How to Make a DIY Pottery Wheel | I Like To Make Stuff

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Published 2019-04-04

We built a working pottery wheel for $200! It works great, come see how we did it!
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For this project I knew that I needed a motor that had a lot of torque to handle the forces applied to the clay. I found a small DC motor meant as a replacement for Hover Boards. I could control this whole system with an off-the-shelf motor driver unit that allowed the wheel to increase in speed and change direction. Knowing that the motor's RPM was too high for conventional pottery throwing, Josh came up with a pulley reduction to slow the motor down.

From the motor, we attached a 1.5" pulley that drives a 10" pulley with a v-belt. The 10" pulley has a drive shaft through the center that will spin the pottery plate, called a bat. I mounted all of this to a piece of 3/4" plywood and drilled holes for some bearings that the drive shaft would go through.

Now that I had the drive system attached to a platform, I flipped that piece over so that it would all be under the working surface. I cut some simple 2x4 legs and arranged them in a triangular pattern so that you could center the pat between your legs. I mounted the motor driver system to the rear of that platform and cut a simple shelf that will be attached later.

The bat is the super flat surface on which the clay is worked. Looking online, I could only find bats that fit on a pottery wheel's existing spinning surface, none would fit onto the drive shaft that we made. Without an inexpensive commercial solution, we decided just to make our own bat. I decided to use a thick plastic cutting board and CNC out the pieces we needed.

Josh modeled up the circular bat as well as a coupling that would lock into the drive shaft and fit into the underside of the spinning plate. With a little bit of filing the pieces fit together perfectly. I locked the coupling to the drive shaft with a nail and some epoxy. The bat fit snuggly down over the key in the coupling and the whole system worked perfectly.

To ensure that there was enough support under the bat, I added some bearing casters that the bat could ride on top of. I quickly noticed that we had to add a rubbery gasket the the bottom to buffer the sound of the bat riding on the casters. This greatly reduced the noise level and I was really happy with the result.

Everything was coming together and the pottery wheel was working surprisingly well. One thing that needed to be addressed was the slight wobble in the bat. Because we could trace every connection back to its origin, we found that the 10" flywheel and the drive shaft weren't quite straight. Luckily, we didn't screw down the plate holding the opposite end of the drive shaft just yet.

Josh and I were able to work together to slightly adjust the flywheel and shaft position underneath so that they were perfectly square, which resulted in a tracked bat up above. All that was left was to use a lathe tool to score in some reference centering lines on the bat surface so you know where to center the clay.

Although I have no idea how to properly use a pottery wheel, my wife and her friends do. One of my wife's friends is a professional potter and came by to test out the wheel. She seamlessly began molding and shaping a lump of clay into an awesome bowl. I asked her about the speed, the control, and the tracking, and she said that it performed just like a commercial pottery wheel.

We were all taken back ever time she used the word "perfect" when comparing our $200 pottery wheel to ones you can buy for upwards of $1,000. I hope this video inspired you to trying something that you've always had an interest in. More specifically, if that interest has an expensive barrier to entry, look at making some of the equipment yourself, it can be just as rewarding.

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We have lots of projects including woodworking, metalworking, electronics, 3D printing, prop making and more!

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How to Make a DIY Pottery Wheel | I Like To Make Stuff
• How to Make a DIY Pottery Wheel | I L...

All Comments (21)

@Iliketomakestuff 5 years ago

We ended up NOT gluing down the bat so that it's removable. That way cleaning isn't an issue. The couple holds it in place just fine with out glue 👍🏼
@aaronsadowski1691 5 years ago

I own a pottery shop and use wheels all the time. One of the most helpful things to have is a rack to hold your sculpting tools, you should add one.
@AmandaJohnson77 5 years ago

Waiting on the tutorial for building a kiln!
@WoodChuckCreations 5 years ago

Great job! A sewing machine pedal should work the same way as well
@PolicePubliCallBox 5 years ago

Girlfriend is a ceramicist, so I’ve spent some time on a wheel. You’re going to regret not being able to remove the bat or the tub that catches the water. They’ll both get gross quit, and not being able to remove the bat will keep you from easily removing whatever you just made. That being said, you can easily make bats to drop onto the one you have. Drill two holes into the bat you have, then make another bat with two holes in the same place. Put some pins through both bats and you’re good to go.
@carltonlee78 5 years ago

I'm probably never going to do pottery, but dang if I didn't watch the whole thing and learn something new. Troubleshooting the problems are the best part in videos like these.
@askariana100397 5 years ago

"I was able to throw on some clay and turn it into a thing that I wanted to make and I call that a win". I will live the rest of my life by this.
@scotthaun8582 5 years ago

i like how you made the birds mouth joinery. super simple but i would have been trying to do trigonometry to figure out the angles.
@earlye 5 years ago

Perfect timing. I was just looking around youtube yesterday for "how to make a diy pottery wheel," and then one of my favorite maker channels answers the question :D
@jjbruce1982 5 years ago

Thanks for the tip with the knife to prevent tear out on plywood, I'll be sure to use that one in the future.
@jeffreynerdin3522 5 years ago

Thank you for this. I’ve been meaning to make a pottery wheel for my daughter using an old commercial sewing machine motor. Your video showed me how to solve a few problems that I hadn’t worked out yet. Now maybe it will actually be done. Much appreciated. I agreed with some critiques below, but I should acknowledge that you actually MADE a pottery wheel, whereas I’ve just been planning to make one for the past year and a half, so what you actually made is infinitely more productive and efficient than the nothing that I’ve actually made. Kudos.
@chainbraindg 5 years ago

I've been wanting to build a pottery wheel for a while now but did dedicate the time to doing the research and creating a parts list. Thanks for doing all the hard work!
@douglaspollnitz5418 5 years ago

Loved the tip about scoring the plywood to avoid tear out!!!
@richardplatel5246 5 years ago

Awesome tip for depthing pocket holes at 10:56. Can’t believe I never thought of that.
@paulgeier7324 5 years ago

i love this kind of build and using the stuff on hand or get at hardware store good build bring more like this THANKS GENTLEMEN
@1980JPA 5 years ago

Awesome man. This is why I love your channel. I do remodeling by trade and am familiar with a lot that you do, but you come up with ideas for projects that I would never think could be diy. Great job. Pro tip. When sealing a screw hole, dab the sealant onto the surface first, then the object you're attaching (your bearing) then screw through the sealant. Guaranteed, every time. Great job man. Thanks 👍🏾
@ryanh6589 5 years ago

I’ve been thinking about making one for a long time. My wife is into pottery so you’ve inspired me to make one for her! Thanks!
@indeliblyronnie 5 years ago

Probably my favorite ILTMS video yet. Great job. I think you've inspired me to look into making one myself.
@jezgariepy9608 5 years ago

Thanks for making this Bob! I've been thinking about making one of these but didn't know where to start with the design. This is a great reference!
@nitchmakes7550 5 years ago

My father has always been interested in pottery. I also have always wanted to learn how to add electronics into projects. This may be a cool project that him and I could work on this summer. Another great video, thanks Bob