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Auto Firing Programs


JohnnyK

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Hi All...

I just got an Orton Auto-fire programmer for my kilns and would like some suggestions for sources for firing programs from bisque to crystalline glazes and everything in between. Any help would really be appreciated!

Thanks,

JohnnyK

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Johnny:

Orton 2.0 or 4.0? ... I have both of them, either will work.

Firing cycles for cone 6 or cone 10 have very little differences in parameters other than peak temp. The primary concern is the ability of your kiln to reach the last 150F in an hour or less because of the fluidity of crystalline glaze. When firing bisq pieces in a glaze firing, you can climb anywhere from 250F up to 400F an hour to just under peak: I know a few who blow through at 500F an hour. Pick your poison up to 150F less than peak: then use 150F an hour to peak. The one thing that does not work very well is firing below peak with an extended hold to achieve a higher cone: this will cause most of your glaze to end up in the catcher.

Crystals are grown in "ramp holds" that can vary widely. There is roughly a 50F variance in formation type: 1940/50F, or 1990/2000F, and finally 2040/50F typically produce round "floret" crystals. It takes a fair amount of firings to zone in on the perfect hold temp for your recipe/kiln: crystals are fickle little creatures.

 

910 Test

 
You can also use hi/low ramp holds to produce rings inside the crystal as illustrated in this pic. From the nucleus to the first ring is 2 hours, the first ring is 30 minutes at a lower temp, then back to higher temp for 2 hours, then back to lower temp for 30 minutes: producing the outer ring.
Nerd
 
Edit note: if firing to cone 10, you will have to use a yellow zinc like Denzox or Maximo 417 or 910. Cerox 506 was taken off the market: the only french process zinc able to hit cone 10. At cone 6, you can use a host of French process zinc because you will not exceed their vaporization temps. I personally use 500XL, which is not available in the open clay market. If you want to try it, PM me and I will get you connected. Imsil A25 is also the best silica for crystals because of its purity level.
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  • 3 years later...

Hi, I just bought an Aim kiln with the Orton Autofire Express Ramp/Hold model. I came across this thread looking for advice and realized that I have a similar question. Since my kiln does not have pre-programmed firings, what is a good schedule for a cone 5/6 stoneware? I've contacted a lot of potters and stores and cannot figure out a simplified way to set a program. I'm also quite confused about what the optimal cone/temp to fire to for the clay, as every website says something different. Please let me know. Thank you.

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6 hours ago, GabeGalper said:

Hi, I just bought an Aim kiln with the Orton Autofire Express Ramp/Hold model. I came across this thread looking for advice and realized that I have a similar question. Since my kiln does not have pre-programmed firings, what is a good schedule for a cone 5/6 stoneware? I've contacted a lot of potters and stores and cannot figure out a simplified way to set a program. I'm also quite confused about what the optimal cone/temp to fire to for the clay, as every website says something different. Please let me know. Thank you.

In general you clay and glazes will match with respect to the cone they fire to. It sounds like you will fire to cone 5-6 which is midrange so your clay should be fired fully to the cone it is rated. So fire cone 5 clay to cone 5 and cone 6 clay to cone 6 to make it fully fired, as strong as it can be and will also make it less absorbent to liquids.. Match your glaze to your clay within reason and you are off to a good start.

As far as schedules, bisque firing is important to burnout contaminants that can ruin your glaze so definitely follow an established proven schedule in the beginning until you learn more about clay. Then tinker based on your knowledge if you like. For glaze firing there is not too much to it other than the speed you and your wares are comfortable going.

so to start I suggest you download a Bartlett controller manual and use one of their established schedules as a starting point. These controllers are probably on 90% of the kilns made in the states for the last ten years and their schedules have proven pretty sound.

Here is a link,  at the top of page 17 there are some basic schedules you can just copy into your controller.The slow bisque is the safer of the two as far as complete burnout.  At some point you may learn enough to change these for specific reasons of which there are many. This is likely a good start though. The slow and fast glaze schedules are immediately adjacent to the bisque.

https://www.greatkilns.com/media/pdf/operating-manuals/V6CF_Manual.pdf

 

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Here are the firing profiles that you'll find in the controllers made by Bartlett, that are used by Skutt, L&L, Olympic, etc. Just copy the ones you need into your controller. For most people Fast Bisque and Slow Glaze work fine. If you have dark clay bodies you may want to do Slow Bisque. HERE is a manual for your controller. It may be slightly different depending on which model you have, but the button sequence should be the same.

Dynatrol Fire Profiles Error Codes.pdf

 

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On 4/9/2020 at 7:05 AM, neilestrick said:

Here are the firing profiles that you'll find in the controllers made by Bartlett, that are used by Skutt, L&L, Olympic, etc. Just copy the ones you need into your controller. For most people Fast Bisque and Slow Glaze work fine. If you have dark clay bodies you may want to do Slow Bisque. HERE is a manual for your controller. It may be slightly different depending on which model you have, but the button sequence should be the same.

Dynatrol Fire Profiles Error Codes.pdf 581.45 kB · 2 downloads

 

I'm also on here scrolling around trying to get more educated about firing schedules. My Skutt has Slow, Medium and Fast settings but doesn't specify bisque or glaze.   The manual only shows the firing schedule for each speed at cone 04. Does anyone know where I could get my hand's on a document like this that lists Skutt's firing profiles?  They recommend using medium for glaze and slow for bisque but I'm curious to compare the Skutt pre-set schedules and maybe  program in the  Bartlet fast bisque schedule to reduce my firing time if it differs significantly from the Skutt slow schedule. 

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2 hours ago, myrtle said:

 

I'm also on here scrolling around trying to get more educated about firing schedules. My Skutt has Slow, Medium and Fast settings but doesn't specify bisque or glaze.   The manual only shows the firing schedule for each speed at cone 04. Does anyone know where I could get my hand's on a document like this that lists Skutt's firing profiles?  They recommend using medium for glaze and slow for bisque but I'm curious to compare the Skutt pre-set schedules and maybe  program in the  Bartlet fast bisque schedule to reduce my firing time if it differs significantly from the Skutt slow schedule. 

On Skutt kilns, 'medium' works fine for most situations. If you're firing very dark clay and have glaze pinholing problems, you should try 'slow' for your bisque firings.

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