neilestrick
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Posts posted by neilestrick
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I actually find top loaders to be easier on my back than front loaders. I think it all depends on what type of strain affects your back more. Reaching out in front of me with a heavy object bothers my back more than reaching down with it. And reaching forward is much harder on my bad shoulder. I find it's easier to judge the spacing between pots in a top loader since you can actually see that space, but awkwardly shaped or delicate pieces are easier to load in a front loader. Pros and cons with both, but top loaders win for me because of price and ease of install.
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I'm changing the title of the thread so it better reflects your question.
Do you know the firing temp of your lustre? What is the thing you're firing- shape, size, type of clay, etc?
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If you plan to use it as a home kiln, your electrical service will not run this kiln. Your house has 240 volt single phase service, so it'll need a bit of rewiring, new power cord, and new elements. It'll pull 48 amps and need a 60 amp breaker after rewiring. There are also a few bricks that need replacing. The crushed brick by the hinge is due to the hinge plate not being adjusted properly. As long as you're doing all that you should put in new relays and thermocouples, so you're looking at probably $650 or more in parts and a couple hours labor to get it running. If you can pick it up for a decent price then it'll be worth it. However if the lid is cracked all the way through then walk away, because a new lid is expensive. It was made in 2005. That kiln new is $3,675.
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Moved.
Good catch! You'll be much happier with the new elements.
New kilns and old kilns only differ in cost of firing if they have different brick thickness. 2.5" brick used to be the standard on older kilns, with the exception of 28" wide kilns. Now 3" is the standard on all sizes for the most part. Some manufacturers don't even offer 2.5" brick any more.
I once did a test to see how much firing costs change as elements wear. I let the elements in my L&L e18T-3 wear until they could no longer reach cone 6, and the firing cost was double that of a new set of elements. On my kiln that was an extra $9 per firing. In a 10 cubic foot kiln it could be $25 per firing. So definitely keep those elements fresh. Once the resistance has changed by 10% from new they are due for changing. A cheap multi-meter is definitely worth the investment to be able to check element resistance every now and then.
- Marcia Selsor, Hyn Patty, Pres and 1 other
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23 hours ago, Ajburns814 said:
Did you end up purchasing the mixer? Looking at buying one for myself. I would love to hear your thoughts! Or perhaps purchase it from you if you haven’t found it very useful in your situation.
The OP hasn't been here in a long time, so I'd send a DM to get their attention. Hover over their avatar and click on the 'message' button.
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In general, things fit better in square/rectangular kilns, even when firing round pots, but for tiles they'll fit better only if the size of the tiles works with the size of the kiln. So I'd look at the dimensions that will work best for the size of tiles you intend to fire. Depending on the dimensions, a round kiln may hold just as many flat tiles as a square one. If you can make do with a round one it will be a lot cheaper than a front loader. There are some square/rectangular top loaders on the market.
- Hulk and cmeiselman
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I'd buy a cheap digital meter. They're easier to use and get precise readings .
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If you don't like how the glazes look in reduction, there's nothing wrong with firing them in oxidation.
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Measure each element and let us know what you find.
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1. Apply underglaze colors.
2. Cover with wax.
3. Draw the fine lines with a needle tool.
4. Let the burrs dry for a while, then brush them off with a stiff brush. If you don't let them dry they'll just smoosh back into the lines.
5. Cover with underglaze (I used black on this piece), making sure it gets into the lines.
6. Let it sit until the underglaze is dry on the surface. This helps to make sure the underglaze is set up in the lines so it's less likely to wipe out.
7. Wipe off all excess underglaze with a fine grained, stiff sponge. A soft, open grained sponge can pull the underglaze out of the lines.
- Kelly in AK, PeterH and Min
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12 hours ago, Lbs said:
If you are still willing/able to help, what photos do you need to try to talk me through wiring this so it works with three instead of four-wire power cord, as well as switching to infinite switches?
The first thing we need to do is measure the resistance of the elements so we can math out the amperage and verify that wiring in series is the way to go. If you don't have a multi-meter, pickup a cheap one. It just needs to be able to measure Ohms, which is the little horseshoe symbol on the meter. A basic $15 meter will work fine.
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Most samples that the glaze manufacturer's show are fired on white clay, and fired in oxidation, unless otherwise noted. Firing them on brown clay will darken them a bit, and firing in reduction will darken them even more.
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Chances are it will stick at cone 8. At cone 6 most all the underglazes we've used in my studio will stick to the kiln wash at least enough to look bad.
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Are you sure you didn't accidentally fire to cone 05 instead of 5?
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2 minutes ago, Hyn Patty said:
I am always having to steel brush whatever part of them that isn't fully sheathed and vacuum out my Olympic before any glaze firing - else risk little bits of black flakes in my finished pieces.
A thermocouple protection tube will stop that from happening, but it sounds like the type S is a worthwhile investment even at the higher price.
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3 hours ago, Hyn Patty said:
During COVID I had already priced them and they were about $400 USD with shipping. OUCH. But now I got them for $253 postage paid. Whew! That is a nice surprise.
If someone quoted you $400 for 4 elements then they were overcharging, probably due to the element shortage. But the list price has never been higher than they are now.
The difference in the cheap type S thermocouple is probably the thickness of the metal. A lot of the cheap type K thermocouples from China are very thin compared to what we usually use, and won't last nearly as long. Your may fry out a lot faster than a more expensive version, but keep us posted.
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4 minutes ago, JTMD said:
the solid-state relays would be ok in the existing box.
Not without an insulated baffle and/or a cooling fan.
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58 minutes ago, JTMD said:
besides, I dont have a clue how the "infinite Switch" works, putting two in there would boggle me
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.
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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.
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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.
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HERE is a good conversion.
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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.
- JTMD and Bill Kielb
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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.
- PeterH and Bill Kielb
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Kiln only glows red on “low” setting
in Equipment Use and Repair
Posted
Is this kiln new to you and this is your first time using it, or was it working fine before and now it's suddenly not working properly?