Dick White

With all due respect to Occam shaving with his razor, aren't we complicating things here? Move the picture to your desktop or wherever you keep pictures. Right click on the picture, and one of the options in the top group is "Edit with Paint 3D." Click on that and the picture will open right into Paint 3D. I'm not going to engage a debate whether the new Paint 3D is better or worse than the old Paint (or that both are abominations), but it is Win10's default built-in raster image editing  program. Once in Paint 3D, the crop tool is right there above the image. Click on the crop tool and the image will be surrounded by a white line with little white circles in the corners and midpoints. Push any of them in with the mouse to change how the white lines enclose the part of the picture you want to keep. Click Done when you like it. Then click on in the Canvas item in the tool bar across the top. This will surround the image with square white dots instead of the round ones in crop mode. With your mouse, drag any of the corner spots inward and the image will shrink. (Don't use the spots in the middle of a side - they will squish and distort the image. We just want to smallify it.) When done with this step, go to File and Save As to a new filename. This preserves the original in its full bigified glory. Find the new picture (yeah, Winblows will always put it somewhere you can't easily find it), hover your mouse over it and the preview box will show the file size. It needs to be less than 1 MB to be uploaded here. If the new picture isn't small enough yet, rinse and repeat with the canvas resize feature.

These old Paragon kilns are wired differently than most kilns these days. They are 120/240V, meaning some of the time the switches cause the elements to run on 120V and other times the elements use 240V. Consequently, the 4-wire plug and receptacle with a neutral is essential.  The kiln will not operate properly on a conventional 3-wire 240V circuit. As Marko notes, a 30 amp circuit is minimum, but 40 amps is maximum.  The outlet on the top of the control box is actually 120/240V, and was intended to power an extension ring if desired. Otherwise, it's not good for much else. As for digital controllers, the external wall-mount Skutt KM-1 is not suitable for this kiln. It will only work with a straight 240V 3-wire cord with no neutral. As noted, this kiln requires a neutral. The Orton AF4000 wall-mount controller can be special ordered with the 120/240V circuitry. If you are adventuresome and facile with electrical wiring, you could replace the kiln sitter mechanism with an Olympic ElectroSitter.

These old Paragon kilns are wired differently than most kilns these days. They are 120/240V, meaning some of the time the switches cause the elements to run on 120V and other times the elements use 240V. Consequently, the 4-wire plug and receptacle with a neutral is essential.  The kiln will not operate properly on a conventional 3-wire 240V circuit. As Marko notes, a 30 amp circuit is minimum, but 40 amps is maximum.  The outlet on the top of the control box is actually 120/240V, and was intended to power an extension ring if desired. Otherwise, it's not good for much else. As for digital controllers, the external wall-mount Skutt KM-1 is not suitable for this kiln. It will only work with a straight 240V 3-wire cord with no neutral. As noted, this kiln requires a neutral. The Orton AF4000 wall-mount controller can be special ordered with the 120/240V circuitry. If you are adventuresome and facile with electrical wiring, you could replace the kiln sitter mechanism with an Olympic ElectroSitter.

These old Paragon kilns are wired differently than most kilns these days. They are 120/240V, meaning some of the time the switches cause the elements to run on 120V and other times the elements use 240V. Consequently, the 4-wire plug and receptacle with a neutral is essential.  The kiln will not operate properly on a conventional 3-wire 240V circuit. As Marko notes, a 30 amp circuit is minimum, but 40 amps is maximum.  The outlet on the top of the control box is actually 120/240V, and was intended to power an extension ring if desired. Otherwise, it's not good for much else. As for digital controllers, the external wall-mount Skutt KM-1 is not suitable for this kiln. It will only work with a straight 240V 3-wire cord with no neutral. As noted, this kiln requires a neutral. The Orton AF4000 wall-mount controller can be special ordered with the 120/240V circuitry. If you are adventuresome and facile with electrical wiring, you could replace the kiln sitter mechanism with an Olympic ElectroSitter.

Just a sorta-humorous note along these lines... We had been talking about this, and though the college studio where I am a studio monkey was closed because of the pandemic, I suggested to the professor that she should order some to get us through the however long the shortage might be. We reopened yesterday for modified in-person studio work, and there on a cart were 4 bags of it, enough to last us the rest of millenium.

An issue with the GG and a Shimpo wheel is that the mechanism of the GG is that counterclockwise torque (assuming a typical US counterclockwise wheel) on the base of the GG causes the inertia of the sliding top to press clockwise with respect to the base, which causes the arms to move inward on their spiral tracks. This is exactly the same as the initial tightening on the ware while putting it in the center. This keeps it gripped during the trimming. However,  the Shimpo wheel stops very quickly when you back off the pedal, much faster than other brands. As a consequence, the top of the GG tends to keep some of its counterclockwise momentum with respect to the now stopped base, which has the effect of very slightly loosening the arms. It is at that point where the ware moves off center, but you probably didn't notice it happening.

Ha. For some, this glaze chem stuff IS wilderness camping. All. The. Time.

Ha. For some, this glaze chem stuff IS wilderness camping. All. The. Time.

Ha. For some, this glaze chem stuff IS wilderness camping. All. The. Time.

Ha. For some, this glaze chem stuff IS wilderness camping. All. The. Time.

Ha. For some, this glaze chem stuff IS wilderness camping. All. The. Time.

This may be a bit geeky for the average artist, but with the Genesis controller, you can extract a data file for each of the last 10 firings that lists the setpoints, actual temperatures, and percent of power-on time every 30 seconds. Import that into a spreadsheet like Excel and calculate rates of temperature rise at various stages of the firing and for each section of the kiln. If you are facile with the spreadsheet, you can construct graphics of programmed vs. actual. Like I said, it's a geek's toy, but it can be useful to see where the variances are from expected in the programming and imbalances between the sections. This is particularly useful when elements begin to wear and the ramp rates at higher temperatures begin to significantly lag the program. You can see how the run up to bisque seems to be normal while glaze firings go on forever until the dreaded E1. I've also used this by setting a high ramp rate for a long cooling segment down from peak (set it to over 400F/hr) just to keep the controller from turning the elements on at all while logging the natural cooling rate of the kiln. I doubt you'll find a brand new kiln to be generally lagging the expected program, but it can help diagnose section imbalances that can be tweaked with a thermocouple offset.

What I was trying to do was use my logging pyrometer connected to the same thermocouple as the controller to keep track of what the controller was seeing/doing. I attached a separate wire directly at the thermocouple block. When I noticed the readings bouncing around, I gave the thermocouple back to the controller rather than have the kiln load bolloxed.

What I was trying to do was use my logging pyrometer connected to the same thermocouple as the controller to keep track of what the controller was seeing/doing. I attached a separate wire directly at the thermocouple block. When I noticed the readings bouncing around, I gave the thermocouple back to the controller rather than have the kiln load bolloxed.

As one wag said, anything is possible, but some things are not likely. My one attempt at that was not satisfactory. I connected a separate pyrometer to the same thermocouple as was being used by the kiln's Bartlett controller. The temperature readings went jittery and I couldn't tell what was going on. Haven't tried it since.

As one wag said, anything is possible, but some things are not likely. My one attempt at that was not satisfactory. I connected a separate pyrometer to the same thermocouple as was being used by the kiln's Bartlett controller. The temperature readings went jittery and I couldn't tell what was going on. Haven't tried it since.

The Genesis section of the L&L manual is a reprint of the Bartlett document. It gives a first firing example of a fast glaze fire to cone 04 or whatever cone the manufacturer included for that initial firing, but notes one should follow the kiln manufacturer's instruction if different. L&L provides self supporting cone 5 cones for the initial firing, but also calls for slow bisque, not fast glaze. I doubt the kiln is irretrievably ruined because of fast glaze vs. slow bisque, but my understanding is that the L&L special coating on the bricks needs more that the 04 firing that Skutt (and others) specify. (And yes, you can get out the popcorn when the Skutt crowd starts arguing with the L&L new owners about this in the Facebook groups...) The only thing I would add, mostly for the general edification of anybody reading along here, is don't rely on exactly what happened in the first test firing of an empty kiln. A full kiln will respond differently. Use cones even with a controller to ensure that the controller and thermocouple are working together properly to produce a consistent outcome. After several firings to develop an average of different loadings, tweak the offset as needed to perfect the controller. Keep using cones forever as things will drift with age. Y'all get back to work now.

Well, actually, according to Orton, a self supporting cone is correctly fired when the tip is even with the top of the pyramid supporting base, not touching the cone pack/shelf as with regular cones. But the reality is there probably is only a few degrees/minutes difference between even with the top of the base and the shelf, so no harm. And as Bill pointed out, consistency with your glazes is what matters.

I don't have a paper book copy of the manual here, but the download pdf version has a section titled "First Firing Instructions for L&L Kilns With A Dynatrol 700" immediately before the Bartlett Genesis chapter. That's where the slow bisque business is listed. Which, of course, yours isn't "with a Dynatrol," yours is with a Genesis. So that's poor editorial decision by L&L. And it's probably not the end of the world, but that's how we got where we are. Namely, all in it together.

The Genesis section of the L&L manual is a reprint of the Bartlett document. It gives a first firing example of a fast glaze fire to cone 04 or whatever cone the manufacturer included for that initial firing, but notes one should follow the kiln manufacturer's instruction if different. L&L provides self supporting cone 5 cones for the initial firing, but also calls for slow bisque, not fast glaze. I doubt the kiln is irretrievably ruined because of fast glaze vs. slow bisque, but my understanding is that the L&L special coating on the bricks needs more that the 04 firing that Skutt (and others) specify. (And yes, you can get out the popcorn when the Skutt crowd starts arguing with the L&L new owners about this in the Facebook groups...) The only thing I would add, mostly for the general edification of anybody reading along here, is don't rely on exactly what happened in the first test firing of an empty kiln. A full kiln will respond differently. Use cones even with a controller to ensure that the controller and thermocouple are working together properly to produce a consistent outcome. After several firings to develop an average of different loadings, tweak the offset as needed to perfect the controller. Keep using cones forever as things will drift with age. Y'all get back to work now.

The probable reason it is rated to only cone 6 is the blank ring in the middle. That adds volume but no additional heat. The blank ring can be removed to improve the watts to volume ratio, but that would limit the size of things you could fire.

The probable reason it is rated to only cone 6 is the blank ring in the middle. That adds volume but no additional heat. The blank ring can be removed to improve the watts to volume ratio, but that would limit the size of things you could fire.

An issue with the GG and a Shimpo wheel is that the mechanism of the GG is that counterclockwise torque (assuming a typical US counterclockwise wheel) on the base of the GG causes the inertia of the sliding top to press clockwise with respect to the base, which causes the arms to move inward on their spiral tracks. This is exactly the same as the initial tightening on the ware while putting it in the center. This keeps it gripped during the trimming. However,  the Shimpo wheel stops very quickly when you back off the pedal, much faster than other brands. As a consequence, the top of the GG tends to keep some of its counterclockwise momentum with respect to the now stopped base, which has the effect of very slightly loosening the arms. It is at that point where the ware moves off center, but you probably didn't notice it happening.

Terry Fallon is a wonderful fellow crystallier who was a gas plumber in his day job. He had some serious health issues, and so is not active anymore. His Fallonator was a ConeArt kiln with a standard Bartlett controller that used controller #4 to trigger solenoids to start a flow from a small propane bottle together with a compressor to inject air, all kept in proper balance by an automotive O2 sensor. The objective was to fire to peak in oxidation so the zinc in the crystalline glaze would not volatize, and then start reduction during the the crystal growing phase at lower temperatures. He did not make many of them before his health failed.