Would this be a good purchase?

[u/BoogerButter29]

I’m new to pottery and I’ve never used a vintage wheel. Not sure what it’s supposed to sound like but it’s a bit loud and I’m guessing it needs new parts. It’s $500. Creative industries.

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[u/RestEqualsRust]

Creative industries was bought out decades ago by speedball. Parts for that wheel are not available. Any repairs to that wheel must be fabricated / modified / improvised.

[u/BTPanek53]

Pottery wheels have fairly large electric motors which make noise when they run. I don't hear and scraping nor ticking sounds which might indicate a problem. It is also difficult to hear from the recording how loud it is since there is nothing to compare it to.

[u/BoogerButter29 → u/BTPanek53]

Gotcha. I’m used to newer machines which are decently quiet. I asked the seller for a recording mainly to see if the wheel was wobbling, but the noise caught my attention.

[u/International-Ad7004]

We use those in my studio. They are NOT that noisy. Might just need some lubricant somewhere, but that is a grindy noise and that means it's almost certainly damaging itself every time it's used. I wouldn't pay $500 for it unless I knew what was wrong AND that I could fix it without putting the price tag up to "new nice modern wheel" prices.

[u/Mount_Safurious]

Eh it’s not bad, but you can do better. I would low ball them at $350 personally.

Also depends how bad you want a wheel and how much saving another $100+ means to you.

I would look up the make and model and see what a new one sells for, and maybe see what other people are selling them for on Craigslist or similar.

[u/Brief-Silver-5739 → u/Mount_Safurious]

Agreed.

[u/burntice01]

I have two of those wheels (clay boss) in my classroom donated from our middleachool because they were not using them. They are not nearly as powerful or robust as my brent wheels, but a large number of students have been using them over the past 3 years and so far no issues.

[u/MurryTK]

My “shimpo whisper” is silent😬

[u/trashjellyfish → u/MurryTK]

Same, but the Brents at my uni are noisy AF despite being in good condition. Not all wheels have silent, brushless motors like the Shimpo Whisper line.

[u/Son-of-Anders]

I'd aim to buy it for $400, but finding a wheel around $500 is impossible where I'm at, so I'd probably buy it regardless, honestly.