Potters Kick Wheel : 4 Steps

Here are some ideas for building a kick wheel potters wheel.

Looked at a several ideas on the web and in books and built this combining the best features yet keeping it simple.

What I used:
2 1/2 50lb bags of concrete
Garden Edging or other suitable material
5/8" mild steel shaft 3" long (cut off 4" save for concrete work)
1x Bearing, 2 hole pillow block, with 2 set screws
1x Bearing, 4 hole flat, with 2 set screws
3x 5/8" Shaft Collars, with 2 set screws (two on top of the shaft over the stone would work better than one)
Wood Screws
4x ??? round head square shank top Bolts
4x Carriage Bolts
6x Lag Bolts (bearing hold down)
12x Fender Washers
6x washers (for between lag bolt head and bearing)
6x Nylock nuts
White exterior paint
Urethane or varnish

Lumber:

2x2
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4x 15" L - for foot rests
4 or 6 or 8 x 6" L seat supports = 1 or 2 or 3 height positions for seat

2x4
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8x 36" L - for front / back / sides of base
2x 30" for base bearing support
1x 48" L for top
1x 30" L for seat front
1x 30" L for step foot cross bar
2x 4" L for step foot pads
2x 14" L for step side supports
2x 7" L for step side support braces

2x6
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2x48" L for top
4x 32" L for table supports
2x 36" L for seat supports
1x48" L for top bearing support/inside table edge
1x 27" L for seat rear
1x 30" L for step side support upper rear brace

1" Plywood
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1x 18" circle for head
2x 6" circle for top stone and under head support
1x 18" circle for bottom support for stone

1/2" Wooden Dowel
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2x 1" L to secure removable top plate

16" top plate (bought this at a pottery store)

Made a simple circle cutting jig and used a small band saw for wood circles.

Used a nail, stick, and trim router to a route 1/8" circle slot on 3/4" plywood so I could insert plastic garden edging to create a form for the concrete kick-wheel. A few nails secured the edging into the slot and some mechanics wire secured the overlapped edging material to itself. Poured it in our basement in December, covered it with plastic and performed a wet cure for ~2wks before rolling it up the stairs for assembly. The kick-wheel weighs around 115lbs which is somewhere with in the ideal weight for such things according to my research.

Hope this gives you some good ideas!

Scott

Step 1:

Nail a board to the center of a plywood board and attach a trim router to one end so you can make a circle 1/8" wide.

Remove the nailed board and drill a hole at the center point part way through the plywood the size of your shaft (5/8" in mild steel works).

Insert a 4+ inch piece of shaft into the hole you drilled (I had a piece left over after cutting the round bar to size).

Cut garden edging to fit with a bit of overlap then punch a couple of holes at each end.

Insert it into the slot and wire the ends together.

Fill with concrete (~115 lbs finished) and wet cure it. We did this in the basement during the winter with out much mess or fuss.