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The Clay Hole University Ā· Preparing Your Clay

Pug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use OnePrintable pottery guide

What a pug mill actually does, whether a studio should want one, and how to run it without wrecking it. The honest case both ways, eight steps for a batch, and six safety rules that are not optional.

$12.505 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Advanced
  • 20 printable pages
  • 2 video picks
  • 8-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any home printer
  • The full lesson stays free online
The printable, at a glance

What is the printable edition of Pug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use One?

It is the free lesson of the same name, rebuilt as a workbook. It starts with what the machine really does and what it cannot fix, then the de-airing decision that sets the price, the upkeep and how much wedging is left. Then the honest case for owning one and against, eight steps for running a batch, the cleaning and upkeep that keep it de-airing, six safety rules, and what the machine is telling you when it misbehaves. On paper it adds a pug log, a one-page card for beside the machine, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? ā€œPug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use Oneā€ is free to read, and always will be.

  • 20printable pages, US Letter
  • 8step method, start to finish
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 2hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 16glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

Time and shoulders, not skill

A pug mill turns a bucket of scrap into ready-to-throw clay in minutes, and it takes the heaviest repetitive work out of a craft where that work is the main reason people stop.

It also costs thousands of dollars, needs real upkeep, and brings a contamination problem a bucket never had. Among studio machines only the slab roller ranks above it as a hazard, because an auger does not stop for a hand.

It is simple to run and easy to damage, and nearly all the damage comes from the same few habits. This guide puts those habits on paper, right beside the machine.

Look inside

Real pages, for beside the machine

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark. The full guide has none.

  • Page 5 of the ā€œPug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use Oneā€ printable guide: de-airing versus not, shown with the sample watermark
    De-airing versus notThe fork that decides the price, the upkeep and how much wedging is left, plus stainless versus aluminum.
  • Page 7 of the ā€œPug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use Oneā€ printable guide: how to use one, shown with the sample watermark
    How to use oneThe end of the case against, the honest summary of who needs one, and the first five of the eight steps for a batch.
  • Page 9 of the ā€œPug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use Oneā€ printable guide: the pug log, shown with the sample watermark
    The pug logOne row a batch: the clay body, what ran through last, whether it was cleaned, air in the log, and the nozzle capped.
  • Page 10 of the ā€œPug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use Oneā€ printable guide: six safety rules, shown with the sample watermark
    Six safety rulesHands out while it is plugged in, unplugged before anything comes apart, guards on, and never used before you have been shown.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

A card that lives beside the machine

Nobody scrolls a phone with clay on their hands and a motor running. The rules belong where the machine is.

  • The pug mill card

    The six safety rules, running a batch, keeping it alive, and what it is telling you when it misbehaves, on one page.

  • A pug log

    One row a batch: what ran through before yours, whether it was cleaned, and whether the nozzle got capped.

  • Upkeep, written down

    Seals, filter, pump and lubrication, with room on the log for when each one was done.

  • When it misbehaves

    Air in the log, a laboring motor, a twisted log, streaks of the wrong clay, and what each one means.

How the guide is built

Built for the person standing at the hopper

Every guide in the series is designed as a workbook first and a document second. For this one, that means:

  • A learning dashboard before page one

    What you will learn, what you need, the traps, and what success looks like.

  • The buying decision first

    De-airing or not, stainless or aluminum, and whether you need one at all.

  • The honest case, both ways

    Six reasons a studio wants one, and six reasons it might not.

  • Eight steps, then the upkeep

    Running a batch without wrecking the machine, then the cleaning and maintenance that keep it de-airing.

  • Six rules that are not optional

    Checked against OSHAā€™s lockout and machine guarding rules, including what to do with a machine wired in without a plug.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every QR code points at a short Clay Hole address, so a printed copy keeps working when a video moves.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free ā€œPug Mills: The Pros, the Cons and How to Use Oneā€ lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up, no catch.

A pug mill buys time and shoulders, not skill. Whether you ever own one or only share one, knowing how it works and how it hurts people should not cost anybody a thing, so the lesson stays free.

The University is free and stays free. The guides are the version rebuilt for paper with an unreasonable amount of care, and buying one keeps the free side going.

Thank you. Genuinely.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
Collect them

Build a little pottery library

Every guide carries a permanent number. This one is 04.08, the eighth guide in Preparing Your Clay. The series is designed to live together in a binder, section by section, so the craft ends up on your shelf in the order you learn it.

Put any five printable guides in your cart and the cheapest one is on us. Put in nine and the two cheapest are on us. It happens automatically at checkout, no code to remember.

See every printable guide, or every printable we sell on one page.

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
  • 9guides in your cart2 on us
Where this leads

From the machine back to your hands

These lessons pick up where this one leaves off. Each one is free to read now.

Good questions

Before you buy

Is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is complete. The printable adds a pug log, a one-page pug mill card, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Is a pug mill worth it for a home studio?
For most people, no. It is thousands of dollars to solve a labor problem that only exists at volume. The exception is when wrist or shoulder pain is limiting how much you can make, and then a de-airing machine is buying working time rather than convenience.
Do I still need to wedge clay from a pug mill?
From a de-airing machine, barely. You can throw it straight off the nozzle, though a short wedge is still worth it, because an auger leaves thin layers in the clay that can open into cracks later. From a non-de-airing machine, yes, though far less than you would otherwise.
Will this teach me to run one on my own?
It teaches what to do and why, but nobody should run a pug mill before somebody has shown them on that machine, with its manual to hand. The guide says so plainly. It is what you read before, and what you keep beside the machine after.
How dangerous is a pug mill, really?
Used properly, it is safe. The worst case is severe, because an auger has enormous torque and does not stop for a hand, and among studio machines only the slab roller ranks above it. The six safety rules are the answer, and they are on the card.
My machineā€™s pump does not use oil. Does the upkeep still apply?
Most of it. The oil advice is for oil-filled pumps only, and many studio machines use an oil-free pump whose care is in its manual. Wiping the seals, capping the nozzle and lubricating what the manual names apply to every machine.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. It is about the machine, whoever built it, and wherever makers disagree, such as how long clay can stay in the barrel or what gets lubricated, it sends you to your own manual.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is designed for an ordinary home or office printer on regular US Letter paper, with nothing important near the edges, so normal printer margins cut nothing off.
Can I print it in black and white?
Yes. Nothing depends on color, and we looked at the workbook pages in grayscale to be sure.
Can I use it on an iPad or laptop instead?
Yes. Every QR code in the guide is also a tappable link, so on a screen you just tap instead of scanning.
How do I get it after I buy?
Right after checkout you get a download link by email and on your order confirmation page. Each link works up to seven times.
What if the guide gets updated?
Every edition carries a version number. When we correct or improve a guide, everyone who bought it gets an email with the new edition at no charge.
Can I share it with my class or studio?
Please donā€™t. It is licensed for your own personal use. Anyone can read the full lesson free online, and the printable is here if they want their own copy.

Hands out, plug out, nozzle capped.

Print it, keep the card beside the machine, and log the first batch.

Get the printable · $12.50

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