venco pugmills

Venco has always been a silent achiever as an environmentally aware company. All of our products are optimized for energy efficiency as well as function (eg Venco pugmills use fine mesh shredding screens to reduce motor loads, rather than cheap perforated plates that are used by most other brands).  The Venco factory is powered by wind-energy and has been for the last 15 years -all the machinery, lighting etc. Only plantation timbers and recycled cardboard are ever used for packaging crates. Venco also has a strict recycling policy for factory and office waste. 

  A three year warranty is offered on most Venco equipment. This together with great after sales help, gives peace of mind when purchasing Venco equipment.

We have been exporting pugmills and potters wheels internationally since 1979. Over this span of nearly three decades Venco  have sold over 36,000 wheels and more than 9000 pugmills.  These numbers speak for themselves about our international reputation for quality and reliability.

The Venco range of wheels and pugmills are designed to cater for the hobbyist through to professional and industry. There is a Venco product to suit your needs and budget!

Venco use the highest quality materials in the construction of the pug mills to ensure a long and reliable service life. Venco manufacture three different series of pugmills. The Mk2 models comprise a thick section, marine grade, aluminium barrel and a single stainless steel auger. The new Super-twin's barrel and auger is constructed entirely from stainless steel. This unit has an innovative twin auger mixing chamber which leads to a single auger extruder. The very largest Industrial Series pugs manufactured by Venco are also constructed entirely from stainless steel. On all models stainless steel bolts are used whenever there is the possibility of corrosion. These materials are chosen to minimize chances of clay contamination by corrosion of the barrel or auger.

The drive trains comprises a single or three phase (depending on model) AC motor, directly coupled to a high efficiency industrial gearbox. All motors have integral thermal overload protection. This combination not only guarantees smooth quiet operation but also a long service life even under the most demanding loads.

Our full range of pugs can be viewed by clicking on the various tabs above.

What is a pugmill?

A pug mill is used to blend clay to restore it to a more uniform workable consistency. This applies to new clay or clay scraps from previous work. Clay is loaded into the feed hopper (closest to motor) and an internal auger pushes the clay along the barrel, through some fine screens before recompressing the clay and forcing it out the nozzle. The de-airing models incorporate a vacuum pump which removes air trapped within the clay while pugging is performed. This produces the highest quality clay for immediate use on a potters wheel. 

Traditionally a similar result was obtained by kneading the clay with hands or feet for several hours. This is still done in many countries but a pug mill can make the task easier and quicker than the traditional manual method. Approximately one hour of pug mill use will produce enough pugged clay for an average professional potters days work.

VENCO Mk2 (Mark II) Series –Traditional, Single Auger, Pugmills.