neilestrick Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 51 minutes ago, Bill Kielb said: I think he should figure out why he has a 30 amp cord and only measures 6kw. That is too far off design to have not changed. That info was from Rockhopper, not the OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 18 minutes ago, neilestrick said: That info was from Rockhopper, not the OP. Good Catch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 24, 2019 Report Share Posted March 24, 2019 4 minutes ago, Rockhopper said: Bill - Looks like I confused the issue by posting about my own JW Good kiln that's missing the name-plate, and is somewhat smaller than the OP's .. 6kw probably is at-least a little 'below spec' on mine, since the add-on ring is labeled as 1700w but, with the plate missing on the main body, I don't know what it was originally rated. In my case 6kw calc'd at 240v would be 25amps - so a 30-amp cord seems reasonable. Don't think the OP has actually powered his up yet - or, at-least, hasn't posted any ohm readings or calculations.. Sorry for the confusion. No worries, my miss, just reading through and not paying attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 mae, the knob on the top reads that it is a timer. what it might be for is beyond me but i do see the word "timer" printed on it. maybe neil knows. can you put your phone down inside the kiln so we can see the elements, please? and i have never seen such a short bottom section, what is in it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeclectic Posted March 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 Yes, that top knob says "turn past 20 then set timer" but I don't understand why it's 0-115 if it is a timer? What measurement of time would that be? Minutes doesn't make sense to me, and hours seems excessive. I don't know about that bottom section. I'll have to run up there this evening and get pictures of the inside,I don't have any right now. My friend ran a test fire with a cone 5 witness cone with that top knob on 100 and the timer on the kiln sitter at 20hrs, with all the knobs on high (we think, no mark to turn them to, he assumed up). It ran the full 20 hours and the witness cone was hardly bent at all. I unfortunately wasn't able to get a pic, but will do that this evening as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 Neil is the kiln guy but if it was me this is what I would do 1st the ring on bottom looks like a dead ring (no elements(we have yet to know this for sure as we have yet to see inside) Set the cone sitter with a bisque cone-you can look up this info easy on the dawson setter on the web I would turn the 2 knobs on low with a fully loaded bisque -set the timer to 110 note the time start the kiln-fire for 3 hours and turn the the two knobs to meduim for a few hours then turn two knobs to high and see how long the kiln goes until the sitter turns it off. note the timer time when it shuts off and then you will have the timer hours vs the odd timer numbers.I have seen odd numbers on many an old kiln-you just need to adapt to 1-10 or 110 to zero in terms of time.Yes they seem Radom but the numbers will mean something. After doing this it will all make sense-just keep in mind this is a very old discontenued kiln and without new elements it will behave slowly in terms of firing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 1 hour ago, Maeclectic said: y friend ran a test fire with a cone 5 witness cone with that top knob on 100 and the timer on the kiln sitter at 20hrs, with all the knobs on high (we think, no mark to turn them to, he assumed up). It ran the full 20 hours and the witness cone was hardly bent at all. I unfortunately wasn't able to get a pic, but will do that this evening as well. Here is a thought, usually when something says turn past a certain number it is often a mechanically charged item. Just for snicks I would turn it to thirty or forty and leave it. (No power applied) just to see if was a mechanical timer. After a day or so you might have an answer. If you open the kiln control box and can take some decent pictures we likely can tell how it should work from the point to point wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 25, 2019 Report Share Posted March 25, 2019 That blank ring will make a cone 10 kiln max at out cone 1. No clue on that timer unless it's just another backup timer system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 rockhopper, have you ever used your kiln? just a thought, if you count the elements in the top section, which is known to be 1700 w, can you do the math to see what the rest of it is and get a total? it would be helpful to know how you fire yours, even though it is smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 Ok Maeclectic Open the kiln and leave the lid up or leave lid down and wear a glove and after doing next step open in 5 minutes step two flip the 2 switches to high and turn on kiln and see if all the elemnts are glowing. If not you need new ones.Pretty simple-sort of like your toaster. It either glows or is dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 They could all glow but be worn, but it will at least let you know if they're all working. I would try calling the guys at Euclid's Elements and see if they have any specs on these kilns. They have a lot of info on discontinued kilns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 As Neil says they could all glow but still be very worn-That kiln looks old enough to have some very old elements-as of yet we have not seen them ourselves . Its much easier to diagnose the patient when we can see them -all of them.How about a photo of the inside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 26, 2019 Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 Photo of the inside and decent photo of the inside of the control box will likely answer the top switch question. Just sayin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeclectic Posted March 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2019 Okay, yes, it has been looked in while on. All coils seem to work, and it was a bright orange color while running when I was there the other day. I didn't get a chance to go up there and get those pics yesterday, but I will tonight. I go every Tuesday. Also, i'm in fort wayne, indiana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeclectic Posted March 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 After opening the control panel to get pics inside, I see that top knob is... NOTHING! Lol I assume it was bypassed for the kiln sitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Its adead ring on bottom which will SLOW down any fire to somne degreee. The bad news is those elements that are sagging out of the element groves are near toast .It explains the 20 hour fire alot. New elements are in order from Euclids your cone suport pins are falling out on the inside of the sitter tube as well. time to throw some money at this old kiln-or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 Looks fairly worn element wise. Picture is pretty tough to discern anything but two switches. Is the % timer behind the half round shield in the picture? If so there are no wires going to it. Maybe a mechanical reminder timer of some sort if it is behind there. Hope you tried winding it up past 20 and seeing if it counts down. so lots of blank areas in this kiln as well, top, middle and bottom. I am guessing you will need new elements and all the power you can get to repeatedly fire to cone ten. As a guess, If you put new elements in it likely workable for 04 bisque and with some testing cone 6 glaze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 27, 2019 Report Share Posted March 27, 2019 I would replace all the wiring in that kiln. If someone hired me to do work on that kiln, I wouldn't touch it unless they were willing to have it rewired, too. The blank ring at the bottom must be removed if you want to reach anything above low fire temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted March 28, 2019 Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 The blank on the bottom is a mystery to me, my Skutt is the same size of that kiln and has always been a cone cooler on the bottom. I order elements when it starts to take longer than 12 hours to fire to C6. Last time I rewired my husband thought I was being a little hasty so he got out the meter and checked the elements. I have only had the kiln for 30 years what do I know, of course I was right they were worn out. Denice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted March 28, 2019 Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 It looks like most of the bottom dead space is taken up with a posted round shelve. I am with Neil-get red of the dead ring and but all new wiring and elements in kiln-bigger job as that comapany is long gone. Euclids can do the elemnts-the rest is just finding the right wire. Another thought is start with a better brand of kiln that still has parts? Becuse when you are all done you still have an Edsel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maeclectic Posted March 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 Thank you all for being so helpful. My first thought seeing it was that it needed some work, but with no kiln experience or knowledge... here I am It doesn't belong to *me*, it belongs to a makers space i'm part of. They have one, much smaller newer one we've been using that has an electric control panel and another, slightly smaller (between the other two) that looks similar in age, possibly older, but less confusing controls. That was the one we were hoping to switch to(cone 7 max) but the thermal coupler in its sitter needed replaced and they don't make that model anymore. So they just got this one. However, this one has the same sitter, as well as one I do own myself that's never been tested (need a new line run to my garage for it). The problem is theese guys don't seem to wanna put much money into this. (The other two of the three were given to them free). I guess at this point I just need to talk to them about getting a professional repair guy involved, assuming we can find one close enough. Fort wayne, Indiana. And that tip knob, not only had no wiring to it, but it literally does nothing no matter how far you turn it. We turned it to 100 and it was still on 100 two days later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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