{"id":20078,"date":"2015-11-02T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=20078"},"modified":"2015-10-30T19:37:26","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T02:37:26","slug":"sculpey-clay-conditioning-machine-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/sculpey-clay-conditioning-machine-update\/20078\/","title":{"rendered":"Sculpey Clay Conditioning Machine Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sculpey<\/a>Video #706:<\/span> I’ve got some good things to say about this pasta machine… and some not-so-good things to say.<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n

In today’s video I am doing an update on the Sculpey Clay Conditioning Machine.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 6 months ago I did an unboxing and quick review of the New Sculpey Clay Conditioning Machine with the Stainless Steel Rollers. I said I would come back and let you know how it preformed, so that’s what I’m doing here.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have both positive and negative things to say about this machine.<\/span><\/p>\n

First the positive… the stainless rollers are definitely an improvement. There were no black streaks anywhere on my clay.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also… this machine is sturdier than the previous models… there was no scraper build up… and the handle fits better and does not keep falling out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now for the negative… the gears started slipping after only about 1 month of use. Please note I am extremely gentle on my machines, so it wasn’t an issue of rough use. The slipping gear issue caused all the thinner settings to ripple to the point of being unusable.<\/span><\/p>\n

I show side by side comparisons of polymer clay rolled out at each of the settings on both my Atlas 150 Wellness Machine ($100) and the Sculpey Clay Conditioning Machine ($40). You can see as I go through each setting, the difference in the quality of both the machine and the sheets that they are capable of making.<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, I would like to see Sculpey fix this gear issue, because all the other issues that the machines had in the past, have been solved with this machine. But as it is now, only the top 4 settings are really usable for the polymer clayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a big difference in the price of the two machines though. So if you are just a weekend polymer clay hobbyist, then the low price on the Sculpey machine and the fact that the top 4 settings are good, may be all that you need. But if you are going to be doing polymer clay for any length of time, or you like to spend money on quality tools, then definitely pay the extra for the Atlas 150 Wellness Machine (anodized aluminum rollers) because every setting will give you a good quality sheet of polymer clay.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, I think that the manufacturers of both machines should dial back the number of settings on their machines, to improve the meshing of the gears, resulting in higher quality clay sheets that are produced at all settings. I know it sounds fabulous to have more settings on your machine, but if some of those settings are going to be low quality, it would be better to have less settings… in my humble opinion.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n