Parts of a Pottery Wheel – Electric and Kick Wheel

All 13 parts on the diagram

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Electric wheel 9

Wheel head A flat metal disc. It sits on top of the shaft and turns with it.
Bat A removable disc to throw on. It is held on the wheel head by the bat pins or by a pad of soft clay.
Bat pins They fit into two holes in the bat. They stop it from slipping as the wheel turns.
Splash pan It fits round the wheel head, often in two halves. It comes off to be emptied and cleaned.
Motor An electric motor under the deck drives the shaft.
Power switch On the side of the control box. Nothing turns until it is on and the foot pedal is pressed.
Reversing switch Forward or reverse, changed only when the wheel head has stopped.
Legs On some wheels they come off. One foot can be screwed up or down to level the wheel.
Foot pedal It controls the speed, like the pedal of a sewing machine.

Kick wheel 4

Flywheel Once it is turning, its weight keeps the wheel head turning.
Shaft An upright rod held in bearings. It makes the wheel head turn when the flywheel does.
Seat Fixed to the frame, at a height that suits the wheel head.
Frame The bearings, seat and foot rest are all fixed to it.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 and kept only where two independent sources use it: (1) and (2) two potter's wheel makers' manuals, full text at https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6773657 and https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6750813; (3) Wikipedia, text only: Potter's wheel; (4) eight pottery books read only as the passages archive.org's full-text search returns. Bat, bat pins, seat and frame rest on those book passages: at least two of the books use each name. No maker is named or drawn. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's product, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a pottery wheel on the two kinds a ceramics class meets. The electric wheel comes first, with its housing cut away. The kick wheel, turned by the potter's foot, is the second drawing.

Read the full guide

The electric wheel, then the kick wheel

Numbers 1 to 4 are where the clay goes: the wheel head, a bat and its bat pins, and the splash pan. Numbers 5 to 9 make the electric wheel go: the motor, the power switch, the reversing switch, the legs and the foot pedal. Numbers 10 to 13 are the kick wheel: the flywheel, the shaft, the seat and the frame.

The wheel head is part of the wheel. A bat is a loose disc put on top of it.
A kick wheel has no motor: the heavy flywheel stores the push of each kick.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a pottery wheel called?

The wheel head is the disc that turns. A bat sits on it, held by bat pins, and the splash pan goes round it. An electric wheel adds a motor, a foot pedal and switches. A kick wheel has a flywheel on the same shaft.

What is a bat on a pottery wheel?

A loose disc fixed to the wheel head for throwing on. When the pot is made, the bat is lifted off with the pot still on it, so the soft pot is not handled.

What is the splash pan for?

It catches the water and clay that fly off while the wheel turns. It comes off the wheel to be emptied and cleaned after use.

How does a kick wheel work?

The wheel head and a heavy flywheel are fixed to one upright shaft. The potter, sitting at the wheel, kicks the flywheel round. Its weight keeps it and the wheel head turning between kicks.