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Kiln Shelves


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There has been a lot talk lately about kiln shelves and I'm wondering If what I've been doing is correct. To forestall future problems I have some questions

 

I have a 3 cu/ft kiln with 2 full shelves about 15.5" round and two half shelves. The inside diameter of the kiln is about 17". The two half shelves are not the same thickness.

 

1) I've read that the posts should align between shelves and I've been doing that with the 2 full ones. Obviously I can't do that with my two half shelves. I'm using 3 posts on each half shelf, am I creating a problem not aligning the posts to the full size shelves below? If so can you recommend what I should do?

 

2) On one of the full shelves I noticed a line, to my eye it looks like a defect when the shelf was made. I could be wrong about that. Should I be concerned?

 

3) Under my bottom shelf I'm only using 1/2" posts instead of the 1" post that everyone say should be used?. Am I lookinf for trouble?

 

Thanks in advance

 

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when you switch from full to halves you will have nothing under at least one support. Just don't put heavy amounts of pots on those shelves, You could try putting 4 posts under the full shelves and level them with wadding. Then you'd have support for the half shelves. Depend on what the weight load is like.

 

Marcia

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Thanks to both of you.

 

So far... my loads have not been too heavy

 

Marcia I've read about wading but I'm not sure what material that is... sawdust mixed into clay or something else?

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Best wading 50% epk mixed with 50% alumina hydrate add little water ,wedge it together -store in plastic zip lock wet-

 

I like to use 3 point stand everywhere except my full shelve on bottom of electric which has 4 points and wading-that way every 1/2 shelve up from it will be a supported  on 3 point stands. Hope you visualize this. This makes for full support all the way up.

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Sounds like you use only half shelves past the bottom shelf?

Yes thats right the kiln is large skutt 2712 10 cubic feet -its 28 inch's across and the full shelves are a bear to load.I use 1/2 shelves  past bottom and do lots of tumble stacking on top as well.-see my post on tumble stacking ion this is new to you.

For small kilns full shelves are easy to work with-this is not one off them-if you fire a lot of glaze fires in production  as a full time potter advancer shelves make the most sense but I do not use my electrics for anything but an occasional bisque . Most all work is fired in my gas kilns.

Now someone like Mea would benefit from those advancers as she is doing production electric work-they are less than 3/8 inch thick and light-stay flat forever.I use them in all my gas kilns-I use 12x 24s -they now cost about $220each-I have 50 of them.When I started to buy them they where $110 in 5 lots.

here is the link to the electric sizes.

http://kilnshelf.com/advancer-for-electric-kilns

All this is referred as furniture in ceramics and is another whole area of learning.

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that is a very small kiln size.  three posts support shelves well.  if you mark your kiln wall at the top so you always put the 3 posts in the same place, you can use 3 posts on half shelves as well as the full shelf.    the attached picture shows 2 triangles on the top bricks.  the third one is burned almost off.  i renew the marks once in a while with a wide sharpie.

post-2431-0-94551300-1484543292_thumb.jpg

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I store the shelves and posts in the kiln, is this a good or bad idea?

 

Thanks again

The downside is you have to unload them all to load the kiln.Just be careful as you are moving them twice as much inside the chamber you do not bump the walls or elements .The upside is lots of room around the kiln area.

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that is a very small kiln size. 

 

Some day... when I grow up... I promise to get a big kiln :)

 

I know of a 10cu/ft L&L Jupiter J230 digital kiln, practically new. I'm just waiting for the price to be right. Right now they want 10% less than I can get a new one delivered.

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ron, most people start out small.  i will never understand cubic feet as a kiln description since when i bought my first one they were referred to by inches, mine being  18x18.  that one lasted me from 1972 to 1992 or so when i was given a huge one, 27 deep by 23 across.  i sold the small one and it is probably still in use.

 

my brain was fuzzy last night when i told you you could use the same marks for half shelves.  what i meant to say was that a pair of half shelves can fit on 4 posts, each corner sits on half of a post and then one at the widest part.  make more sense?  you can still put sharpie indicators on the top row of bricks so every time you load, the weight is on the same place.

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ron, most people start out small.  i will never understand cubic feet as a kiln description since when i bought my first one they were referred to by inches, mine being  18x18.  that one lasted me from 1972 to 1992 or so when i was given a huge one, 27 deep by 23 across.  i sold the small one and it is probably still in use.

 

my brain was fuzzy last night when i told you you could use the same marks for half shelves.  what i meant to say was that a pair of half shelves can fit on 4 posts, each corner sits on half of a post and then one at the widest part.  make more sense?  you can still put sharpie indicators on the top row of bricks so every time you load, the weight is on the same place.

 

 

Off the top of my head, the kiln is approx 17" wide x 22" deep and yes, four posts make a lot of sense. I'll start doing that.

 

Won't the Sharpie ink burn off?

 

Is it a good idea to always position the posts on the same spot? Can't the floor start to sag under the posts?

 

Anyway, I hope you know I was teasing you about growing up.

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actually, when i grow up i have decided i want to be Betty White.  everyone loves her.  what do you want to be?

 

you can see that the sharpie has burned off at the front edge where i leave a half inch high gap until all gasses are gone.  at least none show up on my mirror as fog.  about 1100 degrees F.

 

there are lots of old posts that encourage people to always use the same places for posts.   if you want to see what is under your kiln, put a mirror on the floor and tilt it until you can see the whole bottom. it is OK, after all, we are never talking about tons of weight on a high heel shoe.

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Betty White is a sweetheart

 

Chet Atkins or Keith Richards, although I look more like Grampa Munster.

 

I've been sticking mirrors in strange places since I started throwing clay, now I need to stick it by my kiln's bottom side. Actually I've already been under there when I was installing the downdraft vent. 18ga galvanized plate. Ok, posts in the same spot from now on, Thanks

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I store the shelves and posts in the kiln, is this a good or bad idea?

 

Thanks again

I keep all my baking pans and cookie sheets in the oven

Ron this may be a better analogy-considering all the brownie talk lately

Downside-you have to move it to use it

upside-the cupboards have more room for other stuff

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