neilestrick

The last 200F degrees are all that matter in terms of heatwork/cones and your glazes. Prior to that, you really just want a program that your pots can handle, and that your kiln can keep up with. My kilns can only maintain 325F/hr up to about 1950ish and still maintain evenness before it lags. But that's plenty fast. I do a simple 3 step program going up: 200F/hr to 200F, hold as needed 300F/hr to 1975F 100F/hr to 2175F That gets me to cone 6 in about 8.5 hours. It's a schedule my kiln can keep up with even with heavy loads. I do the same ramps for bisque. I don't think there's any reason to add a hold midway up. If things are going to even out, they should do it in the last 200F degrees. With single zone kilns, how you load it is going to have a huge effect on how evenly it fires, probably more than the firing schedule. Pack the center tight, pack the top and bottom lighter.

It may not be able to keep up with the 350F/hr ramp. It will allow itself to drop behind the schedule, though, as long as it doesn't fall too far behind. As long as you don't get an error code don't worry about it, or drop that ramp to 300F/hr. If your elements are in spec, then it's just a case of the kiln not having enough power to maintain that ramp. You'll drive yourself nuts trying to get it to match the program exactly. Worry about the results, not the process. I would also change the 500/hr drop to 9999/hr, as sometimes it can't control a drop that fast. Slower drops, like 250/hr and below are usually never a problem, though. In the Genesis: Menu 7- Factory 4-4-3-Enter TC Type

I'd use a waster slab. Put some alumina wax on it so they don't stick together. The waster doesn't have to be very thick at all, and it doesn't have to be in one piece, so don't worry if it cracks.

Can you post the firing schedule? That thermocouple is probably a Pyrocil sheathed type K. Paragon uses them a lot. The standard exposed type K with the ceramic beads will work the same, just make sure the controller is set up for the proper type.

Nope, no worries. What you're seeing there is the outer insulation fraying where it was stripped back, which is perfectly normal. Welcome to the forum!

Define indoors. Is it an actual insulated structure, or just a large shed? What type of framing in the ceiling, what type of roof?

Yes, you can use paperclay and regular clay together. Paperclay is very useful for patching greenware, and you can make small batches using slip and toilet paper. The weight savings in paperclay is negligible.

Thank you for sharing!

Start with calling Amaco, but hopefully someone with experience with that model will chime in here.

I would remove the wheel portion and mount it onto its own little support structure like a small table, and just use a stool to sit on. A simple table built with 4x4's and 2x4's with a plywood top (seal the plywood) would work just fine. Or even put it up on cinder blocks.

Let it run and see what happens.

Could definitely be the thermocouples. Relays usually last more than 100 firings, but it's possible you have one that's sticking at higher temps.

Might be relays, might be thermocouples. How many firings are on them? If you turn the kiln on full power, do all the elements glow? Thermocouples HERE, assuming you have the standard type K. Relays HERE.

0 and 1 are the control wires, so they will not be in play at all. You only need the wires that go to the elements.

I don't think we need to be looking at the Cress relay setup at all. The elements run on 240 volts, so just connect the element connection wires to the Electrositter accordingly.

The only clay that fires truly white is porcelain. Everything else will be slightly cream or gray after firing. Some are closer to white than others, so it would be best to see a sample in person.

You won't have to do anything inside the controller. It already has a 50 amp relay wired to the four screws on the back of the Electrositter. All you need to do is wire the power cord to the correct 2 terminals on the Electrositter, which you've already done, and wire the elements directly to the other two screws. You'll just have to make sure the elements are wired correctly. I don't see a wiring diagram for that specific model on the Cress website, but there are several that are probably similar, and it looks like the top and bottom elements are wired in series, and the middle elements are wired in series? If that's the case in your kiln, then piece of cake- one lead wire from the t/b and one lead wire from the middle will connect to one screw on the Electrositter, and the other two leads will connect to the other screw.

Is it one of those old electric wheels with the built in seat, all on a steel frame? If it is, you won't find any new frame parts for it. They haven't been made in decades. The Amaco #15 wheels I've found on the web do not have the built in seat, though. Post some pics.

Check out THIS THREAD. Lots of good Duncan info.

Ah, an Electrositter. That makes sense. Diagnosing these Cress kilns can be difficult, so if you can do away with everything and just run the controller to the relays to the elements it will simplify things greatly.

I assumed the other manual controls were not there, that you had simply swapped out an older digital controller for the new Genesis. I'm with Bill, ditch all the manual controls and wire it up like an actual digital kiln. How/where is the controller mounted? Directly in place of the Sitter?

To be clear to everyone who may be reading this, we're talking about the L&L Dynatrol/ Bartlett V6-CF controller, which has two glaze settings and two bisque settings. This discussion does not apply to the Skutt controller, which has slow, medium, and fast settings. Fast Bisque and Slow Glaze work for most situations. For large or thick pieces you may want to use Slow Bisque, though. I do not recommend Fast Glaze in most situations, because it's generally too fast for low fire work, and most kilns can't actually ramp as fast as the program wants when going above low fire temps.

60 amp circuit? Shouldn't that be 30 amps? Assuming the thermocouple is good, the only other thing I would expect is a relay that's sticking when the kiln gets hot. I'd start with changing the thermocouple, though. At 18" wide and 22.5" deep, and pulling 24 amps, I'd say that kiln is not a very strong cone 10 kiln, more like maybe cone 8/9. But it should still get to cone 6 with the elements in spec. I would change that rate to 9999/hr. At 500/hr you're in the realm where we often see problems because the kiln can't cool that quickly.

We really need pictures to help figure this out. Try emailing the pics to yourself to resize them.

I recommend Fast Bisque to all of my customers. It's not really very fast, plenty slow for good burnout.