Removable Ceramics Bats

Thanks so much for the pic! That looks so good!!!

No worries at all, I ran into the same problem! 😂 That's an excellent question, I looked at hexagons a little when I first started designing this, and the main problem for me was where to pull them up after you're done throwing. I tried to design the bevel and hole system on these squares so that you can still wedge a finger under to pull it up from any side without losing any circumference or having too big of a hole just sitting in your wheel. My understanding was that the biggest advantage of having the hexagonal bats was maximizing storage space if you're putting many pieces onto a large table or something for drying, and that's definitely a valid reason, but I felt like the simplicity of design with the squares was worth it for me! I'll check out the hexagons again, and the cool thing is, I can just make one that fits into this square with just a couple of spacers or something too!

Oh interesting - some stuff there I hadn't contemplated. Storage space maximizing is not the issue I'm trying to solve for. What's on my mind is how to have a removable bat system for larger throws. That is, how to maximize the size of the insert, which is currently limited by the square shape. With the square, the maximum base diameter of the piece is limited to the x or y (across) dimensions, and all the corner space is 'wasted'. If those pointy corners were whacked off, the max diameter available in the removable bat would be able to be bumped up. The only uncertainty in my mind is how much space you need on the base plate to maintain a tight fit for your dovetails. Do you see what I'm getting at?

Oh I totally see what you're saying there!! Making it a hexagon or even an octagon would definitely maximize wheel head utilization of the removable portion of the bat for the biggest possible throws! The main reason I went with the square at 180mm was mainly because of the A1 mini's bed size, so I didn't put any thought into the maximum size of the bat beyond that. I think your brain is in the exact right space too, the next hurdle to get over would be ensuring the outer ring of the bat still has a way to securely connect

That's an excellent question! I believe the distance between the bat pins is exactly 25cm, but because of shrinkage it ends up being a little less, so you almost stretch it slightly between the two bat pins (which gives it a really good hold on the wheel). My wheel is set up for the 25cm bat pins, but if yours is a little larger then I'd just scale the model up a teensy before printing!