Best Pottery Wheel | A Clear and Simple Guide

The Perfect All-Rounder

If like me, you are the crafty, creative type – even if you have never thrown anything before, I recommend you skip those cheap Chinese import, pottery wheels that you see all over Amazon.

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Speedball is a long-established US fine art materials company (1899) and their Artista pottery wheel is a quality choice. It’s suitable for all skill levels, it’s practical, portable, and more affordable than a full-size pottery wheel – and it comes with a two-year warranty.

You get two free bats with this model. Bats are extremely useful tools for removing finished pieces and leaving them to dry undisturbed. You’ll find that cheap imports don’t allow for the addition of a bat unless that is, you are prepared to drill your own holes to hold one.

Without a bat, you’d have to leave your pot on the wheel head to dry, limiting the use of your wheel, or risk damaging your piece if you try to remove it too soon.

What stands out for us about the Artista, is the amount of throwing space this pottery wheel allows you to work with.

The wheel head is 11″ but you can remove the splash pan (for safety), and the head will take a bat of 14″.

That means you are not limited to small designs. You’re limited only by the 20 lbs centering capacity which is pretty much all most people will need.

Another nice feature is that unlike the cheaper imports out there, the Artista also has a well-designed, easily removable two-part splash pan for a faster clean-up.

This pottery wheel is hand-operated – ideal if you prefer not to work with your feet, and perfect for beginners who may find their hand and foot coordination too much of an additional challenge while trying to learn to throw.

You can easily add a foot pedal later if you want. And if you are left-handed there is a left-handed version available too.

Shimpo Aspire Pottery Wheel

If you’d like something small and portable then this one is ideal.

You can it take to a pottery class or set yourself up anywhere, like your own backyard on a nice day, for example, the Aspire by Shimpo is the one to go for.

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It comes complete with two 9-3/4″ (alloy) bats and a removable splash pan for easy clean-up.

Again the one we have featured is hand-operated. There is also a foot-operated model but to be honest, a hand-operated pottery wheel is a better choice for a beginner.

It means you won’t have to master any hand and foot coordination awkwardness while you are learning to throw.

And just as in our top pick, with this choice you can easily add a foot pedal later if you like.

This choice is ideal if you’d like to just have a go at throwing on a pottery wheel, but don’t want to spend too much on a hobby.

Maybe you just want to have fun rather than get too serious about it.

The YaeTek is a solid choice, and for well under the $200 mark, (at the time of writing it’s under $150) it’s well worth the money.

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You may be wondering why it costs less than our other options, so I take you through a rundown on what it doesn’t do first.

The slash pan is fixed, so although it is pretty easy to clean up, it’s not as easy as the Artista or the Aspire.

It also doesn’t come with any free bats, and, like most pottery wheels in this price range, there are no holes or pins on the wheel head to attach one.

You can, however, drill your own holes and buy a couple of bats separately. Just so you know, a bat will allow you to remove your piece while it’s drying, without risking any damage when taking it off the wheel head.

The YaeTek is foot operated. It’s also worth noting here, that hand-foot coordination can take a little while to master. That being said, the pedal is very responsive, and sooner or later you would most likely want to learn to throw with a foot pedal anyway.

One feature we really like about the YaeTek is its ability to go in both a forward and backward direction. This is great if you are left-handed but you will also find it handy for some throwing and decorating techniques.

All in all, for the price, it’s a good pottery wheel and what’s more, you don’t need to add legs or find a suitable table to position it on.

Regarded as the Harley Davidson of the pottery wheel. Brent pottery wheels are renowned for their power, strength, and durability.

The company has been manufacturing pottery wheels in the US for more than 40 years.

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Powder-coated steel legs to prevent corrosion in a moist atmosphere, along with a cast-aluminum foot pedal, a cast-aluminum wheel head, steel pins, and all-steel construction mean this baby is built to last!

Brent models feature both forward and reverse directions as well as the addition of a neutral setting – whereby the wheel can turn freely for banding and decorating. And this is a feature you just don’t get on cheaper pottery wheels.

What really sets this pottery wheel apart from the cheaper models out there, is its ability to maintain maximum torque – even with pressure and a heavy clay load.

This is because the controller automatically adjusts the wheel’s torque according to the amount of pressure that you apply to the clay. So there is no loss of torque – even when throwing a large amount of clay – and you don’t have to press the foot pedal down to compensate.

The two-piece splash pan is easily removable for a faster clean-up time.

Brent Pottery Wheels: The Difference Between Models IE, B, and C

The difference between model B and C comes down to the clay load it can handle, or to put it another way, the power behind the motor. Model B has a 1/2 HP motor and can continuously handle 150 lbs of clay, whereas model C has a 3/4 HP motor and a centering capacity of 250lbs.

For students of all levels, we recommend the IE with a reversing switch. This model has sturdy telescoping and lockable, legs which take the wheel from 13″ high when used as a tabletop wheel to 20–25″ when used on the floor.

The 1/4 HP permanent magnet DC motor and self-tensioning four-groove poly v drive belt drive will give you a smooth speed up and slow down, and a steady centering capacity of 75lbs of clay.

If you’d like to see it in action, take a look at the short video below.