VEVOR 11inch Pottery Wheel, 350W Ceramic Wheel Forming Machine, Adjustable 60-300RPM Speed Handle and Foot Pedal Control, ABS Detachable Basin Sculpting Tool Apron Accessory Kit for Work Art Craft DIY

In general, I do not throw more than 5 lbs of clay. This wheel fits my needs perfectly. First, the cons: 1) the slowest speed is still a little fast for me. You'll get used to it and it doesn't affect the work, but still, I prefer to be able to slow it down a bit more. 2) it does not have bat holes. 3) at first, when the wheel head got wet, it seemed to get a bit discolored but if you wash the wheel head and dry it well, you'll minimize this problem. It does not affect the clay in anyway. The pros: 1) love the lightweight, easy to move around. 2) easy to use. I'm a beginner, it took me 5 minutes to figure it out. 3) the price point is perfect and affordable for a hobby, 4) works very well for under 5lbs, 5) easy to clean, the interlocking splash pan is very nice and easy to use and take apart. Overall, I'm very happy with this product and would definitely recommend it for hobbyists like me.

Plenty of power, very sturdy

I purchased this over a year ago to use for art fairs, but didn't get it unpacked until now! It's perfectly suitable for transporting to art fairs and shows if you want to do demo's. You don't have to lug the big wheel with you.It has 3 drawbacks. One is it will not go slow enough when throwing finishing touches like stripping out a slight foot, cutting off a top, or cutting work off the wheel. I don't think you can throw super huge pots on it because it just doesn't have the weight or power to handle much more than 5-8 lbs of clay. You might be able to throw off the hump with about 10lbs of clay, just centering the clay at the top.Two, no batt pins, but that is not really an option for the price, I wouldn't expect it. It would need small plaster batts if you are going to use them for throwing.The other issue is the machining of the wheel head itself. Although smooth, the grooves in it are difficult to clean if you have any kind of fine grog in your clay. It also wears on the hands a bit, you can really feel that grog going round, but doesn't interfere with throwing. The wheel head is very lightweight, I wouldn't risk metal tools on it, it feels very much like a cheap wheel I had years ago and the head was damaged easily.Pros: Runs smooth, no shakes or wobble in the wheel head. Make sure it's set level! After I ordered it, they came out with the floor model, but propped up on 4x4 blocks, it still works fine.Sealed metal cabinet is nice, everything under it is safe from water. Switch however will get water in it if you don't use the splash pan.Foot control/hand control stays where you set it.Compact and easily transported with out a huge mess except rinsing out the pan.Keep in mind it is a beginner wheel and for that it is, worth the price, but there are some things you need to do when setting up as a beginner:1. Set it to a height using heavy blocks of wood under the feet if you plan to sit at it and throw. For table use, you will have to find a table heavy enough and sturdy enough to set it on so it does not wobble AT ALL! Make sure you dedicate a stool or chair you plan to use all the time for sitting.Place your wheel in an area where you can leave it up once set up or you will have to do the next step every time you move it.2. LEVEL your wheel with a short level placed on the wheel, not the splash pan or the housing, on the wheel head. You want to do this a minimum of three directions and it must be level on all three. Usually if you get two, the other will fall into place. Turn the feet all the way in before doing this, then turn out to raise the direction that it sits low. One of the reasons beginners struggle to center clay and end up with crooked pots is because they don't do this.3. The tools included are cheap pine and do not have clean smooth edges. Finish the edges with sandpaper. If the wood tool has a straight edge, sand it on a flat surface. All of these tools will rot if left in the water. All of the metal ones will rust. The metal throwing rib is not made well and too stiff. Buy a spring metal one. The wire tool will break with use, always have a spare. Buy a natural sponge as the one included is synthetic and is too big to keep in your hand when throwing or finishing.4. Have a smooth board or table nearby to place your finished stuff on. The splash pan is divided into sections for tools with no flat surface.5. Use a medium amount of clay, about 2 lbs. Don't go too small or too big.6. Speed: This wheel has a suitable high speed for centering and slow speed for pulling up walls. It however does NOT have the lowest speed needed for some things normally done on the wheel. You can compensate for this with time as you get better at throwing, but you will lose some pots.7. Watch a lot of video's on how to throw clay and all the other things you need to set up a basic studio. You don't need anything other than a few basic tools, the Kemper set with one metal rib is nice and a natural silk sponge or natural elephant ear sponge. Then expect to practice for months to start getting better. Fast isn't better when centering. You need speed, but you shouldn't have to splatter water and clay far and wide! (That will happen though!) As a student in studio, it takes about a year of throwing for 2-3 hours per day to become good enough to get about a 80% return of good pots in a variety of items. It takes 3-4 years of working 4 to 12 hours a day, every single day to learn every technique from throwing anything to glaze formulation and have every pot go in the kiln. In other words, stick with it, and practice every day. Pick one thing to make, like mugs. Then make them until you get 6 the same size and shape. Then move on to bowls, same way, then plates. There are plenty of videos to watch and the japanese throwers are especially good. Hsinchuen Lin has detailed videos on youtube here is a link to the very first things you should learn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj6Kd8RSmVY&list=PL7ACFB372AE5CF96D He throws right hand is dominant hand. Plan on purchasing at least 50 lbs of wet clay and some dry ball clay to recycle your too wet clay. Once you get good enough that this wheel is causing issues for you and throwing becomes frustrating because it isn't performing the way you want, won't handle the amount of clay you want to throw, then move up to a basic professional model with more weight and power. If you are bogging the wheel down trying to throw a big pot, then it's time! If you are throwing mugs and small dishes, you could use this for many years.

So I haven't had a single issue with this after a couple months use. Works great, love the speeds. The only downside for me personally is that I can't afford a kiln, and the fragility of air dry clay became a nuisance...so am going to try to re-task it as a cement pottery wheel rather than clay, because I just love using it. Good heft means it doesn't shift around, but light enough I can lift onto my work bench and use it standing, which my back prefers. I've seen "experienced" potters say stay away from the affordable wheels like this one...but I have to be honest, I think it's because they haven't even bothered trying it. I have been super happy with it, and would happily recommend.

Wheel surface is not flat or level. Flywheel made of plastic and not true, has bumps that make trimming bumpy and not possible. Really thin metal construction. Electric controls open backed and flimsy. Wheel spin is way too fast for making nice pottery. Pretty okay for spinning clay and almost throwing pots - but the bump of the wiggly flywheel rocks the whole wheel and makes all works bumpy and uneven. Good times if your making funky crooked wiggles on purpose though. Definitely a pass, worst quality ever.

I have to hand it to Vevor, I did NOT expect this level of customer support for something like this. If I were to just rate the product that I received, it would not be 5 stars. It had multiple issues, all of which got addressed by the support team sending me what I needed to fix them. Is it ideal? No. But this is a really cheap wheel! I bought it knowing that I'll have to invest some time to make it work for me. It had the high low-speed issue as other reviewers have mentioned. I know a little bit about electronics and was going to try adding a dimmer somewhere to fix it. But thought I'd reach out to them before I do that in case they have any suggestions. And to my surprise, they sent me the entire updated control panel which starts at the low speed of 5 (as opposed to 60 in the original panel). They also sent me a replacement belt that fixed a little bit of wobbling at high speed and new pins since one was the wrong size in the original package. Again, not ideal, especially since there were no instructions for any of these, but I'll take it any day for this price. Took me a bunch of email back and forth and a couple of hours to replace the parts, but now I have a fully functional throwing wheel at a much lower cost compared to other options.

It works and gets the job done says the person I gifted it to.

Less wobble than other ones in this price range that I've tried. I was able to center with a little more effort than higher end machines. However, I've used it twice in the 2 weeks I've had it and the wheel has corrosion already. I'll be returning as I don't want to be stuck with a bad wheel after the return period.