Hulk

Update on the cement siding board* bats.
I recommend sanding them smooth, painting/sealing them so the working surface is less abrasive, and trimming the edges with a tile saw (wet saw).
The bats are very stiff, not heavy, store nicely, are easy and not terribly expensive to make, even if paying full retail for a plank or two. 
The material is somewhat brittle; I'm curious to see how they hold up.
Per prior, sanding with the powered random orbital sander gets them smooth enough to use; I used 120 grit discs.
...smooth enough, yes, but I didn't use them - my other bats are smoother.
Also, I can choose between a bit absorbent (powder board), not absorbent at all (plastic), or very absorbent (plaster).
The cement board bats are between "a bit" and "very" absorbent - which I haven't been interested in.
So, I sanded off the six demo bats more, washed and dried them, then shot them with aerosol can "epoxy" paint (I found Krylon appliance paint at the local box store).
The new cement board is "pre primed," hence, two coats seem sufficient.
Between coats, allow to dry, sand off the gloss, clean (!important!), then apply next coat. 
The bats made from older cement board - that isn't pre primed - three coats seem sufficient.
The fibers stick up when wetted by the paint but are easily sanded off once the paint is fully dry.

Above are a few of the second batch of bats (after one coat of paint).
The wet saw cuts are smooth and tight - almost polished. I've knocked the edges off with the sander and rounded off the 45° corners as well.
Clipping the corners at 45°, I recommend that, for even a rounded off 90° doesn't feel good if/when it whacks your hand; besides, the clipped corners are tougher.
In the shot, there's a kitchen squirt container, very handy for glazing; a cut in half sponge; a corner of a sponge, and some greenware.

Here's two of the first batch of bats.
I'd cut the corners and lengths with siding board shears.
The shears leave some crushing along the edges, which is fine for siding hung on a building, but not so much for this application, for little bits will eventually work loose and end up in the reclaim, so these edges were cut back a bit more with the tile saw. I'd tried for a rounded corner, eeh, they look a little ragged.
In the shot is a Skutt wheel, cut in half sponge, a one gallon plastic bucket (coming up on forty years, that bucket), and clothespin chamois keeper.

*Cement siding - HardiPlank here - has embossed wood grain pattern on the "show" side, mostly smooth on the back side.
We're using the back side, which is somewhat smoother than tile backer board's back side, per my assessment...
The plank thickness seems perfect, just enough to cover the bat pins.

Generally, pouring all the water over all the dry can result in a lump of dry stuck to the bottom of the bucket which is a bit harder to mix in - @Kelly in AK’s solution is another instance of patience doing the work while we do something else.

This one from my students. If you manage to wear the skin off your pinky, vet wrap is a good way to protect it. 

I've taken to using the web between the pointer finger and the next finger to compress lips. No extra reaching!
 
best,
Pres

A credit card, pinking shears, and some nice gloopy slip did this. 

@neilestrick
perfect. Thank you so much!

Tiny tips one may have never seen, read, or heard 'bout before.
Flexible metal rib, ideal (almost) for moving insects on the surface of water/glaze/liquid to outside the Studio.
Tiny spiders, gnats, et cetera land on the surface tension - timely removal can prevent a tiny insectoid blob (and the bug can live on!). The rib's edge, just on the surface, allows the bug to change footing without wetting, nor harming them. Step outside, blow the bug gently off the rib, onto a rock, plant, or somewhat. Note the tiny antennae nod of thanks.
Using actual real chamois leather chamois*?
Is it floppy - stretched out - slimy and soft? When next you pour hot water into your throwing bucket, note that your chamois, when exposed to hot water, will shrink and "tighten up" considerably! ...maybe too tight? Don't worry, it will loosen up after while...
It's not rainy today!

*We have an actual leather chamois that was a gift promotion from an auto parts store, decades ago.
I've been trimming strips off of it for pottery use over the last six+ years...

Tiny tips one may have never seen, read, or heard 'bout before.
Flexible metal rib, ideal (almost) for moving insects on the surface of water/glaze/liquid to outside the Studio.
Tiny spiders, gnats, et cetera land on the surface tension - timely removal can prevent a tiny insectoid blob (and the bug can live on!). The rib's edge, just on the surface, allows the bug to change footing without wetting, nor harming them. Step outside, blow the bug gently off the rib, onto a rock, plant, or somewhat. Note the tiny antennae nod of thanks.
Using actual real chamois leather chamois*?
Is it floppy - stretched out - slimy and soft? When next you pour hot water into your throwing bucket, note that your chamois, when exposed to hot water, will shrink and "tighten up" considerably! ...maybe too tight? Don't worry, it will loosen up after while...
It's not rainy today!

*We have an actual leather chamois that was a gift promotion from an auto parts store, decades ago.
I've been trimming strips off of it for pottery use over the last six+ years...

after more than 20 years i have finally tossed a very few of the duron bats made in the 1990s.  never wired off a piece on duron bats.  using a 4x8 sheet gave me tons of 5x5 bats to fit inside one that is about a 12 inch circle.  

Hulk,
thanks so much for your recommendations! Hesselberths site is very useful, I’ll be sure to check out your other suggestions 

It seemed like a given that they can and many of us do this but I reached out to the Ceramic Shop to ask them specifically. They make, sell and wholesale posts to other ceramic suppliers in the US and elsewhere. (they make triangular and square ones)
Their reply: 
"Thanks for reaching out!  

To my knowledge, yes, they can be used on their sides. Kiln posts are made to be the most stable on their top ad bottom though and they will take up extra room in the kiln on their side. If you need a smaller kiln post for some works you can check these out:  https://www.theceramicshop.com/product/148/kiln-post-1/ 

All of our kiln posts are rated to cone 10. 

Best, 
Syd"

Old credit cards make good bench-scrapers and ribs. They can be cut into any profile  needed for shaping and trimming pots, smoothing seams and surfaces. Notching the edges of the card will give you many kinds of texture possibilities. 

Friends! I am happy to report a successful Cone 10+ firing in my mystery kiln! I have attached a picture of my cone packs at every level, with Cone 7, 8, 9, and 10 from left to right in each cone pack. Top of the kiln hit a hard Cone 10, and the bottom of the kiln just liquified all the cones. To fully liquify the Cone 10 like that, I am guessing I might have reached Cone 12+ on the bottom? Hard to be sure.
First, using no damper, I fired the kiln up to about 2100 F by having my gas pressure as high as it would go with no standing flame from the vent. I wanted to see how hot I could get with an oxidizing atmosphere. If I avoided any standing flame from the vent, the kiln seemed to stall at around 2100 F. 
Then I slowly adjusted my gas pressure upwards and used the pyrometer to simply make sure that kiln temperature was increasing. I started to get a small standing flame from the vent, but I ignored it. I just watched the pyrometer. Every time the kiln stalled, I increased the gas just a bit. It was a painstaking process, but by making tiny adjustments to the gas pressure, I was able to hit a max temp of 2303 F based on my pyrometer. Less gas would make the temp start to drop. More gas would make the temp start to drop. So with no damper, I had found the optimal gas flow rate to maximize kiln temp.
Note that at this point of maximum temp, I had a significant standing flame coming out of the vent (see picture). That means my kiln reached peak temp with enough gas flow to have significant reduction going on. This surprised me - I had assumed having extra unburned gas flowing through the kiln would cool things down, but the data was clear - I reached peak temp with a nice standing flame from the vent. 
I then did some experiments to test out the effect of a damper. Keeping the kiln stalled at that peak of 2303 F, I slid the damper on just a fraction of an inch. That made the temp drop. If I slid the damper on more, that just made the temp drop more.
I took off the damper and got back to 2303 F, and then tried sliding on the damper while simultaneously decreasing gas pressure. I assumed I would be able to play with more damper/less gas and maintain the peak temp, but it didn't work that way. The damper made the temp drop. Deceasing the gas made the temp drop. I could not find a combination of more damper/less gas that reached my peak of 2303 F - every combination of conditions was cooler. 
So that part of controlling the kiln is still a mystery. I blew past Cone 10 with no damper and a significant reducing flame coming from the vent. Any use of a damper made the kiln cooler no matter what else I did.
Given my results and what I described, I would appreciate thoughts on how to play with that damper/gas flow combination of factors.
In the meantime, I can certainly get this little kiln to Cone 10 temp just by adjusting the gas flow!
Thank you to everyone that's been reading my posts and giving me excellent ideas and suggestions on what to do.
 
 
 

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Somewhere to start might be looking at Terra Sig with added materials such as salt, soda ash, oxides and stain and borax. Washes would be another avenue to experiment with. . Also have a look at Mary Fox’s work where she uses lithium carb plus copper for a dry surface. (on some of her lowfire sculptural work)
This articles from Pottery Making Illustrated might be a good place to start for alternative surfaces. It’s behind a paywall but you can access 3 free articles a month.
https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/pottery-making-illustrated/pottery-making-illustrated-article/In-the-Studio-Washes-and-Patinas#
Perry’s wash recipes are for cone 10, for lower firing adding flux would probably be necessary for some of them. Also, firing in oxidation rather than reduction will make a difference with some of them.
http://shambhalapottery.blogspot.com/2013/03/happy-st-paddys-day.html
Pit firing would be another avenue to explore.
 
 
 
 

cool.  I wanted so much to know if it lived up to the hype.  have been building a fish all day, and because i needed to add feet (I always put feet on my fish), i have to let the body set up a while and add the feet, and then the fins--just did that, so we will see what it looks like in the morning.  here is the photo so far  so far just making what I can use up without letting it get stinky.

I used paper clay for a couple of years. It lives up to all that hype! It’s much more forgiving about when you attach pieces, so if you’ve got time constraints, it’s a great material.
The 2 main things you want to watch are the stink from cellulose breakdown, and to be mindful that then end piece will be somewhat more friable than the same piece made out of regular clay would be. How much more friable will depend on how much pulp you add. 
The rot can be managed in a few ways, the easiest being to only mix up what you’ll use in a short time frame. The next easiest is to prepare a larger batch, and dry it out in really thin sheets that can be stored and rehydrated as needed. 
 

Thanks for all the replies wonderful people. I appreciate it.

Belt issue now resolved.  Called Brent again and spoke to different person who clarified that Amaco Brent part number 22037T describes a pair of separate v-belts, (not a single twin-groove belt in the style of the 4 and 6-groove belts on modern wheels as I was told previously).  This part number is not available directly from Brent Amaco, only through distributors, and is currently in stock at The Ceramic Shop whose website describes it as a pair of 42-1/2" x 3/16" belts for a model CX wheel.  Expect to receive the belts shortly and have this wheel back up and running.
Much appreciate the help on this forum.

Tiny tips one may have never seen, read, or heard 'bout before.
Flexible metal rib, ideal (almost) for moving insects on the surface of water/glaze/liquid to outside the Studio.
Tiny spiders, gnats, et cetera land on the surface tension - timely removal can prevent a tiny insectoid blob (and the bug can live on!). The rib's edge, just on the surface, allows the bug to change footing without wetting, nor harming them. Step outside, blow the bug gently off the rib, onto a rock, plant, or somewhat. Note the tiny antennae nod of thanks.
Using actual real chamois leather chamois*?
Is it floppy - stretched out - slimy and soft? When next you pour hot water into your throwing bucket, note that your chamois, when exposed to hot water, will shrink and "tighten up" considerably! ...maybe too tight? Don't worry, it will loosen up after while...
It's not rainy today!

*We have an actual leather chamois that was a gift promotion from an auto parts store, decades ago.
I've been trimming strips off of it for pottery use over the last six+ years...

Tiny tips one may have never seen, read, or heard 'bout before.
Flexible metal rib, ideal (almost) for moving insects on the surface of water/glaze/liquid to outside the Studio.
Tiny spiders, gnats, et cetera land on the surface tension - timely removal can prevent a tiny insectoid blob (and the bug can live on!). The rib's edge, just on the surface, allows the bug to change footing without wetting, nor harming them. Step outside, blow the bug gently off the rib, onto a rock, plant, or somewhat. Note the tiny antennae nod of thanks.
Using actual real chamois leather chamois*?
Is it floppy - stretched out - slimy and soft? When next you pour hot water into your throwing bucket, note that your chamois, when exposed to hot water, will shrink and "tighten up" considerably! ...maybe too tight? Don't worry, it will loosen up after while...
It's not rainy today!

*We have an actual leather chamois that was a gift promotion from an auto parts store, decades ago.
I've been trimming strips off of it for pottery use over the last six+ years...

You need a timer knob as yours is missing as well.

Thanks! Your maintenance manual here https://aakilns.com.au/pdf/Duncan_Kiln_Service_Manual.pdf but if you have never fired a manual kiln, there are some steps to learn and detailed in the operating manual below.
This is a 24 amp kiln and the manufacture specifies 30 amp breaker, 40 amps is too large per the manufacture and North American Code.so this should really be protected with a 30 amp breaker Page 58 of 75 in the maintenance manual, bottom right corner of the electrical drawing show amperage, wire size and breaker 
This is a manual kiln that requires the safety countdown timer be set for some period greater than the time it will take to fire. So if the firing is expected to take 8 hours, the timer must be set to something greater such as 9 hours. It is for safety and if it is on or reaches zero your kiln will shut off. Did you set the timer for something greater than zero when you tested? The kiln sitter to be activated  using an appropriate cone and then arming it by depressing the plunger  Page 7 and Page 28 -33 Did you place a cone in the sittter and depress the plunger? Finally the two knobs are turned up gradually throughout the firing (they are know as infinite switches )such as two hours on low, two hours on medium and finally to high until the kiln sitter shuts off the kiln. Page 21 - 24 The manual above provides maintenance for all the components, operating this kiln is better described here https://eadn-wc04-7751283.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/LX851_Duncan_Energy_Saver_Owner_Manual.pdf
Last note, this kiln is rated to cone 8 if firing to cone 6 routinely you will get a moderate number of cone 6 firings before the elements will need replacement. Cone 10 rated kilns provide considerably more firings before element replacement when routinely fired to cone 6. The maintenance manual has element resistance measurements listed. If the elements have risen by 10% in resistance, it’s time for replacement to make cone 6 temperatures.

Hi everyone, I fired it according to my schedule, with only three hours at 80C to start with and kept the soak at 30 minutes at the end. 
It turned out well, am very happy with it. 
It's a Japanese style stone tea lantern. they are sold in my local garden centre, they are quite expensive so I made my own!
I've out it in my wildlife garden next to our little pond. 
 

When my husband started repairing my kilns he would watch the Skutt repair video's just to make sure he did everything right.   My dryer quit working several months ago,  he didn't want to work on it just wanted to buy new one.   We bought  Speed Queens because they were so easy to fix,  I look up a video and check it out.   There is a hidden door on the machine,  open it up and there is two parts right in front of you that could cause the problem.  He went to the supply store and told them what he was working on,  the clerk grabs a part out of big box and says you want one of these they break all of the time.  Fixed the dryer for twelve dollars instead of spending three thousand on a new set.    Denice

I do my best to keep my kilns in tip-top shape myself but I have been VERY LAX at doing replacements and repairs until this past year.  Both of my kilns have performed flawlessly since I got them 20 years years ago  (10  years of that very hard use, 10 years of very little or no use while they were in storage when I was ill) since I got them and I've really had no issues and needed to replace NOTHING, not even a relay.  Two years ago my first relay failed on my small Olympic and that was my first time dipping my toes into replacing of parts. 
Since then I have dived into gutting and rewiring my kilns and replacing just about everything in the electronic controllers except for the mother boards themselves.  I've also obtained patching and recoating materials.  With those efforts and vacuuming them out before every glaze firing, I've managed to keep my big Skutt in like new condition.  My Olympic is showing more wear - cracked floor and  few chips with some discoloration on the outside.  But overall they are still almost good as new, still shiny cases!
No clue how to rate myself in terms of my so called expertise but man, I'm not afraid to dive into just about anything.  As I'm fond of saying "There's a Youtube vidoe for just about everything..."  and it's usually true!  It doesn't matter if it's repairing a home appliance,  your chainsaw,  motorcycle, kiln, or your home, the internet is great to walk you through it.