neilestrick

You need a 24 volt transformer. The controller runs on 24 volts, but has 12 volt outputs.

Here are a few glazes that we use in my studio that are very stable and consistent. Butter is great on top of other glazes, and also looks good alone on brown speckled clay. Harris Red is a great iron red glaze, tends to be the most red on brown bodies. Runny White is quite stable on its own, but flows a bit on other glazes. Looks great by itself on speckled brown bodies or on top of just about anything. S-4 Blue looks a lot like denim, has nice surface variation, and looks good on both white and brown clays, especially on speckled brown. Spearmint is a nice green with good surface variation. Nutmeg is a fake shino, which I normally hate, but this one's not bad. Goes lighter as it gets thicker. *edit- These tiles all show double dips. They are not runny with a single dip. Nutmeg.pdf Spearmint.pdf S-4 Blue.pdf Runny White.pdf Harris Red.pdf Butter.pdf

They look like kiln wash chunks to me, too. I think you would have noticed them when you applied the glaze if they were in the glaze. Run the glaze through an 80 mesh sieve and see if you get anything on the screen.

Is this a gas kiln or an electric kiln? Electric kilns need to be 16-18 from the wall. I've never heard of insulation in the wall making a difference in the clearances. Can you post the specs you're reading?

Bluebird makes good mixers. That's a nice little machine, great for small batches.

Interesting. The red control boxes in the photo are Skutt boxes. Is the Cress model number on one of those red boxes, or do you also have the Cress control box? If you just have small chips in the bricks along the element grooves, then all you have to do is put a pin in the element at any chip larger than an inch so that the element can't sag out of the groove. If you have larger broken sections, post some pictures and we can see if they warrant any additional action.

A standard AGC fuse and holder will work fine, 1/2 amp. HERE is a wiring diagram for an L&L Easy Fire kiln. You may or may not want to include an on/off toggle like they do. Everything would be the same except the output from the relays will go to the outlets on your control box that the jumper cords plug into.

Totally missed that. At A.R.T. the price for dry was high enough that it negated any benefits of mixing it yourself.

This also assumes that the dry clay is the same cost per pound as the moist clay. When I worked for A.R.T., we charged more for dry mix because mixing and bagging dry clay was a much slower process for us than making moist clay.

@NancyE Do you have any potter friends in your area that could go in on buying a full ton? The shipping cost would be much lower per pound, and you'd get the ton rate on the clay itself.

You may be able to retrofit the old box with the new controller system if it's big enough to hold all the parts. Look at the current Jupiter models- the control box mounts on top of the element boxes, and connects with jumper cords. L&L recently switched to a much larger control box, but the old box was a lot smaller and everything fit fine. You'll need to fit 3 relays, a transformer, and a fuse. Otherwise you can buy a bigger box and either mount it to the element boxes or wall mount it and use longer jumper cords. If you're going with 3 zones, you'll need 3 thermocouples, and you can drill holes for those in the kiln body. Any holes in the control box that wires go through will need some sort of strain relief, and everything must be grounded. If you need advice as you move forward, post lots of pictures here and we can review it.

You'll want to get the elements and thermocouples from L&L. Relays you can find online for 1/3 of the price, like HERE. If you're going to replace the wiring, getting a wiring harness from L&L would be the fastest way to go, but you can buy insulated wires, controller wiring, and terminals ends by the foot online and save some money there. Search SRML wire for insulated wire, I buy HERE. For jumper cords make sure you get cords rated for 105C/220F- you can buy SEOOW cable from McMaster and put your own plug ends on it. You can use SEOOW for the power cord, too. You can get insulating sleeving on Amazon. For the element blocks, use stainless steel hardware from the hardware store. You don't have to use the hex head bolts since they're hard to find, just use 10-24 panhead bolts. Make sure all your wires are the appropriate gauge for what you're doing. Get a Bartlett Genesis 2.0 controller. There may or may not be deals out there, just order from Bartlett if not.

Everything Bill said. Based on the 30 amp power rating, in theory it has enough power to get to cone 5/6, but those elements might not be the appropriate thickness for firing that hot- they may burn out quickly if they're a thin gauge meant for lower temps, regardless of the power draw. You could flip the lid and floor, but you'd still have a large percentage of the walls without elements, which will cause evenness issues if you try to put more than one layer of pots in it. Grooving wall bricks and adding and element there would be a very difficult undertaking. You could buy grooved bricks for it, but that could get expensive. Personally, I don't think it would be worth the amount of work needed to get this working well as a pottery kiln.

For me, contrast is key, whether it's matte and shiny or light and dark or opaque and transparent. Light over dark is generally more interesting than the opposite. You also need the glazes to be fluid enough that they move. Glazes with titanium in them tend to make for interesting layering. A over B does not look that same as B over A, so test every combination.

It's the same kiln as a Skutt KM1022. Just verify the specs to be sure.

I wold think that even at 30 gallons they would not need to be especially thick. Clay is strong stuff. Just picturing a 30 gallon trash can, 1/2" walls should be able to hold it. It would be difficult to build that thin, though, so I would just do what you can and not worry about it.

If you're not set up with a good mixer, pugger, and appropriate ventilation, then don't mess with mixing clay. And even if you are set up, it's not worth the time and hassle. If you don't have a good de-airing pugger, then don't even think about it, because the quality will not be good if you plan to throw with it. Leave mixing to the people who do it for a living, and spend your time making pots instead. The cost of clay is cheap in the big picture, and your time is worth a lot more than whatever you'd save.

How handy are you with kiln repairs? Brick replacement can be difficult in some models. Also look up how much replacement elements cost. Some Paragon elements are incredibly expensive.

Cement generally doesn't hold for very long with that type of repair. If it fails, use element pins to hold the broken brick pieces in place, or if they're too small, remove them and just pin the element in place. Replace the broken bricks next time you replace the elements.

What model is the kiln? Appears to be a Skutt KS818?

99 hours is correct.

If this is the same as the other other Fusion 10 kilns I'm seeing on the interwebs, it has elements in the lid? If so, that's also going to mess things up, because your heat distribution won't be right if you try to put more than one layer of pots in it. I would also be very concerned about the lid element sagging badly if you fired it up to cone 5/6.

Which model 801 is it? The 2 1/2" brick models are only rated to cone 5 1/2. The 3" brick models are rated to cone 8. The serial plate on the kiln should say what the max temp rating of the kiln is.

Interesting. If it's truly a glass kiln, then I wouldn't expect it to even be able to get to cone 5. What's the max temp rating on the kiln serial plate? Did you check on the kiln while it was firing-was it glowing hot inside at any point? Did you double check the program to make sure you set it to cone 5 and not cone 05? The type S thermocouple is a possibility, but I rarely see them in glass kilns since type K tend to last forever at the low temps glass kilns fire to. Definitely check, though.

Ideally, yes. In reality, not very often. Mounting the fan directly to the wall makes it a lot more difficult to deal with when the motor needs replacing, and makes it more difficult to critter proof. The simplest and best looking installation for a home setup is to install a standard dryer vent duct with the flap and critter cage on the outside, mount the vent fan to the wall inside near it, and connect them with an elbow or short flexible duct. For venting through the roof, like some homeowners and 95% of schools do, the fan motor is mounted near the kiln, and many feet of duct exist between the fan and the exterior. The specs for the vents are that they can handle up to 60 feet of duct and 3 elbows. Ideally you want the fan as near to the exterior as possible, but with a 6 foot power cord that's not going to happen in most situations. The good news is that the ductwork between the fan and the exterior is almost always hard duct, which if installed properly with sealed seams, is very unlikely to leak. The majority of duct corrosion happens between the kiln and vent motor, and galvanized rigid duct will last a pretty long time.