neilestrick

2 inches thick is pretty risky. If you manage to avoid an explosion, it may still crack. At the very least is needs a long preheat- I'd give it at least 12 hours. Even bone dry there is still moisture in it that needs to be evaporated out before it turns to steam. It take a long time for something thick to dry out completely. After that it'll need to be fired very slowly or you'll get cracking due to uneven heating. You may also get cracking during the cooling if you don't fire it down, too. At the very least you need to drill out the middle. The best approach would be to make a new one that's hollow.

Looks like a CI/Speedball pedal? If you push in on the metal pivot pin on each side you can pull the top and bottom pieces apart.

These kilns are the most complicated systems ever put on a pottery kiln. It's a smart design in that it automates the firing without a digital controller, but diagnosis can be very difficult, especially if you are not handy with a meter.

I agree. Make it easy for your customers to give you money. I had a neighbor at a show who refused to take credit cards. She only did 4-5 shows a year so she didn't want to mess with it, and said many times that the 3% fee was highway robbery. All weekend long I saw people asking if she took cards and and then walk away when she said no. She could have sold another $500 of her work for $20 in fees.

Are you talking about that little static noise near the end of the video as it switches? To me that sounds like an infinite switch that's not switching very smoothly, or it could just be the relay and switch going slightly out of sync. You should check the resistance of your elements, because if it's getting to cone 4/5 but not 6 then it's most likely due to them being worn. It could also be because of the switch not cycling properly or a relay sticking, but I'd start with the elements.

My insurance (Hartford) covers my shop/studio, product liability, art fair liability, and my kiln repair work, for $235 a month. A lot of that cost is the kiln repair work, because it's considered high liability since I'm working with things that use a lot of power and get really hot, and could in theory do a lot of damage if I do something wrong. My insurance broker said a lot of insurance companies won't even cover me because of the kiln repair work. They just don't want to take on the liability, even though there's never been a claim on my policy in the 18 years I've been in business (knock on wood).

Vitrified clay body with an absorption rate below 1.5%, typically fired to cone 5/6 or above. If you're using commercial glazes, they'll be labeled for food safety, but you'll need to test them for durability.

Lots of possibilities here. Start with seeing if all the elements glow when you put them on high for a bit. If a section isn't working, then you'll have to figure out where the power flow is stopping in the system, either in a wiring connection or a switch. If the bricks are in good condition, then it's generally worth repairing. Chances are it's just one part that is the problem. If it's in an environment where it could get rained on or be subject to dewy mornings, I would definitely not upgrade it to a digital controller unless you do a wall mounted controller and bring it inside when not in use, however that doesn't help any of the issues with the current system because it would all still be in use as well.

I have shows that are 80% CC sales, and other shows that are 80% cash sales. It just depends on the area and clientele. I find that a good percentage of people at art fairs understand that using a CC costs us 3%, and they try to use cash as much as possible. But by early afternoon most people are out of cash and if they really want something they're going to use a card, although they tend to apologize. At least 75% of the money that goes through my business is via credit cards, and always has been.

Yes, Skutt used to be Thomas Stuart. The Prodigy is their budget model, lacking in several features like the large splash pan and reversing. However, if you always throw in reverse, you can just switch the leads on the motor. But I don't think it's worth buying a Skutt without getting the big splash pan. Skutt 1/3hp models can handle what most 1hp wheels can handle. They have a ton of torque, and their motors are much larger in physical size than most wheels. I've got 10 of the 1/3hp models, and I've never bogged them down, even centering 25 pounds and working on 50 pound planters. They have better speed control than Brent wheels IMO, and 6 different controller adjustments to dial in how you want the wheel to feel.

Lt-3K is the model of the Kiln Sitter shutoff device, not the kiln itself. The kiln model should be listed on the serial plate on the side of the kiln. In general, one hour with the switches on low, 1 hour on medium, then high till the Sitter shuts it off. SITTER MANUAL HERE

It's 2022, and no business should be complaining about credit card fees at this point, or adding to the price IMO. Fees have been steady at roughly 3% for years and years, so I don't know why they're suddenly having a fit about it. It's a given at this point that the vast majority of one's customers are going to pay by credit card, so you set your prices with that in mind. If someone pays cash, great, you make any extra 3% on that sale. Nearly every kiln I sell to anyone other than a school is paid for by credit cards, which means up to $200 in credit card fees with each kiln. Any discounts I give take that into consideration. I sold a large kiln last year that had over $500 in credit card fees, so that greatly affected the discounts I could give. It's a cost of doing business in the modern world, no different than the cost of shipping, packing materials, overhead, etc. The better option to encourage cash sales is to raise your prices to cover the credit card fees and then offer a 3% discount for cash. People respond better to rewards than punishments.

Soldner wheels have small motors but lots of power. Something to do with the pedal design. They are very smooth, very nice to throw on. By far the smoothest wheels I've ever used. Pricey, though. I'm a big fan of Skutt wheels. Lots of power in even the 1/3hp wheels, and the big splash pan keeps the studio much, much cleaner than wheels with small pans.

Simply to increase the volume of the kiln. However since it doesn't have elements, it lowers the max temp of the kiln.

1. Turn on the bottom switch, with the lid cracked about an inch or two, for 1 hour. 2. Close the lid. Wait 1 hour. 3. Turn on the second switch up from the bottom, wait 1 hour. 4. Turn on the next switch, wait 1 hour. 5. Turn on the top switch, wait for the cone to bend and the Sitter to shut off. Your Kiln Sitter does not have a backup timer, so I strongly recommend getting a digital pyrometer so you can track the temperature and make sure it doesn't over-fire. Sitters are known to stick occasionally, so always be there to check the pyrometer and make sure it shut off when it was supposed to. Any digital pyrometer with a heavy duty type K thermocouple LIKE THIS will work. Looks like you have a blank ring also? If you add that onto the kiln, the max temp of the kiln will only be about cone 1. Without the blank ring it'll get to cone 8, so suitable for cone 6 work.

I've forgotten half of what I knew about glaze formulation, because I just don't do much of it any more. But when I do need to do some tweaking of a glaze, I use glaze formulation software. I've used Hyperglaze since I started making pots in 1992, and it has worked well for me. Back then it was the only system for Mac users and I never found a good reason to switch to anything else. I first learned to calculate UMF by hand, which I think is a great way to understand what's happening when the software is making those calculations for you, but unless you're pretty comfortable with math it will most likely make things more confusing. A good understanding of the materials is more important IMO. Even if you're not super knowledgable about glaze formulation, the software (whatever brand) is a great way to catalog your glazes in a format that gives you lots of information beyond just the simple recipe. It will also calculate batch sizes, which is a big help for folks who aren't handy with math. I rarely calculate a glaze from scratch. It's just not necessary with all the glaze recipes available on the interwebs, plus I have a database of like 800 recipes that I've built up for the last 30 years. Instead, I find something that's close to what I need and tweak it as necessary. I was trained to work with the UMF, so that's what I do. Most of my tweaks involve substituting ingredients to use what I keep in inventory, and adjusting melt, glossiness, and COE. I think the best way to begin to understand glaze formulation is to first find a good book or online tutorial on the subject that lays it out in simple terms- fluxes, stabilizers, glass formers. When I was in school we did not have such a book, only more technical tomes that were somewhat difficult to understand. But in the last 20 years there have been some great ones that make it easier to understand. From there you just have to jump in and start doing it. Test, test, test. In my 2 1/2 years of grad school I ran about 3,000 test tiles, and that really built on the foundation the books gave me and made me fluent in the glaze language. Glaze formulation has come a long way since I first learned it, and we're much more aware of the benefits of making durable glazes, whereas we used to be far more focused on jsut safety and leaching. I think glaze safety is probably the most difficult thing to learn, but again the newer books address that much better than the old classics.

The Whisper wheels use a pancake motor, which is very low on torque, but if you don't make things over 10 pounds it'll work just fine. Personally, I can't stand how quiet they are. I find that I set the speed of my wheel as much by sound as by sight.

I think you were on the Europe site. The US site still has all the names you're used to. There's a little flag icon in the top right corner to toggle between the sites. Watts don't matter, HP doesn't matter. Torque is what matters, however nobody lists actual torque numbers. The closest we get to torque numbers is centering capacity. Can a tabletop wheel center 22 pounds? Probably not very well. Can a regular wheel center 200 pounds? Probably not very well. But they can all center 25% of that just fine. Brent switched to listing what the clay can handle 'continuously' rather than centering capacity, so that further complicates things. I think they only want you to compare their wheels to their other wheels, not to other brands. But who cares if a wheel can spin 225 pounds? Nobody does that. It's all about torque. I wish there was a standardized, real number system for rating wheels. Even centering capacity is subjective.

At what temp are you getting the Error, and what firing program are you using?

That type of thermocouple is already in a metal sheath, so the ceramic tube is not necessary. I don't think it would be the cause the fluttery reading, but remove it just to be sure. Pack fiber around the thermocouple to fill the hole.

Those numbers are every 5 seconds? Probably a thermocouple problem. Since you already changes the thermocouple, it could be the wire itself, could be the connection of the thermocouple wire to the board, could be the terminal that's mounted to the board is loose. I'd try grounding the thermocouple first. If that doesn't work, try replacing the thermocouple wire itself. Make sure you use type K wire.

I trim a foot ring into the bottom of every pot that I'm able to. Some form make it too difficult to impossible, but I avoid a flat bottom whenever I can. It just looks more finished.

We had snow in the Chicago area on Thursday morning. Then I headed to Michigan in the afternoon where we had flurries all afternoon, and woke up to more than an inch on Friday morning. It's mostly melted now, though. The farmhouse I'm staying at abuts a forest preserve, and we've had up to 20 deer at a time hanging out at the edge of the yard.

It might be difficult due to the location of the burners and flue, but try to keep more pressure in the kiln. You should have pressure out both spy holes when you put it in reduction. One will have more than the other, but the lighter one should still have a little puff.

Yes. The switches control how quickly it will heat up by cycling the elements on and off. On High they should stay on all the time.