About
LittleChip Tools offers pottery tools designed and produced by me, Helen Maynard, a retired engineer.
The project started when a friend who does pottery, complained about her conventional hollow extruder die made with nuts and bolts. The inner piece of the die was hard to keep centered, and she wanted the extrusion to have thinner walls.
“Hey, Helen, you do 3D printing. Could you make me a better die?” she asked.
Engineers love a challenge, so I started kicking around some ideas with her. We soon realized that we could make a wide range of shapes and sizes. Six months of experimenting and testing produced dies that could withstand the forces of extrusion. Convinced that other potters would be interested in the dies, I opened LittleChip Tools.
I've continued to hone my designs and to offer new ones based on suggestions and feedback from my friend and the many other potters I have met in person and online.
I live north of Boston with my family and our cat, Paprika, who are very tolerant of my growing number of 3D printers. I'm always looking to simplify and improve tools to make pottery more fun.
The project started when a friend who does pottery, complained about her conventional hollow extruder die made with nuts and bolts. The inner piece of the die was hard to keep centered, and she wanted the extrusion to have thinner walls.
“Hey, Helen, you do 3D printing. Could you make me a better die?” she asked.
Engineers love a challenge, so I started kicking around some ideas with her. We soon realized that we could make a wide range of shapes and sizes. Six months of experimenting and testing produced dies that could withstand the forces of extrusion. Convinced that other potters would be interested in the dies, I opened LittleChip Tools.
I've continued to hone my designs and to offer new ones based on suggestions and feedback from my friend and the many other potters I have met in person and online.
I live north of Boston with my family and our cat, Paprika, who are very tolerant of my growing number of 3D printers. I'm always looking to simplify and improve tools to make pottery more fun.