Piedmont Pottery

+1 for the clay being the problem, not the ash. Or at least less the ash. Glazes with clay in them also shrink when they dry, not just your pots. 
Another idea would be to calcine part or all of the ball clay if you don’t want to change any materials. You will have to do a little math to keep the proportions the same, because the calcined clay will weigh less than the raw, but will be supplying the same amount of oxides. 
The low math version of doing this involves weighing the clay you want to calcine, fire it and add it to your glaze bucket. eg, if your recipe has 20% ball clay and you want to calcine half of it, you’d weigh 10% to be fired first and the other 10% as usual. 
 
If you want to figure it out by math, you’ll have to look up the specific LOI (loss on ignition) of the brand you’re using and reduce the weight of the calcinend portion by that amount. 

After you slam it down, don't go directly into an upward coning. Instead start with a forceful pressing down into the hockey puck shape.  Then proceed with coning. This helps with adhesion.

I like to use Veegum T to fix short batches of reclaim.  I keep a tub of hydrated Veegum next to the pugmill.  After each batch is mixed, I test for shortness, and if needed, put in a small scoop full of the hydrate Veegum and mix some more.  Veegum is expensive, but it doesn't take a lot to fix a batch of clay.

I agree strongly.  India ink enhanced crazing can be very dramatic and beautiful.  If you or the gallery owner can't live with the result, the ink will burn off if you refire the piece.

I like to use Veegum T to fix short batches of reclaim.  I keep a tub of hydrated Veegum next to the pugmill.  After each batch is mixed, I test for shortness, and if needed, put in a small scoop full of the hydrate Veegum and mix some more.  Veegum is expensive, but it doesn't take a lot to fix a batch of clay.

I agree strongly.  India ink enhanced crazing can be very dramatic and beautiful.  If you or the gallery owner can't live with the result, the ink will burn off if you refire the piece.

I agree strongly.  India ink enhanced crazing can be very dramatic and beautiful.  If you or the gallery owner can't live with the result, the ink will burn off if you refire the piece.

Well I ended up emailing Rob Battey as suggested. Think I’m going to end up with the L&L e23T-3 with quad elements and vent sure system. Thanks again all!

Many commercial underglazes just don't hold up at cone 10. They start to flux out and that causes them to behave poorly when you put a glaze over them. If you're just looking for black or blue, you'd probably be better off making your own underglaze or slip. If you do want to use commercial underglazes, each color will need to be tested to see how it holds up and cone 10 and with your clear glaze.

I agree strongly.  India ink enhanced crazing can be very dramatic and beautiful.  If you or the gallery owner can't live with the result, the ink will burn off if you refire the piece.

Rub ink into the crackles and say, “I meant to do that”?

That is a perfectly good used wheelhead.  You could clean it up a bit with some steel wool.

@davidh4976 Sounds like you got it figured out.
For future reference, and for others that may read this:
1. When the breaker trips immediately when the elements turn on, then there's a short in the system somewhere. Usually it's in the kiln, like a relay has melted out or a wiring connection has fried and there's a bare wire making contact with the kiln body, or it wasn't wired properly when you repaired it. In rare instances the short could be in the outlet or the wires from the outlet to the breaker.
2. When the breaker trips after the kiln has been on for a few minutes (or longer), then  it's a breaker issue. Either the breaker is the wrong size, or it's old and worn out.

I know zilch about wheels, but loud pops can be caused by an electrolytic capacitor blowing.
Can you post a picture of the component side of the circuit board?

Are those whits spots holes in the drum? 
 
Looks too far gone for me to touch. The metal us really pitted. Have you seen it with the auger turning? Can't see this pugmill lasting or even working for long.

Most buyers of used studio equipment are hobby potters, and people looking for a used slab roller are looking for a deal. Unfortunately Brents are not one of the more desirable models due to the way you have to add or remove boards to adjust the thickness of the slab. It's also a very long, which can be difficult to fit in a lot of home studios, and the cable system is not fun to replace when they wear out. There are good new slab rollers with infinite dial adjustments and a smaller footprint like Shimpo or Northstar that sell for $1000-1500, so I think that realistically you need to come in under that.

two layers of 1/2” Hardibacker board will give you some peace. No mixing plaster, woohoo! Great to wedge on, dimensionally satble, easy to get. I still use it for wedging and working surfaces, as well as ware boards. Pulls water out aggressively. It will saturate eventually, the same issue happens to terra cotta planter plates which I also use for small batches. Of course it happens with plaster too, 

I have a plaster free studio.
I use both flower pot plates and hardie backer board for dewatering clay (which I do a lot of). The 1/2” board I use is smooth. The 1/4” is rough and gets saturated very quickly, I use it for ware boards after sanding it smooth. My wedging table is topped with two layers of 1/2” backer board and works great. It sucks water out so well I have to wipe it with a sopping sponge if I want to use it as a work surface. No warping. The only chore with the 1/2” is cutting it, and I find that easier than mixing and pouring gallons of plaster.
The flower pot plates also saturate fairly quickly. I have put slop in them and stacked ‘em to save space. 

No, it does not warp. In my experience, Hardibacker brand is the best of the several available brands. Be aware that there are 3 types of Hardibacker - one is 1/4" thick and two are 1/2" thick. Of the two that are 1/2" thick, one is the original Hardibacker which is somewhat absorbent but is not degraded by the moisture; and the other is a new super non-absorbent type. It can be distinguished from the original type both by price (it's more expensive per sheet) and one side of it is lightly sprayed with a red "paint." Get the original for its absorbency, not the red one. The 1/4" stock is also the original type, so choose the thickness that suits your intended usage.

Finally got the new belts and it was definitely the issue! I read that you can still throw with broken belts but it was messing me up big time so I don’t recommend. 

Interesting point. Our raku glazes do best at 1850 or maybe even a bit hotter than that. I typically judge by the look and not so much by the pyrometer, so maybe I can judge the color for obvara...

Wollastonite has a much lower LOI than whiting (1.6% vs 43.9%) and has a lower thermal expansion coefficient (9.0 vs 14.8) (data from DigitalFire).  Wollastonite also provides silica in addition to calcium.   My glazes are high silica/low expansion by design, and wollastonite gets me there.  And finally, Wollastonite cost me $0.59/pound the last time I bought it, whereas whiting cost me $1.17/pound.  I'm sure I could rework my recipes to substitute whiting, but there is a certain amount of inertia involved in doing that, as I'm generally happy with the way my glazes are behaving on my clay.

Wollastonite has a much lower LOI than whiting (1.6% vs 43.9%) and has a lower thermal expansion coefficient (9.0 vs 14.8) (data from DigitalFire).  Wollastonite also provides silica in addition to calcium.   My glazes are high silica/low expansion by design, and wollastonite gets me there.  And finally, Wollastonite cost me $0.59/pound the last time I bought it, whereas whiting cost me $1.17/pound.  I'm sure I could rework my recipes to substitute whiting, but there is a certain amount of inertia involved in doing that, as I'm generally happy with the way my glazes are behaving on my clay.

For sure you can get the chem to match using silica + calcium carb for wollastonite. I've done the reverse with recipes calling for calcium carb and subbed in wollastonite and reducing the silica in the recipe so the formulas match. What I found was the wollastonite versions melted noticeably more.  Some recipes won't show a difference, depends on glaze mobility and how much CaO is involved. I think another factor is the mesh size of the silica being used in the recipes. Perhaps very fine silica, ie 90 micron compared to 45 micron would show a difference in the melt if used with calcium carb? I've always thought of wollastonite as being like a frit, albeit a lumpy one, it melts really well and with minimal LOI.

It's odd to have a gap between sections like that. It could very well be the cause of the problem down there, or at least a partial cause. There are ways to fix that with some work on the bricks, but the easy solution would be to lay a thin layer of fiber under the bottom row of bricks, to seal up any gaps. Lay it all the way around, full width of the bricks, and set the ring on it. It'll compress where the bricks fit tight, and fill gaps where they're not. I would not try to mortar the gap.
Smear some mortar in the floor cracks. Not a big deal.
Did you have a shelf at the bottom? You need one down there, up on 1/2" posts. Otherwise the bottom will definitely run cold.
When you load the kiln, at the bottom you should put low mass pots like bowls or tall pieces, pack the middle section really tight, put whatever's left at the top, preferably semi-tight.
Also check your elements with a meter to see if their resistance is correct. Could be the bottom is worn more than the others, which is not uncommon.