neilestrick

Take a look at the cost of a tabletop vs a standard wheel and you may find that it's worth just saving up for a standard wheel rather buying two wheels over time. I would also take more classes before investing in anything just in case the novelty wears off. If you do end up getting a tabletop wheel, the Speedball Artista is a good wheel. I've thrown 10 pounds on one before and it preformed very well.

I think that one of the most difficult things to do as a new business is to say 'no' to a customer. You're hungry for business and need the money, so you take on whatever project comes your way, including  a lot of horrible projects that you shouldn't, but you feel like to have to if you're going to survive. Bit by bit the business grows and learn where your time and energy should be spent, and you start to feel comfortable with turning people down because you know that you can survive without trying to make everyone happy. It's a great feeling when you've got enough business that can pick and choose what you want to do. I LOVE telling people no because it's proof that my business is successful enough that I can run it on my own terms.

I think that one of the most difficult things to do as a new business is to say 'no' to a customer. You're hungry for business and need the money, so you take on whatever project comes your way, including  a lot of horrible projects that you shouldn't, but you feel like to have to if you're going to survive. Bit by bit the business grows and learn where your time and energy should be spent, and you start to feel comfortable with turning people down because you know that you can survive without trying to make everyone happy. It's a great feeling when you've got enough business that can pick and choose what you want to do. I LOVE telling people no because it's proof that my business is successful enough that I can run it on my own terms.

Thanks Neilestrick
I have looked at reviews for the Shimpo Aspire and Speedball Artista and both come out very well. Perhaps as you suggest another set of lessons and then a decision 

A cone 6 kiln firing to cone 6 will only get maybe 50 firings before the elements need to be replaced. Once they wear even a little bit, the kiln can no longer reach its max temp. In a cone 10 kiln firing to cone 6, the elements can wear a lot more before they need to be replaced. If your cone 6 kiln is getting more firings that that, then it is probably under-rated.
Brick thickness is often the determining factor on the max temp rating of a kiln.
Kilns are either rated to a max temp or a max cone without holds. With holds all kilns would be cone 10.
There isn't some government oversight committee that puts out rules for max temp ratings of kilns. Every kiln manufacturer has their own system for deciding, and there is a lot of variation from brand to brand depending on what they consider to be an acceptable speed at which the max can be achieved. I've often seen kilns listed as cone 10 with the same specs as other brands' cone 8. The general rule of thumb as a customer, though, in order to get maximum element life you should be firing 3-4 cones below the max rating of your kiln.

With cones on the shelf so that you can see them from the peephole, run it at 150C/hr up to 1050C, then 60C/hr to 1250C, and watch the cones, When cone 6 drops, note the temp and shut it off. Then do another firing with the same program with the last 100C at 60C/hr to whatever that temp was and see if it works. It's really far off for thermocouple calibration, sot best to just figure out what temp you need.

The thermocouple could definitely be the cause. It could be a bad connection somewhere along the TC system,  or a split in the weld that's opening up as the kiln gets hotter, or just a bad thermocouple (it happens).
@ShanRums Have you done a factory reset on the controller? Is there a thermocouple offset in the controller? Is there a protection tube on the thermocouple?

How far into the kiln does the thermocouple go? Is it in a protection tube? post some pics of the thermocouple so we can see what sort of condition it is in.

With cones on the shelf so that you can see them from the peephole, run it at 150C/hr up to 1050C, then 60C/hr to 1250C, and watch the cones, When cone 6 drops, note the temp and shut it off. Then do another firing with the same program with the last 100C at 60C/hr to whatever that temp was and see if it works. It's really far off for thermocouple calibration, sot best to just figure out what temp you need.

With cones on the shelf so that you can see them from the peephole, run it at 150C/hr up to 1050C, then 60C/hr to 1250C, and watch the cones, When cone 6 drops, note the temp and shut it off. Then do another firing with the same program with the last 100C at 60C/hr to whatever that temp was and see if it works. It's really far off for thermocouple calibration, sot best to just figure out what temp you need.

Grolleg porcelain (no ball clay) dries quickly, because it is not very tight in raw form. Porcelain bodies are only about 50% clay, so they don't hold as much water as stoneware bodies, and give up the water quickly. Fine grained white stoneware and other bodies that are high in ball clay dry quite slowly because ball clay is very fine grained and makes for a very dense body.

This. 
That's why I made a point of saying the clay I used in my test contained ball clay. 

Grolleg porcelain (no ball clay) dries quickly, because it is not very tight in raw form. Porcelain bodies are only about 50% clay, so they don't hold as much water as stoneware bodies, and give up the water quickly. Fine grained white stoneware and other bodies that are high in ball clay dry quite slowly because ball clay is very fine grained and makes for a very dense body.

Don't go adding any holes until you try the bag wall arrangement first. One change at a time. Plus the holes are unique to Alpine kilns, so they may or may not actually help you. I've never found them to be necessary in any of the kilns I've built. Plus updraft and downdraft behave differently.

Leaving all the peeps in won't hurt the kiln. No worries. However in the future you'll want to leave the top peep open to allow fumes to leave the kiln.

I epoxied a wood disc to the back of a 16" porcelain platter last year, lots of surface area joining, and it fell off in just a few days. I prefer a mechanical system- wire through a hole in the foot or something like that.

I think this is the answer. Every time I've actually heard pieces blow up, the kiln was around 500F. It takes a lot longer for the heat to penetrate and cause problems than we realize.
So why does Bartlett program their preheat to hold at 180F?  Probably because it makes their lives a lot easier. If it was set at 240F, or anything too close to 212F, they would have to educate their users on the subject, and they'd get blamed every time something blew up. They'd be dealing with phone calls and email on the subject every day. 180F works just fine, and it's far enough from the boiling point that if something blows up it's definitely not their fault.

I epoxied a wood disc to the back of a 16" porcelain platter last year, lots of surface area joining, and it fell off in just a few days. I prefer a mechanical system- wire through a hole in the foot or something like that.

I epoxied a wood disc to the back of a 16" porcelain platter last year, lots of surface area joining, and it fell off in just a few days. I prefer a mechanical system- wire through a hole in the foot or something like that.

I epoxied a wood disc to the back of a 16" porcelain platter last year, lots of surface area joining, and it fell off in just a few days. I prefer a mechanical system- wire through a hole in the foot or something like that.

I epoxied a wood disc to the back of a 16" porcelain platter last year, lots of surface area joining, and it fell off in just a few days. I prefer a mechanical system- wire through a hole in the foot or something like that.

I epoxied a wood disc to the back of a 16" porcelain platter last year, lots of surface area joining, and it fell off in just a few days. I prefer a mechanical system- wire through a hole in the foot or something like that.

I have used ash from charcoal grills in wood ash recipes and it worked just fine. Charcoal is wood, so the finished product is essentially the same.

I have used ash from charcoal grills in wood ash recipes and it worked just fine. Charcoal is wood, so the finished product is essentially the same.

If you know it's firing hot, then it would be worth your time to run an empty load with cones and get it dialed in so you don't have to watch it. It may take a couple of firings, but it'll be worth it in the long run to be able to trust your controller.