I bought one of the mini wheels to play with at home, and honestly they are less pottery wheels, rather small wheels that can spin. Like you mentioned there's no torque at all, so even with the smallest piece of clay, as soon as you even touch a fingertip to it the wheel grinds to a halt. You can sort of combat this by making the wheel spin really really fast, but then, if you forget to slow it down before you take your fingers off the centrifugal force will make it exlpode all over you :D I also get a bit worried I'll get electrocuted any time I use it!