neilestrick

Since there is a high fire model of this kiln available, you may be able to retrofit it to use those elements so you can fire at cone 10. At minimum it will require new elements and a new power cord. Wiring inside the kiln may or may not need to be changed, too. Talk to Evenheat about what's needed, and what the electrical service requirements will be. Otherwise you've got a low fire kiln there that won't be of much use at all unless you're doing China paints.

If the weight dropped and turned off the kiln, then it reached the proper cone at that point regardless of how long the firing took. When you restarted it, it fired beyond that cone and melted the cone. Depending on how badly the cone melted to the arms, you may be able to clean up the cone support arms with a Dremel, but if not you'll need to replace them.

The grooves are probably not the issue, and also probably not doing much to prevent warping. Waster slabs can be very thin, and can even be broken/in pieces, but should fully support the piece on it. It's just something that will shrink with the tile and keep the tile from catching on the kiln shelf. Put some kiln wash or alumina wax on the slab so it doesn't fuse to the clay. Waster slab does not need to be bisque fired. No guarantee it won't crack in the second low-fire firing, but it's worth a shot if you don't need the durability of cone 5. It's also possible that your tile is cracking from cooling too quickly, and therefore unevenly, through quartz inversion. You could try a controlled cooling from 1100F down to 850F.

Well done! Don't be in a hurry. If you burn larger pieces of wood, you won't have to stoke as often and it won't clog up the ash pit. Ideally you should be able to fire without having to scoop out the ash pit much at all, if ever. This type of kiln it not at all efficient, so let it go slowly, take your time, enjoy the process. Remember that you're also heating up all those bricks and shelves, which is a lot of mass.

I've also found that many of their greens go brown with a clear glaze.

I have found the Speedball underglazes are more stable at cone 6 than the Amaco Velvets, and I never have color shifting issues with clear glaze. They're usually cheaper, too. Just water them down as needed.

2% cobalt oxide is a lot. Even 2% cobalt carbonate is a lot for most glazes. I would definitely test lower amounts of cobalt and see if you can get away with less. Most chrome-tin pinks (reds) use about 0.2% chrome, which is very little. I just tested a light pink that only uses 1/10 of that! Vey difficult to weight out for testing!

Your elements are made to run on 120 volts each. The wiring diagram for the new switch is for them to be run on 240 volts, wired in parallel. I don't know if it's possible for the new switch to be wired like the old switch or not. It probably is possible, but I don't know that switch well enough to know how it should be wired. Are there any additional labels on the terminals of the new switch besides those shown on the Skutt diagram? If not, I would look up that switch on Google and find the manufacturer's wiring diagram. That switch is not made by Skutt or specifically for Skutt, it's just a general purpose switch that can be used for many applications. Can you post a picture of the serial plate? This kiln pulls about 24 amps, correct? If I were you, I would replace both switches with 240V infinite switches and wire the elements in series. You'll have better control of the temps with that setup.

Hard to say. It's probably just some version of IFB, but you'd have to test it to be sure. They could have put anything in there.

Post a picture or two of the kiln, including the serial plate.

A bisque should take a minimum of 6-7 hours, ideally 9-10 hours. If you rush a bisque you may not get good burnout. Go as slow as possible at first so you don't blow things up.

Doumbek and Udu drums both make great sounds. Fountains can make for very soothing sounds. However I'm not at all a fan of ceramic wind chimes. The sound of ceramic pieces hitting each other is a very harsh sound. Plus as a potter that sound is disturbing, as we generally try our best to keep our pieces from banging into each other.

@Vidal14PC 220V vs 240V doesn't matter. The switch can handle up to 250 volts, but if you have less than that it's okay. Does your kiln have a 4 prong plug? If yes, then the instructions with the new switch won't apply here, because those instructions are for a kiln that does not use a neutral. How many switches does your kiln have?

Juried gallery exhibitions may get you one or two sales beyond the piece you have in the show, but mostly it's just a resume builder that may help you get into other galleries or build your social media account a little. Art fairs will definitely build sales, because you can show so much more work to so many more people.

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@Donegal It could be that it simply can't keep up with the program it's trying to run, gave an error when it slowed down, but could reach the final temp at a slower rate of climb. If this is a new occurrence, it could be from the elements or thermocouple showing some wear.

So it gave an error code but continued to fire and then stopped the firing at the correct temp? Or did you restart it after the error code?

Several thin coats in different directions will give you a nice smooth surface. Different colors may need a different number of coats to get good coverage and opacity.

112 should work well for it, especially since you're used to working with it.

Letting the kiln cool at its normal rate will not affect the the shelves. Doing something extreme like cracking the lid to increase the cooling rate could be an issue. Like Hulk said, use the heavier shelves in the middle to help even out firings.

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.

It appears to be in very good condition, but I agree that price is too high for a manual kiln.

That is a Brent pottery wheel. There should be a model number somewhere on the side or on the control box. You could place an ad here in the marketplace section, or on Facebook Marketplace, or Craigslist. If it's in good working condition you could get several hundred dollars for it depending on the model.

When the kiln is not firing and just sitting ready to be programmed, what temp does it show?

Is there a delayed start in the program, like it's doing a countdown before trying to fire? What temp does it show at idle?