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THE VERTICAL SLAB ROLLER
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The Hi Roller Story

    The Original Hi Roller was developed to form better slabs, with amazing speed, nearly dust-free and with noticably less user effort. The innovative forming process in combination with the vertical orientation makes the slabs much better. Designed and engineered classroom tough, guaranteed for life.


    So you're working on your next masterpiece and you need to roll a slab right quick. Or, you're in production and will likely roll slabs all day and half of tomorrow. No matter, here's how brilliantly the Original Hi Roller helps you get it done...

Obvious and Not So Obvious
   
    The vertically oriented design clearly saves space but also offers other innovations which are not as readily apparent, nonetheless remarkable.

 
Clutter Free
   
    What a difference it makes to never have to clean off your slab roller for use. The canvas is integrated into the design, perfectly aligned and ready when you are. Quick change integrated and auxiliary canvases are availble to accomodate multiple clay bodies as well as a transport system to carry slabs to the work table untouched.


Quick and Easy
   
   
Just offer a block of clay to the roller as the drive handle is rotated. Your clay is drawn down through free-wheeling (idler) rollers and returned in just seconds, ready for use. A single pass is all it takes.
   
The Traditional Problem

    Clay lacks strength in its moist form and
it's heavy. Driven rollers that push the clay across a horizontal surface can set up unwanted patterns within the slab. Single-roller machines have been shown to produce a dramatic difference through the thickness of the slab. This has long since been thought to contribute to the warping of a slab during drying and firing.

Suggestions to neutralize these unwanted patterns include heavy ribbing in different directions or multiple thinning passes while rotating and flipping the slab. This technique has proven to be time consuming, labor intensive, dusty, and inconsistent.
   

The Innovative Solution

    Pulling the canvas and clay vertically through idler rollers removes the detrimental effects of gravity from the process resulting in a more evenly formed slab. Total forming pressures are evenly distributed. Saving space is just a bonus.


The Flattest Slabs
   
    To end up with a perfectly flat slab, just roll an auxiliary canvas down along with the clay. Your slab is gently adhered to the transport canvas in the forming process which can now be carried away
totally flat and untouched.

Specifications

FRAME
75" tall x 39" wide x 4 1/4" deep
11 gauge steel, welded
powder coated


FOOTPRINT
wall-mount - 39" wide x 8.5" 
free-standing - 39" wide x 30" stabilizer

ROLLERS
11 gauge steel
3" diameter x 30" length
solid 5/8" cold-rolled shaft on ball-bearings

CANVAS
#6 natural canvas duck, over-locked edges
30" wide x 84" long, straight-stitched with

#92 nylon

DRIVE SYSTEM
chain and sprocket on ball-bearings
forward mounted 9" long drive handle w/foam grip

CAPACITY
infinitely adjustable up to the maximum slab size of 30" x 30" x 2" thick

WEIGHT
168 lbs.