neilestrick

IMO, all pugmills are a pain to clean.
In the big picture, I don't think that recycling is worth the time and money unless you're doing it on a fairly large scale. If you look at the value of the clay and your time, you're going to have to run A LOT of clay through that machine for it to pay off. Like years and years of clay. Personally, I'd rather spend my time making pots, not recycling clay. Say you go through 2,000 pounds of clay a year, which would be a lot of clay for most hobbyists, and trimmings make up 15% of that, you've got 300 pounds of clay to recycle each year. That's about $135 worth of clay that you're recovering. On a $5000 pugger it's going to take 37 years for the pugger to pay off. If you go through 5,000 pounds of clay per year, it's going to take about 15 years. Add in the value of your time and you're probably losing money on the deal. In the amount of time it would take for me to recycle 300 pounds of clay, I can throw a lot more than $135 worth of pots. Throw away your trimmings or donate them to someone who wants them, and spend your time making pots. IMO the only reason for a hobbyist to have a pugmill is if you need it for wedging purposes, as it will prevent a lot of wear and tear on your wrists. But for recycling I think it's a waste of time and money for most people.

If you're going to be using it for different types of clay, and handling reclaim, and spending that much money, I'd get a Peter Pugger or Bailey equivalent.

Yes, hard wiring does eliminate a possible weak point in the system, but from a maintenance and repair standpoint I prefer plugs to hard-wired because I don't have to work around a fixed cord that may or may not allow me to easily open the control box(es) and work inside them. More often than not, with hard-wired kilns I end up having to either hold the box open with my knee while I work in the box (uncomfortable and not as safe), or remove the box completely. With a plug I can just unplug the kiln and move the cord wherever I need it to be. I work on a lot of kilns with plugs, and every year I do run into a couple that need the outlet to be replaced due to corrosion and/or arcing, so it does happen. However those are almost always kilns at schools where people are not regularly inspecting the system. If you have it hard wired, use a long enough whip that you can open the inner box all the way without the whip being a nuisance, assuming a whip that long is allowed by your local code. At the very least it needs to be long enough that you can open the inner box far enough to pull the wires through so the box can be removed.

I have tons of recipes on file, but when my students request a glaze color/type that I don't already have a recipe for, I usually look online, usually Pinterest. It's an easy way to find a specific glaze color with links to recipes. I rarely use a recipe as I find it, but it's a good starting point. I'll tweak it for fit, melt, and color. There are so many recipes available online that it's not necessary to make a glaze from scratch.

I have tons of recipes on file, but when my students request a glaze color/type that I don't already have a recipe for, I usually look online, usually Pinterest. It's an easy way to find a specific glaze color with links to recipes. I rarely use a recipe as I find it, but it's a good starting point. I'll tweak it for fit, melt, and color. There are so many recipes available online that it's not necessary to make a glaze from scratch.

Yep. Basic common toggle switches were standard on Alpine kilns to switch between top and bottom thermocouples for decades. Lots of old kilns had them before the days of controllers and pyrometers that have multiple thermocouple inputs.

It should work fine. Thermocouple connections don't affect the reading as long as there's no temperature difference across the connection, which there never is with small connector. That's why you can use standard terminal blocks for thermocouple connections, like most kiln companies do.

Red iron oxide. It's in about half of my studio glazes. Sometimes it's the main colorant, in others it's used to tone down the brightness of other colorants. No other oxide can make as many colors RIO, it just depends on glaze formula, temperature, and firing method.

It doesn't take much, just enough to keep it off the shelf. I prefer silica sand to grog because it's a smoother particle and works better as a ball bearing. Grog is angular and sharp.

The larger cord is not a problem. It's better, in fact, because it's over-built. The only issue may be if you need a larger hole in the control box for it, but your electrician can drill that out. A basic 30 amp appliance cord is not appropriate for a kiln, because those are generally rate for 90C, and kiln cords should be rated for 105C.

If you've got those bats that are made for the Aspire that have the grid on the backside, I wouldn't be surprised if they wobble. It's common for that type of bat. The Speedball bats do it too. It may or may not be an issue once you get some clay on the wheel. Have you tried throwing on them?

Evenheat Kilns
Manuals
Wiring Diagrams
Parts and Elements
Evenheat doesn't publish element resistance numbers on their web site, so you'll have to give them a call to get that information. They're super nice and very helpful. Once you have the numbers, write them down somewhere! Make sure you have the model number, voltage, phase, and serial number ready when you call.

Hi Neil, Yes they work great. They fit perfectly in the grooves I didn’t even need pins to hold them which is good considering she’s probably a dinosaur in great shape. Thank You because I got the advice to contact Euclid’s from an older post I seen! THANK YOU!! 

This. My thumbs and a couple of my fingers have started to be painful in the joints, sometimes to the point that they throb for a couple of days after heavy use. I'm seeing my hand doctor and wearing a brace on one thumb at night, and I've seen some improvement, so that's good. I could always do the cinnamon roll tendon surgery on my thumbs if needed, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. I just want to make sure my hands won't limit my activities in retirement when I'll have time to do some of the other things I enjoy doing like woodworking and fishing.

Yep, that's the one that L&L and Skutt use.

As for a shortage of some material, I require a clay body that vitrifies, electricity for the kiln, and the ability to make some glazes. There are a lot of possibilities with the clay and glazes, so it would have to be a pretty serious shortage of multiple materials for either of those to be a problem.
Another potential issue, and I don't think it's going to happen any time soon, is the pollution from kilns. I think that at some point, probably a decade or more away still, there will be emissions limits placed on kilns, as least in commercial settings like my studio. Meeting those emission standards could be cost prohibitive for many small studios.
I think about these things a lot, as my career is 100% dependent on all things in the studio ceramics world staying fairly constant, and I've been in the ceramics world long enough to see how materials shortages can mess things up. I've always avoided specialty glazes that use and worked with fairly simple materials so that I'm less likely to have to make big changes to my work due to shortages.

This. My thumbs and a couple of my fingers have started to be painful in the joints, sometimes to the point that they throb for a couple of days after heavy use. I'm seeing my hand doctor and wearing a brace on one thumb at night, and I've seen some improvement, so that's good. I could always do the cinnamon roll tendon surgery on my thumbs if needed, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. I just want to make sure my hands won't limit my activities in retirement when I'll have time to do some of the other things I enjoy doing like woodworking and fishing.

As for a shortage of some material, I require a clay body that vitrifies, electricity for the kiln, and the ability to make some glazes. There are a lot of possibilities with the clay and glazes, so it would have to be a pretty serious shortage of multiple materials for either of those to be a problem.
Another potential issue, and I don't think it's going to happen any time soon, is the pollution from kilns. I think that at some point, probably a decade or more away still, there will be emissions limits placed on kilns, as least in commercial settings like my studio. Meeting those emission standards could be cost prohibitive for many small studios.
I think about these things a lot, as my career is 100% dependent on all things in the studio ceramics world staying fairly constant, and I've been in the ceramics world long enough to see how materials shortages can mess things up. I've always avoided specialty glazes that use and worked with fairly simple materials so that I'm less likely to have to make big changes to my work due to shortages.

This. My thumbs and a couple of my fingers have started to be painful in the joints, sometimes to the point that they throb for a couple of days after heavy use. I'm seeing my hand doctor and wearing a brace on one thumb at night, and I've seen some improvement, so that's good. I could always do the cinnamon roll tendon surgery on my thumbs if needed, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. I just want to make sure my hands won't limit my activities in retirement when I'll have time to do some of the other things I enjoy doing like woodworking and fishing.

Red iron oxide. It's in about half of my studio glazes. Sometimes it's the main colorant, in others it's used to tone down the brightness of other colorants. No other oxide can make as many colors RIO, it just depends on glaze formula, temperature, and firing method.

We are permitted to create pottery at the mercy of our industrial overlords.

Red iron oxide. It's in about half of my studio glazes. Sometimes it's the main colorant, in others it's used to tone down the brightness of other colorants. No other oxide can make as many colors RIO, it just depends on glaze formula, temperature, and firing method.

No, you don't need a special plug, just get one from the hardware store. Power cords should be rated for 105C, but I work on a lot of kilns, especially older kilns, that have 90C cords, and they tend to hold up fine.

No, you don't need a special plug, just get one from the hardware store. Power cords should be rated for 105C, but I work on a lot of kilns, especially older kilns, that have 90C cords, and they tend to hold up fine.

@Bill Kielb Here we go again! Yes, according to the wiring diagram for that kiln it should be a 4 wire setup. The only difference with this one is that it only has two elements, not 4 like the other one.  @Neosquid post a picture of the plug, as well as a picture of the switch on the control box. If you know how, open up the control box and take a picture of the back side of the switch, too. There's a chance the kiln is wired wrong and won't work, or at best is wired wrong and not totally up to modern safety codes. It would be a fairly simple fix, though.