~janie Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 I have one of the first programable kilns made by Paragon. I am happy enough with it, in that it is in wonderful condition, regardless of it's age, and I just have a smaaaallll problem with it. We had a malfunction and found that we needed to replace the elements, which we did. We fired a load of bisque, and programmed it for ^06, which according to the chart on the front of the kiln is 1851 F. I put witness cones- ^06 only, on each of 4 shelves. Every cone was melted to the shelf; not quite a puddle, but close. So, I thought maybe I could compensate when I fired a load of glazed work. I programmed the kiln to ^5, and used witness cones of ^5 and ^6 on each shelf. The ^5 was about flat, the ^6 was bent over touching the cookie it was placed on. The cones were placed 4-5" from the wall of the kiln. To compound my problem, the chart on the kiln says that ^5 is 2151F, the cones are Orton cones, and I believe ^6 is 2230, or close to that anyway. Thus, I am deducing that my kiln is way over firing. My husband is working a lot of hours right now, no way I can ask him to replace the thermocoupling right now. But I still need to get some work out. Can I safely use my kiln, and how would I estimate how to program it for Laguna clay, B-Mix 5, which is a reliable ^5-6 clay? Or am I asking too much? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnold Howard Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 I have one of the first programable kilns made by Paragon. I am happy enough with it, in that it is in wonderful condition, regardless of it's age, and I just have a smaaaallll problem with it. We had a malfunction and found that we needed to replace the elements, which we did. We fired a load of bisque, and programmed it for ^06, which according to the chart on the front of the kiln is 1851 F. I put witness cones- ^06 only, on each of 4 shelves. Every cone was melted to the shelf; not quite a puddle, but close. So, I thought maybe I could compensate when I fired a load of glazed work. I programmed the kiln to ^5, and used witness cones of ^5 and ^6 on each shelf. The ^5 was about flat, the ^6 was bent over touching the cookie it was placed on. The cones were placed 4-5" from the wall of the kiln. Janie, does your kiln have the DTC 100C controller with the gray and blue keypad? How far does the thermocouple extend into the firing chamber? I would lower the temperature by about 20 degrees F. I am glad you are using witness cones. That greatly simplifies trouble shooting. As long as a digital kiln fires consistently, it is fairly easy to correct the firing schedule. Sincerely, Arnold Howard Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 My smaller kiln tends to overfire a little bit at cone 6, but my big kiln does not. So I used the Cone Offset function to lower the temperature of cone 6 by 15 degrees, and now they fire the same. Your controller should have a similar option. If your glazes look fine, then I would not worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~janie Posted June 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Thanks for your quick response. My kiln does indeed have the DTC 100C controller with the gray and blue keypad. The thermocouple extends into the chamber 1 3/8". This is a pretty straightforward program, very simple. I don't think it has the Cone Offset function. I very much appreciate the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnold Howard Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for your quick response. My kiln does indeed have the DTC 100C controller with the gray and blue keypad. The thermocouple extends into the chamber 1 3/8". This is a pretty straightforward program, very simple. I don't think it has the Cone Offset function. I very much appreciate the advice. Janie, you are correct. The DTC 100C does not have cone offset. Merely adjust the firing temperature. By the way, the DTC 100C is Paragon's first controller. We designed and manufactured it at the factory. During the early 90s we outsourced our controller to Bartlett Instruments. The DTC 100C became the Bartlett DTC 600C with added features such as six segments, controlled cooling, cone fire, etc. Sincerely, Arnold Howard Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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