neilestrick
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Posts posted by neilestrick
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11 hours ago, Adorbubble said:
Do you think it’d be worth keeping for converting for raku or just throw out now?
I wouldn't even use it for that. There are so many big chunks missing that it's not going to insulate very well.
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3 hours ago, Lilya said:
Nope, no way to see in without opening it. It does regain heat pretty fast once it's closed again, but I'm still thinking it wouldn't be great to lower the temp so fast (through opening) and then have to re-raise? Thank you again.
Is it a top loading kiln? If so, you should be able to crack the lid just enough to see what's happening without losing much heat. Again, you'd only have to do that for one firing, to figure out what temp that glaze needs to go to.
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3 minutes ago, SUZANNEHIG said:
Here is a photo of how bad it looks.
Yup. That's what'll happen until it gets hot enough to burn all that out. There's not a lot of work in the kiln, so if the smell was really bad then your wax must be on pretty thick. Most wax resist can and should be thinned out before use. It only takes a very thin application to resist glaze.
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IMO it's not worth fixing. It needs a floor slab, a lot of wall bricks, new elements, power cord, jumper cords, wiring, etc. Way too much to put into a kiln that old. Save your money for something that's in much better condition.
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Post some pictures of it, including the serial plate.
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38 minutes ago, Lilya said:
@neilestrick
Thank you so much again for your help. Unfortunately, I can't watch the melt as my kiln is electric (French: it's made for bisque and raku), so I can't open it to see w/o massive heat loss. But hopefully I'm getting somewhere now ... we shall see!Many thanks again.
Does it have peepholes?
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35 minutes ago, SUZANNEHIG said:
How did things turn out? I just had the same issue. I turned the kiln off at 800' and have burnt rings around the bottom of the pots as well as blackened kiln shelves.
The wax and all the burn marks will burn out just fine if you let it run. If the smell is super bad then you'll want to explore better venting options. What type of vent are you using?
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@MmThomp Are you looking to track pieces through the process so that you easily find a person's piece when they come to pick it up after firing? Is this a paint-your-own type business where you have different people coming in every day, or a studio where you have folks signed up for a multi-week session?
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30 minutes ago, kawaiidumpling said:
The reason for wanting to make my own engobe is that there are no online stores in my country that sell colored slips for porcelain (or higher temperatures) as far as I'm aware.
Most commercial underglazes will go to cone 6, many can handle cone 10 as well. The main issue with higher temps is the stain/pigments they use, and they use the same stains in them that are available for us to buy. Be sure to check the tech stats for each stain to see what temp it can handle. If you can find a good cone 6 porcelain that will open up a lot of possibilities.
35 minutes ago, kawaiidumpling said:An average electric wheel is over $2000 so I do see molds as the only affordable DIY option for now (ceramic season is over as well, so barely any courses available locally).
Yeah, wheels have gotten really expensive in the last couple of years. If you want to explore slab work you can do that with a rolling pin and some thickness strips, or tabletop slab rollers are pretty affordable.
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Whether or not the elements need to be changed depends entirely on how they designed the kiln. In most kilns of that size they use the same elements, but I would contact Nabertherm to be sure. I recently got a quote for a set of elements for a Nabertherm Top 220 and they wanted over $2000, so I would also see what a set of replacement elements costs before buying that kiln. For comparison, a typical element set for a similar size American made kiln would be about $375. Also get the element resistance numbers and number of elements from Nabertherm and then contact Euclids.com and see if they can make a set.
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Typically that means the potentiometer in the pedal needs to be replaced, however I'm not finding that as an available part for Pacifica wheels from any of the sites offering repair parts. Instead they all list a whole new pedal replacement. I wold call Laguna Clay and ask to speak to a wheel tech.
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Hi @kawaiidumpling, welcome to the forum!
I feel you're complicating things a lot here, but to answer your questions:
Yes, the published shrinkage rate of a clay body is that simple. Ideally you would be using the same clay body for the hand built pieces as you are for the mug body, but if that's not possible then just find bodies that have a similar shrinkage rate.
If you buy pre-made slip, drying it to use for the hand built pieces is not recommended because casting slip is deflocculated and won't behave the same, although for very small things it may work. It could also be used for the engobes, but you'd either need to calculate the materials content of the slip or dry it out so it can be weighed. Rather than making your own underglazes, I recommend buying commercial underglazes. They tend to work better than homemade, the cost per pot is very low, and they can be blended for different colors and watered down for different effects. Making your own will require a lot of testing (which will need to be fired, presumably at your community studio) to get the color and intensity correct, and with the cost of stains you probably won't save much money by doing it yourself.
What do you mean by 'an affordable wheel alternative'? Are you just referring to the cost of buying a wheel?
Slip casting and mold making are entirely different beasts than throwing or hand building. Using slabs or coils to build your pieces would simpler and teach you a lot more about working with porcelain. I'm not saying casting is not a worthwhile endeavor, but slab and coil work would build on the skills you've gained in your classes a lot more than slip casting would.
The difficulties your teacher are referring to come from the lack of plasticity, high shrinkage rate, and propensity for warping that comes with porcelain. All of these issues can be dealt with for the most part through good design and construction techniques. It's not really that different than working with stoneware, it's just fussier. Many of my students throw and hand build with porcelain, with great success.
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Thick or runny glazes can still fill small holes even if you clean them out before firing. I have always used 1/4" holes for colanders, and they almost always stay open even with double dips of glaze and no cleanout. The trick is to blow out the holes immediately after dipping before the glaze has a chance to dry in the holes.
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On 4/16/2023 at 7:51 AM, finnip said:
with as little amount of water to make them
This is probably the biggest issue. Always use the specific amount of water that your particular type of plaster calls for. Plaster sets via a chemical reaction so it needs a certain amount of water for that to happen effectively.
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4 hours ago, Patti75 said:
I’ve been experiencing the bubbling in all the dark clays also. I’m wondering if it’s a problem to include white and other light colored clays in the same bisque firing you’re recommending for the dark brown/black clays?
Try bisque firing slower, and don't glaze fire above cone 5. It won't hurt the white clays to go slower, too.
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You'll have to trace the wires back to their origin to determine where they're coming from, but here's how they connect to the V6-CF:
1. AC 1 and AC 2 are the power wires from the transformer.
2. Center Tap is the ground wire from the transformer.
3. If you have a single zone kiln (1 thermocouple), then the thermocouple wires will connect to TC 2 (the row of screw connectors on the other side of the board from the spade connectors). Yellow wire is positive, red wire is negative. If you have multiple thermocouples, TC 1 is the top section of the kiln, TC2 is the middle, TC3 is the bottom.
4. If you have a single thermocouple, then Output 2 will go to the relays. If you have multiple thermocouples, then Output 1 will go to the relay that powers the top section, Output 2 the middle section, Output 3 the bottom section.
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13 hours ago, Lilya said:
@neilestrick Thank you, raku fired to 985°C ... I usually go to 1000° with the GB / neph sy mix, but as the temp on the FR8 was stated as 850-1000, and from what I could find, the 3134 mix was 950+, I thought I'd hedge my bets. I wouldn't have been surprised if one failed, but for them both to fail in the same way ... I'm now wondering whether I mixed wrong or if it was the kaolin? I spent last night trying to compare formulae, etc., to work it out. Thank you again.
I would not expect the kaolin to be the problem. It could be that the glaze was simply under-fired. IMO, If you're firing quickly like a typical raku firing, the best way to do it is to actually watch the melt rather than relying on a set temp, at least at first. The glaze will bubble up and then settle down and gloss over. At that point it's ready to pull. Note the temp on the pyrometer at that point and then you can fire by temp from then on. I've also found that raku glazes mature at a fairly wide range of temps since many of them are not real glazes, and that the white crackle glazes tend to like more heat than the copper patina types.
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It could also be that the belt has dried out and isn't gripping very well any more. If tightening it doesn't work then a new belt may be needed.
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They made them like that as some point. I've only ever seen a couple of them in the 30+ years I've been working with clay. As long as the bands are holding tight then it'll work. Just be careful that you don't damage the exterior when moving it or using it. It would be more durable with the outer jacket. Modern outer jackets may fit, it'll just depend on whether or not the holes for the elements and sitter line up. I'd give Evenheat a call and ask, and also see if they still make elements that will fit it.
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Error 1 means the kiln isn't heating. How hot is it getting? If it's happening at the end of the firing then it could be that it's just getting close to the programmed temp but it's not able to get any hotter, which could mean a dead element or relay. Can you give us more info about the kiln? I'm not finding anything with that model number. Post pics of the serial plate and controller if you can.
With the kiln empty, turn it on full blast and let it run up to several hundred degrees, then carefully crack the lid and see if all the elements are glowing.
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It's only over-fired a little bit, maybe 1/2 cone at the very most, not enough to matter in a bisque firing. I'd go ahead and do your bisque firing, but put cones in it and see how it behaves with pots in the kiln.
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Raku glaze angst question please
in Clay and Glaze Chemistry
Posted
Yup, I know exactly what you're talking about. If it were my kiln, I would make a peep hole in it.