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Northstar
Pottery Equipment
Tile Press

American Ceramic Supply Company offers great discounts on all
Northstar Pottery Equipment.
Just check out these discounts! You can e-mail us at sales@AmericanCeramics.com if you need any help with technical support and or specific shipping needs.

Make tiles up to 5-1/2" -
any shape with any raised or impressed decoration
Also do switch plates, jewelry, small plates, saucers,
shallow bowls and cups, handles, knobs,
electronic porcelain parts and more at up to 120 pcs/hr.
Make your own dies or custom dies quickly available.

AN AFFORDABLE POTTER'S PRODUCTION TOOL
Retail - $1,750.00
SALE Price - $1450.00 - plus shipping - Ships UPS!
Includes 4" plain square tile die, instruction book
and 12 paddle bats

We call it a "Tile Press" but, when you consider all the shapes you can make with it, maybe we should call it the North Star Clay Press! We've made bowls, light switch plates, candle holders, trivets,
medallions, and drink coasters so far!
Here is the first hand-operated press for the potter and school that uses air to gently
and quickly release the finished part.

     Air release pressing has been used by industry for decades for good reason. It's fast, produces nearly perfect ware requiring little or no fettling and requires only one or two dies ("molds") unlike slip casting or jiggering. Such presses have until now been hydraulically operated and too big, too heavy and too expensive for the potter. Moreover, they were very costly to tool up and could present substantial danger to the operator and bystanders.

     The North Star Tile Press offers nearly the speed and all the quality and versatility of industrial presses but in a smaller, much less expensive configuration that is inherently safe in any setting. Thanks to the massive solid steel gear drive, no great physical strength is required of the operator. Within its size constraints, this press can turn out just about anything that has no undercuts: plain and decorated floor and wall tiles, saucers, small cups, bowls, ashtrays, spoon rests, electronic parts, switch plates, sprigs, handles, knobs and much more at upwards of 100 pieces per hour - all perfectly formed.

     You can make your own dies or use stock dies. You can use just about any throwing clay to faithfully reproduce any raised or impressed decoration. And you'll do it easier and faster than ever thought possible.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DIE AND A MOLD?

     Potters and artists often use the words interchangeably, but there is a difference. Here are over-simplified, but workable definitions as they apply to the tile press: A mold is made of soft plaster, such as Potter Plaster #1. The inside of the mold is usually shaped like the outside of the piece to be made. Molds are absorbent and designed to "pull" water from the clay. It is usually used only once before it must be allowed to dry, so a great many molds are required for production.

     A die, on the other hand, is made from gypsum cement (often called "hard plaster") such as Ceramical^TM or Hydrostone^TM and it uses clay of throwing consistency which is not further wetted. The die forms the clay in exactly the same way as a sheet of steel is stamped into an automobile fender. Dies have two halves, one to form the bottom of, say, a saucer and one to form the top. These two halves are brought together with a ball of clay between them. Within each half there is buried a porous tube. When air is sent into it, the air escapes and pushes water, which is resident in the "plaster" toward the clay, releasing it from the die. The bottom usually released first, the upper half of the die is then raised with the formed piece clinging to it. A bat or other material is held under the upper half of the die and the tube in that part is pressurized. The formed clay is released and caught very gently with the bat.

     Please note again, that this is greatly simplified. Today there are many other die materials and techniques, but they are largely, if not completely, out of reach of the potter's studio or classroom.

METHOD OF USE

    A two-part die (or "mold") made of "hard plaster" (actually gypsum cement such as Ceramical^TM or Hydrostone^TM) is mounted on the bottom and center plates and aligned. A wad of clay is placed in the bottom half and the Wagon Wheel Handle is rotated to bring the two halves of the die together. As they come together, the clay is forced to take on the shape of the die. A small puff of compressed air is fed into the bottom half of the die to release the formed clay. The Wagon Wheel is rotated backward to raise the center plate and the top half of the die with the formed clay clinging to it. A bat is then held under the clay while a puff of air is fed into that half of the die, releasing the formed piece to be caught with the bat. That piece is set aside to dry and the process can be immediately repeated.

CONSTRUCTION

     The press comprises three aluminum floor plates, each reinforced with 1/2 inch machined steel stiffeners. The top and bottom plates reside at the ends of three 1 inch steel uprights.
The center plate is driven up and down by a Wagon Wheel handle turning a massive solid steel 6-pitch rack-and-pinion gear train.
     Air from nearly any compressor is fed through a 3-way valve, alternately to the lower and upper die halves to release the formed part.

SPECIFICATIONS
Shipping: Via United Parcel Service in three cartons of 147, 10 and 8 pounds.
Max "daylight" stroke: 12 inches
Max diameter of impression: 5-1/2 inches wet
Rings: 8-1/4 inch ID by 2 inches high
Clay required: Any throwing clay (though very groggy clays will shorten the life of the die)
Overall dimensions: 12 x 12 x 28 inches high (including rack)
Minimum workspace required: 30 x 30 inches
(Press must be securely fastened to sturdy bench or built-in table).

All prices are subject to change without notice due to manufacturer's price increases and fuel surcharges with shipping companies. We reserve the right to adjust pricing accordingly.
Please check with us prior to billing to be sure you have correct pricing.

Northstar SlabRollers

Northstart Extruders

Northstar Tile Press

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American Ceramic Supply Company has been servicing the ceramic industry for over 35 years. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, American Ceramic Supply Company services and supplies ceramic equipment and supplies to traditional ceramic shops, paint your own pottery studios, ceramic potters, art teachers and art educators, ceramic and pottery finished ware producers, ceramic and pottery home based hobbyists. American Ceramic Supply Company provides education, training and consulting services to traditional ceramic shops, paint your own pottery studios, potters, art teachers and art educators, ceramic and pottery finished ware producers and home based hobbyists. American Ceramic Supply also educates and assists the architects, contractors, builders and electricians for our customers as they create their ceramic shops, paint your own pottery studios, ceramic rooms in their new schools and buildings and in their homes.

American Ceramic Supply Company has been selling and servicing ceramic, pottery and glass kiln for over 35 years including Paragon Kilns, Skutt Kilns, Amaco/Excel Kilns, Shimpo Kilns, and Olympic Kilns. American has been selling and servicing potter’s wheels including Creative Industries Pottery Wheels, Shimpo Pottery Wheels, Amaco and Brent Pottery Wheels, Pacifica Pottery Wheels and has added Thomas Stuart Pottery Wheels as Skutt Kilns has taken over this in demand pottery wheel line. American Ceramics also offers pottery equipment and supplies from such major brands as Lehman Pouring Equipment, Northstar Pottery Equipment, Laguna Pottery Equipment and Supplies,  Amaco and Brent Pottery Equipment and Supplies including pugmills, slab rollers, potter’s stools, banding wheels, ware carts, extruders, slip pouring tables and slip pouring mixers and slip pouring reclaimers.

American Ceramics is a master distributor and education center for Mayco Colors and Glazes and Mayco Bisque, Duncan Ceramic Colors, Glazes and Duncan 04 Bisque offering almost 1000 designs in properly fired ceramic bisque or pottery bisque to home based hobbyists, traditional ceramic shops, paint your own pottery studios and art teachers and educators. From functional bisque to kid’s bisque, home decor bisque and seasonal ceramic bisque, American Ceramics stands behind the exceptional quality of the Mayco Bisque and Duncan Bisque lines. Having properly fired, clean and durable ceramic bisque is critical to American Ceramics on-going customer satisfaction.

American Ceramic Supply Company is the parent company of American Glass Supply Company and The Pottery Consultant. American Glass Supply Company offers COE96 sheet glass, glass molds, glass fusing tools, glass fusing jewelry accessories, Dichroic glass, glass fusing classes and is a glass education center. American Glass Supply Co. also offers a vast array of glass kilns including Paragon Glass Kilns, Skutt Glass Kilns, Olympic Glass Kilns, Shimpo Glass Kilns and Amaco Glass Kilns. Glass kilns such as the Paragon Janus Glass Kilns, Paragon Ovation Glass Kilns, Paragon SC Series Glass kilns, Paragon Caldera and Coffin Glass Kilns, Skutt Glass Master Kilns - Skutt Hot Start Pro Kilns and Firebox Glass Kilns and Top Loading and Coffin Glass Kilns.

The Pottery Consultant has helped open almost 400 paint your own pottery studios - whether as a storefront or home-based - all over the world. From business plans, startup budgets, cash flow projections, leases and floor plans, education and training for ceramic equipment and supplies, ceramic bisque, glass fusing, resourcing for fixtures, marketing materials and web sites, marketing and advertising and on-going technical and marketing support, The Pottery Consultant aids paint your own pottery studios in their on-going success as ceramic and pottery businesses. The Pottery Consultant is an innovative trend setter and the number one consultant in the ceramic industry to paint your own pottery studios.

American Ceramic Supply Company continues to sell, service, educate and provide on-going marketing and technical support to the ceramic and pottery industry. Our goals are the best customer service we can possibly offer, generosity of information to our customers so that they can succeed and accomplish their ceramic dreams and desires and doing the right thing by God and Country.

American Ceramic Supply Company, Inc. - est. 1975
parent company of:
American Glass Supply Co.
The Pottery Consultant - The Glass Fusing Consultant
Pampered Pottery
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