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neilestrick

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    http://www.neilestrickgallery.com

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     Grayslake, IL

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  1. Most buyers of used studio equipment are hobby potters, and people looking for a used slab roller are looking for a deal. Unfortunately Brents are not one of the more desirable models due to the way you have to add or remove boards to adjust the thickness of the slab. It's also a very long, which can be difficult to fit in a lot of home studios, and the cable system is not fun to replace when they wear out. There are good new slab rollers with infinite dial adjustments and a smaller footprint like Shimpo or Northstar that sell for $1000-1500, so I think that realistically you need to come in under that.
  2. It appears to be in very good condition, but I agree that price is too high for a manual kiln.
  3. That is a Brent pottery wheel. There should be a model number somewhere on the side or on the control box. You could place an ad here in the marketplace section, or on Facebook Marketplace, or Craigslist. If it's in good working condition you could get several hundred dollars for it depending on the model.
  4. When the kiln is not firing and just sitting ready to be programmed, what temp does it show?
  5. Is there a delayed start in the program, like it's doing a countdown before trying to fire? What temp does it show at idle?
  6. Sounds like maybe the thermocouple or the thermocouple wire has been installed backwards. Assuming you have the standard type K thermocouple, the yellow wire is positive, red is negative. Make sure everything is connected properly. When you hit start, is there any clicking from the relays?
  7. Just add it until it's got enough color for your needs.
  8. Serial plate is showing max temp of 2000F so it should be able to do cone 04. I have no idea how long the elements should last in that situation, but if it's similar to firing a cone 6 kiln to max temp then maybe 50 firings. It's a lot cooler than cone 6, though, so they may last longer. I really don't have any experience with maxing out low fire kilns.
  9. What have you cleaned with this? Your floors? Your walls? I'm thoroughly confused about this. Sounds to me like you have a sewer gas leak.
  10. You'll have to use witness cones and turn it off manually. Not the safest system in the world. With a meter you can check the element resistance and see if the elements are still good. You can replace the switches with general purpose infinite switches. 120 volts, 30 amps with two power cords is a really strange configuration, and may or may not meet current code requirements. I'm assuming the 30 amp draw on the serial plate means the total draw of both sections since the other box doesn't have a serial plate, so to make it work you'll need two separate 120 volt circuits with 20 amp breakers. Each section will pull 15 amps, but code requires that kilns be on breakers that are 25% greater than the draw, but not more than 50% greater, so 20 amp breakers. So you can't just plug it into both sockets of a duplex outlet because those will be on the same circuit and overload it. You need two outlets on separate circuits right next to each other. Extension cords are not allowed. If it were my kiln, I would rewire it for 120/240 volt service with one 4-wire power cord that would be on a 240 volt 20 amp circuit, but that would require a new control box on the kiln or connecting the two boxes with conduit. It's an odd duck for sure.
  11. The cone you fire to doesn't really make a difference, because things start burning out as low as 500F degrees and is pretty well complete by 1900F degrees. Bare minimum you want a fan in the window pulling air out, and sufficient makeup air. If you find that doesn't work, then I recommend getting a downdraft kiln vent.
  12. I think maybe you're working too slowly. It should only take a minute max to sift the plaster into the water, another minute at most to gently hand mix. Then lit it sit for a couple of minutes and then power mix.
  13. No glaze is going to brush well unless it contains a lot of Gerstley Borate or you add the necessary ingredients to make it brushable, namely CMC gum. Typically a gum solution is made with 2 tablespoons of CMC to 1 gallon of water, and the solution is used in place of 1/3-1/2 of the water in the glaze. Since your glaze(s) is already mixed, you don't want to use that solution because there will be way too much water. You could add the CMC directly to the glaze, but it's difficult to get it to mix in well doing it that way. So instead, make up some gum solution that's really thick like snot. Mix 2 tablespoons CMC and 1/4 tsp copper carbonate (preservative) with 1 quart of hot water, let it sit overnight, then blend with a stick blender. If you're using small containers of glaze like pints or quarts, add a spoonful of the snot to the glaze and blend. See how it brushes, and add another spoonful if needed.
  14. I believe that recommendation is to prevent the material from getting into the element grooves. I don't think that switching to another material is necessarily any better in that regard. If you're going to do it, use the material that works the best which would be silica sand, and just be sure not to get any into your elements, and vacuum them out after firing. There is very little shrinkage in a bisque firing, so it's more about even heating/cooling and/or expansion/contraction during the heating/cooling.
  15. I think you'll just have to try it. My gut says 3 kiln is too many, though, and you'll get freezing. How is your kiln constructed? 40 minutes to an hour seems a little long for a typical raku kiln.
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