Cherry

I also use food coloring in liquid wax. Interestingly, red food coloring, which makes the wax pink, turns turquoise a few days after putting on bisque ware, but stays pink in the bottle. Wilson paste colors.

We replaced the thermocouple, my husband made sure all the connections were tight and I fired it last night. It still was over, but if finished! I'll take that, and work on calibrating it next. Thanks for all the help. Cherry

This is a link to the model I have. I think mine is from the late nineties. I bought it from someone in Baltimore about 10 years ago. https://www.paragonweb.com/TNF243_7961111G00.cfm When we checked the amperage last week, the readings were about 18, 12,12, 12, and 18, top to bottom. Those were new as of August 2018. Readings then were about 21, 13, 12, 12,12, and 20. I've ordered a new thermocouple, it'll be here tomorrow or Wednesday. Here is a picture of the wiring. I have my first sale in 14 years in less than 2 weeks!

Will post a photo of the wiring after it has cooled. Cherry

I was wrong. It was relays we replaced. And it shut off at slow speed too.

It had the old Touch n Fire DTC 800 Controller. The Sentry manual suggested firing with a slow speed in order to avoid that FTL message, so that is running now and it's almost to 2000 degrees. This is the third time this load has been to 2000 degrees. Cherry

I have a Paragon SNF 243 . In the last 1 1/2 year, we have replaced the elements, thermocouple, and this week, the controller and the switches. It has been firing about 2 cones above what I program it for, though with a cone higher at the top. Since installing the Sentry 3 controller, I have fired it 4 times. On three of those, it has shut down around 2000 degrees, taking 12- 14 hours to get there. The error code it gives is FTL. The only completed firing was with the kiln empty but for test cones, to cone 4 and that took 9 hours on a fast setting! The others were also to cone 4 but

I learned about paper clay from Jerry in about 2003 but stopped using insulation because I was finding black specks from it in my clay. And they didn't burn out and the discoloration seeped into the glaze. I've been using cotton for years but I just get it at Michael's. I store small amounts in the freezer and that seems to work as well as the fresh made stuff.

Thanks for the warning, I had forgotten about how brittle the elements get. Yes, it was firing accurately before. My studio was a single room with a screened porch. Then, we had windows installed, and insulated and finished the walls, specifically so the kiln would have a separate room. I did one bisque firing, then the cone 6 that failed. When we opened the controller box, a wire between the top element connector and the thermocouple had come loose. It had touched the kiln jacket and melted a hole it. It is an old kiln, I've had very little trouble with it.

Thanks, I'll try that.

My Paragon shut off early. Turned out that the top element wasn't working. My DH tested the other two and their resistance was with in the limits so I only replaced the top one. It fired over. The thermocouple was old and had some cracks, so I replaced it. Then I fired it with just shelves, to cone 6. These pictures show cones 5-9. I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions?

Thanks, the article is great.

My chemistry background is basic but every time I siphon water from a runny glaze or slip, I wonder- Am I changing the chemical make-up an appreciable amount because of solubles I'm removing ? What solubles are there? Am I overthinking this?

I weave coils of clay into lace and had a lot of cracking and breakage before I started using sand. I use it for both firings. I keep it in a metal can made for sprinkling cinnamon sugar or flour- it is bigger than a salt shaker, with bigger holes. After I fire and take my work off the shelf, but before I take the shelf out of the kiln, I use a mini dust pan to pick up the sand. This sand will go back in the shaker for reuse. The shelf gets a more thorough brushing to make sure there is no sand left to fall onto later work.