neilestrick

HERE. They're actually made for electric ovens and whatnot. A dial that goes from 1 to 6, usually. Easy to install, easy to wire up- two hots in from the Sitter, two hots out to the elements. The switch cycles power on and off to control how quickly the elements heat up. They can only handle 15 amps, so they are generally used on smaller kilns where a pair of elements draw less than 15 amps. On larger kilns with element pairs that draw more than 15 amps you can use a 4 position switch like Skutt kilns use, which can handle 20 amps. I would not try to put any electronics directly into the kiln control box. It does not have adequate heat protection for that. You'd want to wire the Sitter directly to the elements and plug the kiln into an external box that houses all the electronics and relay(s). A controller built for kilns like the Bartlett Genesis is the simplest way to go. Easy to install and set up, and it has cone firing modes so it's easy to use for clay work.

Yes, you can wire the elements in series and run them on 240 volts (no neutral). I did that recently to one of these kilns. I don't think the existing switches would work, though, unless they have a way to wire them without the neutral. I would just swap them out for infinite switches, which are cheap and provide better control.

Since the serial plate on the main kiln body of the Paragon reads 120/240 volts, it needs to be wired up as a 4 wire system- 2 hots, neutral, ground. Your Duncan is a 3 wire system- 2 hots, ground. The Duncan sends 240 volts through the elements, so both hots are connected to all the elements and complete the circuit that way. The Paragon takes the 2 hots and separates them, running 120 volts to the top half of the kiln and 120 volts to the bottom half. The neutral is required to complete the 120 volt circuit. At some point a 3 wire power cord was connected to the Paragon. If they rewired the kiln to work as a 3 wire system that's fine, but if it's got the original wiring setup then it won't work properly. None of this has anything to do with the power button on the Sitter not staying engaged. That is a separate issue that needs to be dealt with. Unfortunately the wiring situation is going to be difficult to diagnose over the internet. Do you have any experience with wiring? Because the place to start (after getting the power button to catch) will be to figure out what's going on inside the control box and see if the 3 wire power cord will work. We can try to do it with photos, otherwise you'll want to call in a kiln tech to take a look at it.

HERE is a good conversion.

Talk to Cress, it may just need an simple inexpensive part. Trimming it down to two infinite switches would be cheap, though, about $30 per switch.

Ahh, so it has the thumb wheel and all that. Cress is going to be the best help here. If you ned to replace things in there and they're pricey (which they can be), you could wire each element to its own infinite switch and forget the thumb wheel, relay, and timer. You would just have to manually turn it up then.

A properly designed wood burning kiln could reach cone 14. Firing to cone 6 would be no problem, however if that's the temp you plan to fire to then you would want a kiln that produces very little ash, otherwise you'll have dry ash on your pots. The other option would be to fire your pots in saggars to protect them from the ash. To get the effects that you see in most wood fired pottery (ash glaze), you need to fire to at least cone 9 for the ash to melt well.

I'm not familiar with that system. Cress has a few oddballs out there. I can't find a wiring diagram for it, either. This is different than the issue with the Sitter in the other thread you're following, as that kiln does not have that timer. Does turning the timer knob have any affect on it? All I can say is that you could wire directly from the Sitter to the infinite switch and not use the timer, but without a wiring diagram I can't be certain about that. Are there any relays or anything else in the box?

If the Sitter power button won't stay engaged, spray a little WD-40 to the backside of the Sitter plate- there's a small wire spring and another part that move to catch the button- then push the button in and out a bunch of times and see if it'll catch. Sometimes the mechanism gets corroded/gummed up. You may not hear buzzing on low like you do on high. Totally depends on the kiln. Some kilns don't hardly buzz at all, some buzz really loud.

Sometimes the Sitter mechanism gets gummed up or corroded. Unplug the kiln, access the back side of the Sitter, and look for the flat parts that are mounted to the back side of the Sitter plate. There's a wire spring an another part that moves when the button goes in and out. Spray a little WD-40 on those parts and push the button in and out a bunch of times and see if it'll catch.

I would explore venting the enclosure better. A small computer case fan is super cheap and will do a great job of keeping things cooled off. Opening the kiln at 500C is not great for any kiln furniture you may have in there- shelves, posts, etc. They're pretty tough but not really made for extreme thermal shock resistance. Keeping the elements on while in there is an electrocution hazard for you. European kilns have a lid switch to prevent that.

Did you leave the kiln on while your were moving the stuff inside? Sounds like maybe the SSR has a built-in thermal management switch and it got too hot? Do you have heat sinks and/or a cooling fan on the SSR's? You should. If it's a wall mount box then you can probably get by with just heat sinks. If it's mounted close to the kiln I would install a cooling fan.

Make sure the Kiln Sitter timer is not at zero.

Does the Kiln Sitter have a timer? If so, make sure it's turned up, as the power button will not stay engaged if the timer is at zero.

I use the cheapest stick/hand/immersion blender I can find. They tend to wear out faster than with kitchen use due to the abrasiveness of the glaze materials, but they work great.

Most electric kilns are built with 2300F bricks. They can handle cone 10, but they'll shrink a bit more and wear out faster than if you're firing to cone 6.

I have not used the AutoFire, so I can't say anything about it. As far as the Genesis goes: 1. The touchscreen is no more buggy than the V6-CF, which has proven itself to be extremely durable for decades. The wi-fi is worth it. The app is very handy, the downloadable firing info is very cool, and getting software updates is a great thing. Lots of good diagnostic info, too, which makes troubleshooting easy. 2. The Genesis can control a vent via Output 4. 3. All digital controllers work by stopping and starting the power, whether through the power cord or not. No issues with either method. 4. The ElectroSitter uses a 50 amp relay, so it could be used on other kilns in the future, too. The benefit of a wall mount controller is that the system stays cooler since it's not on the kiln, however the EC sits out a bit and is insulated so it shouldn't have any problems.

My studio washer drains into out big sink, which has a trap so no danger to my pipes. It's a 30 year old washer, still works great!

Let your stuff dry out completely, then submerge in water for an hour- buckets, whatever. The clay chunks will break down and easily come off. Then load into the washer.

The crackle pattern gets larger as the glaze gets closer to fitting the clay. Adding equal parts silica and kaolin (by weight) will generally help with glaze fit, although with premixed glazes it's hard to know just how much to add since you don't know how much actual glaze material is in the container.

I'm with Bill. Lock in the firing schedule so it matches the cone charts. That way you'll have a baseline to compare against. Start with firing all the way to the cone you're trying to achieve. Add holds after that to dial it in. Your 20 minute hold is equal to roughly one whole cone. Kilns often behave differently with new elements, but this is definitely a little odd. My gut says it's a thermocouple issue, but it's hard to say. Based on that link it looks like you have a type S thermocouple, so it probably does not need replacing unless you bumped it. Also check for loose wires along the thermocouple system.

It's small, not ideal for anything but mugs and small vases. It's underpowered for its size, too. I would put it at a cone 8 kiln rather than a cone 10 at only 21 amps, so element life won't be great. But you could always swap out with elements from Euclids elements to bump up the power a bit. Does it include a stand? Is the floor or lid cracked? The kiln is sitting upside down, so all those broken brick will need to be replaced or the elements will flop out when you flip it over. I'd pass on it unless you want to do a bunch of work and spend an additional $400 on parts.

18" is the safe distance recommended by many kiln manufacturers. The more the better, though.

What type of thermocouple? What firing schedules are you using?

Dark spots are probably just carbon, and they'll burn out. Too much wax can easily overpower a typical kiln vent.