bust out the back wall of the building into the parking lot and put in a “Fired Arts Extension”.

@uglyknees, you are in charge of snowing the landlord with a guileless tale that it is has always been like that, btw.

[Adam_Oas]

Is there any feasibility of using our existing 50 ton press?
The molds having a water injection system seems like the hard part to me.

[Photomancer]

How many dozen kilns are we going to need to support production runs?

A couple dozen of those big ramen bowls would fill our kiln how many times?

[Adam_Oas]

I got no pony in this race; just thought it would be more feasible to adapt an existing tool makerstyle than add a custom, low use tool.

[Josh_Melnick]

cool stuff, hows the new house?

[cmcooper0]

Which is why we marshall our destructive forces and conquer the back parking lot! We can have a fleet of kilns of all kinds. Soda, wood, raku, giant walk in reduction kilns from Scandinavian countries! It will be glorious and we will fire all the things.

[Photomancer]

OMG! @uglyknees part deux … the taking over of the Makerspace. I see, rather than battle the Red Queen for interior turf you’ll be expanding outside.

[Diplomat]

Making tiles is specialty subset of ceramics.

Make 1 tile, meh, not so bad. Making 500 is a HUGE undertaking.

There is a warp issue with tiles. Both in the making and the firing of them.

Then there is glazing…

How passionate are you about them being made by you? It is a big bite with some steep learning curves and penalties.

[Cairenn_Day]

And off sited wood can fire the wood kiln and think about all thos
wood shavings ro pit and raku firing

[Cairenn_Day]

I have always wanted to make some tiles I have seen where
one can use a piece of wood and hammer the clay into the mold

[uglyknees]

I totally get it - it’s an obnoxious idea for us but still seems interesting. I’m going to go cry myself to sleep.

Ps if we expand I say we charge per hit of the sledgehammer as a maker made donation train. I don’t know why I take THE most difficult way to create something…no I really do know.

[Nick]

The true victim here is Sansa.

[TLAR]

Would it be possible to use some sort of release paper or agent instead of water or air - to keep it primitive ?

[kbraby]

My parents once made all the tile for their kitchen backsplash. The plan was to fire some of their favorite recipes into the glaze. But they discovered they were going to move shortly before they started glaze, so they wound up with some fire on accent decals instead.

My recollection is that they made all the tile with a couple of slip cast molds. Most of the time was simply waiting for the molds to dry enough to cast the next pair. Being slip cast to solid, you don’t have to deal with pouring slip back out and putting it away, or ensuring moisture content, but you do have to top off the slip once or twice and the molds get really wet. I think they cast a pair of tiles every day for a few months, and fired a load every week. (Limited tile shelf kiln furniture also)

[TLAR]

Not a dream killer at all…I’m interested and have something that might be able to be “makerized” into a clay tile press.
I have a heavy duty hydraulic ram with a hydraulic power unit …it would require the input / help from others to make it workable.

[meanbaby]

Back up idea!!!

Wall mounted Extruders are very fun to use, take up little space, and will bypass landlord issues. I vote we put one on the wish list.

[Julie-Harris]

Fired arts used to have an extruder? I thought I saw one during a cleaning day. I agree that an extruder would be awesome.

[cmcooper0]

Indeed! We do have a large extruder. It mounts to the storage shelves and we have a small selection of plates in the grey cabinet (at the moment). You can make new plates on the laser, the 3D printers, in metal shop, etc.

Anyone interested in teaching a class? It isn’t hard to use, but could be cool to give people some ideas of all the things you can make with one. I don’t click with handbuilding but some people can really knock out awesome coil pots and that’s just the start of groovy extruder projects.