Hulk

Hi Taylor,
An older manual* indicates "Special Error codes, consult Orton" for 0128 through 0225

0128 through 0255 corresponds to set bits
1000 0000
through
1111 1111
...which doesn't appear to help, at all, except, perhaps, that there are (or were) more than eighteen error conditions defined...
*Orton-Autofire-Manual.pdf (nidec-shimpo.com)

Looking at the manual on Orton site (via https://www.ortonceramic.com/autofire-controllers-resources)
I don't see a PLOG  0134 message mentioned, if you can't find one either it might be worth contacting Orton to find out what it means.



However, with the exception of PLOG 0011, they all seem to imply a pretty significant problem has occurred. Hopefully simply as a consequence of a transient such as a power glitch.
PS Pedantically the manual says that the error can be cleared. As you seem to have confirmed this doesn't mean that you can [always] just continue with the firing [well spotted].

OK so I figured out the problem, turns out my amp was too low as well as the volts, in the manual I was given I misread and relayed the misinformation to my electrician, I'm going to get in contact with him again and ask him to change the amps from 15 to 20 and the volts from 240 to 250 volts and hopefully that'll give the kiln what it needs to properly work, fingers crossed I'll keep you updated sorry for the long pause between messages and thank you all for your help

Hello,
It has been a while since our wheel stopped functioning. It was fixed last week.
The schematic diagram mentioned in the previous posts is not quite the same as ours.
I have attached our diagram.
The issue we had is that the protection switch kicked in after a few turns of the wheel.
It turned out that the cause of this was a failed capacitor in the field circuit. This capacitor shorted out, causing a resistor to burn and a fuse to blow.
Even without field current there is some remanent magnetic field, and the armature could still turn. However, because the field is weak, the armature current was high. This caused the tripping of the safety breaker.
We replaced all capacitors, the burnt resistor and replaced the fuse. The wheel works fine now.
Ben
 
speed control pottery wheel forum.pdf

Yes, almost all of my glazes I do not even mess with floc/defloc, in fact I try NOT to even go there but glazes that seem to gel like crazy even with a ton of water you need to. Some glazes are also a lot more picky about showing drip lines etc where thixotropic adjustment will help tremendously.

A big factor touched on above is how you prefer to do application. Long dips, multiple dips, short quick dips, spraying, brushing etc. I frankly do not like it much (or think its a tad misleading) when people put up a SG for a given glaze as it makes it seem like that is the exact SG you need. I get its a ballpark for most but I think it is misleading. For example I have some glazes that always get layered and so I tend to have that have a lower SG so my combined glazes do not get too too thick and crawl or flake off. 
Long and short of it is test and you will come to understand your glazes best SG, application etc and it will become second nature. I do not even really measure my SG I just know by the consistency and the results where to be. Of coarse you need SG if you plan on tweaking with floc/defloc. 
Once other tip: If you get a glaze where you want it after mixing up a batch, check it again every other day or so as some will gel up over time. I can tell by ingredients that I will get it roughly where I want it but by the next day it will need more tweaking.

Some of my glazes don't need any thixotropic adjustment, likely on account of the gerstley borate, so, yes on naturally occurring thixotropic, imo.
The clay absorbs water, hence the layer of glaze right on the clay gets the water sucked out and sticks on thar; "wetter" glaze - thinner layer given same exposure time.
A surface that isn't absorbent will also get thinner layer with a wetter glaze; looks to me that an absorbent surface multiplies the thickness difference per unit time tho'.
Do trials, keep good notes!

Some of my glazes don't need any thixotropic adjustment, likely on account of the gerstley borate, so, yes on naturally occurring thixotropic, imo.
The clay absorbs water, hence the layer of glaze right on the clay gets the water sucked out and sticks on thar; "wetter" glaze - thinner layer given same exposure time.
A surface that isn't absorbent will also get thinner layer with a wetter glaze; looks to me that an absorbent surface multiplies the thickness difference per unit time tho'.
Do trials, keep good notes!

Hi and welcome to the forum!
I've had both an Estrin wheel and one of their 10 cubic foot square top loading kilns.
Estrin wheels are very noisy compared to probably all of the ones available now from other manufacturers. See if there is guard on  the drivewheel, I broke my toe on my wheel which didn't have one. Other than those points they are solid wheels. Wiggle the wheelhead side to side and make sure there is no play.
For the Estrin Kiln I would check the cost of replacement kiln elements with Euclids, just email them the specs from the plate and they will tell you how much to replace them. They are a Canadian company but have both a US and Canadian site so make sure you tell them you are asking for the price in CA dollars. Also, Estrin made a few of their kilns without angled slots for the elements, they were just cut at a right angle to the bricks and the elements all needed pinning in place, I would pass on one of those kilns. Advantage of the Estrin kilns is they are great for slow cooling glazes, disadvantage of the really thick walls is it can take ages for them to cool down. Is the kiln is fully manual, or have they added a controller or sitter? Does it use a standard size kiln shelves? Do shelves and posts come with the kiln? Does the lid have a hinge or is it one of the ones where you actually have to lift the entire lid off manually? Some of the Estrin kilns were underpowered for their size, post a picture of the faceplate here so people can compare it to comparable sized kilns.

Mystery solved!  I weighed the syringe again and found the error.  I had recorded its weight as 28g but its actually 23g and a re-weigh of the full syringe was 75g this time not 70 as before.   So, 75 less 23 is 52 x 2 is 104.  
Thanks to you all for your input.  I'm going to assume that SG cant be less than 1 after all.

Take it for what's it worth and do the math. Figure out by percentages what the specific gravity of you terra sig materials are. Sounds like user error to me, doesn't make sense your sg is below one given ball clay has a sg of 2.5 - 2.6
BTW people are just trying to help here.
List of common ceramic materials below to work your equation from.
List of specific gravities
Silica 2.6 - 2.65 Kaolin 2.6 - 2.65 EPK 2.65 Grolleg 2.6 Ball Clay 2.5 - 2.6 Bentonite 2.2 - 2.8 Calcined Alumina 3.7 - 3.9 Alumina Hydrate 2.42 Whiting 2.8 Feldspar 2.55 - 2.75 Granite 2.66 Wollastonite 2.8 – 3.09 Talc 2.58 - 2.83 Magnesium Carbonate 3 - 3.1 Light Magnesium Carbonate 2.24 Dolomite 2.9 Zinc Oxide 4.4 - 5.6 Barium Carbonate 4.27 - 4.43 Strontium Carbonate 3.5 - 3.7 Titanium Dioxide 4.2 Tin 6.85 - 6.95 Red Iron Oxide 4.9 - 5.3 Cobalt Carbonate 4.13 Cobalt Oxide 6.07 - 6.66 Copper Carbonate 3.9 - 4 Black Copper Oxide (CuO) 6.4 Red Copper Oxide (Cu2O) 6

Thanks, mr_g_m. Having a repeatable procedure like that will be helpful.
 
So if it's wetter (lower SG), it won't dry as quickly, allowing more time to apply the glaze, and the advantage of the "gelling action" is that the glaze moves and covers the body as a liquid and then, thanks to thixotropy, stops as a gel. Okay, I think it's sinking in. Thanks again!  
...and if anyone wants to keep talking about it, I'm wondering if thixotropy can occur naturally in glazes (with the right materials) or is it only via a defloc?...

This might help - the desired sg is the one that works best for a glaze and an application method. Often it’s tested and recorded once known. I like a three second dip, others prefer differently. Additionally for a clear glaze for example I like them applied as thin as practical and with a uniform 100% coverage. So desired sg to me is dependent on what’s being applied and application method as well as desired thickness. In other words It’s usually a recorded number for a particular product based on experience

Sounds like a very rational analysis. It might be worth starting a new thread asking for recommendations of body/glaze combinations likely to meet those criteria.
PS Have you seen these discussions on glaze chemistry at Digitalfire. (Not recommendations, just low-hanging google fruit.)

G1916Q - Low Fire Highly-Expansion-Adjustable Transparent
https://digitalfire.com/recipe/g1916q
G1916M Cone 06-04 Base Glaze
https://digitalfire.com/article/g1916m+cone+06-04+base+glaze
G3879 - Cone 04+ UltraClear Glossy Base
https://digitalfire.com/recipe/g3879
 

Thanks Morgan, before understanding flocs/deflocs, I was adding/removing water to attain what I'd hope would be a good viscosity, then looking at the SG. But this was confusing for glazes that came with SG recommendations. For example, in Britt's book,  John's x10 satin black--he suggests an SG of 1.55, I think, but the glaze was incredibly thick, like almost too thick to flow. Now I'm thinking that I should get that SG, but then deflocculate to get a thinner glaze... Does that sound right? And with clears, I kept watering them down to get them thinner, down to SG 1.20--which might fire clear but also make a gritty surface; so, would it be better to keep a higher SG and thin it with a defloc?
With test glazes with no SG recs, I was trying to start them all at SG 1.40 to see how they worked at this middle-of-the-road point. More recently, though, I'm just testing with a finger and feeling for a good viscosity; if it fires nicely, I'll use that SG.
But as you can probably tell I don't yet have this--the relationship between viscosity and SG and deflocs/flocs and water--totally under control. Should an SG be attained first, and then the viscosity altered with floc/defloc? Or is the viscosity more important to get, despite whatever the SG is? Is there some standard procedure or order of operations people use when testing a glaze?
Thanks again--and thanks for the videos. I watched those a long while back, but watching them again will make more sense this time, I'm hoping.
Pir

Look into thixotropy as well. Basically the last thing you want to do in glazes like this is to keep adding water. Get your SG where you want it and floc/defloc from there. What that SG should be is going to take testing with a glaze and simply knowing your glaze well/application

Great video that explains thixotropy in simpleton terms 
 
and this one more specific to your case
 
 

Thank you to Min, Callie Beller Diesel, and Hulk for chiming in on this post!!! Min I will follow the link and see what comes up! Callie, Inigo is my spirit animal and I definitely feel it when he says "I do not think it means what you think it means" when I'm trying to create a glaze from scratch. Hulk, recently my electric bill has doubled and I can no longer afford to do cone 6 firings which is where my real comfort level lies. So, I am trying to find solutions to do fabled single firings at cone 04 with earhenware so that I can keep everything on the cheepy cheap. Because life. And while I have found MC6 to be a fabulous resource for formulating cone 6 glazes, one which gave me a place to spring from, I haven't found anything similar for lower temps.  Cone 06/04 would be ideal.
 
Thanks again to you all for your kind help!!
 

Peter H This is SUPER helpful. Thank you!

Hi @MikP. I'm the author of this software. If you're still having trouble, lmk and I'll do what I can to help. It's best to open an issue on github at https://github.com/jbruce12000/kiln-controller/issues
From what I've read, it looks like the elements need replacing. We can help with PID tuning after you get the heating problem sorted.
For everyone else, this software acts like an on-off switch until it gets N degrees away from the set point, so in this case, since it is way under the set point, the controller is telling the elements to heat at 100% continuously. Once it is within the window, it uses a PID to control temps.

Hey All - didn’t realize so many folks wanted the manual, never got any notifications for replies. I’ll find it asap and post it publicly here. 

Um. I feel this frustration deep in my soul. The truly maddening thing is that because of all the possible variables, if you’re learning about it on the free or cheap, it’s a long process. Glaze chemistry is not only the interactions between the individual atoms like it’s written on paper, its the working properties of the minerals they all come from, particle size and how it affects melt, and the physics that happen in the kiln accordingly. There’s a ridiculous number of variables involved, so a scientific method of breaking down each and every one of them is a vast undertaking. 
Most glaze chemistry for clay artists/potters can be encapsulated in the words of Inigo Montoya. “Let me explain. No, wait. There is to much. Let me sum up.” A bunch of stuff gets oversimplified, because not everyone needs the deep understanding of the science to make what they want to. Sometimes that oversimplification leaves room for expanded understanding later, sometimes not.
For the free/cheap approach, reading Digitalfire and following the outbound links at the bottom of  the page for expanded info is about the best we got. After that, paying $$$ for courses and books is definitely faster. Definitely don’t look for older chemistry books on websites that have free college textbooks*. It would be wrong, because it’s (sometimes) borderline piracy. College profs don’t recommend this. Nope. 
*cough* *cough* Library Genesis* cough* cough*

Robin Hoppers The Ceramic Spectrum is quite good. You should probably be able to look for some preview pages or your local library to get an idea if this is what you are looking for. The colourant charts he has in the book are available online if colour development is something you are interested in. Similar to what Bloomfield book has but more in depth. Starts on page 3 of this link. 
 
 
 

You might also find the second half of Ian Currie's book Stoneware Glazes of interest.
https://wiki.glazy.org/t/ian-curries-stoneware-glazes/367.html
It discusses the constitution of a variety of "classical" glazes. Which might be considered to occupy some "sweet spots" in interaction space.

I found this page instructive: https://digitalfire.com/picture/huctibegac
This chart compares the decompositional gassing behavior of six materials as they are heated through the range 500-1700F. These materials are common in ceramic glazes, it is amazing that some can lose 40%, or even 50%, of their weight on firing. For example, 100 grams of calcium carbonate will generate 45 grams of CO2! This chart is a reminder that some late gassers overlap early melters. That is a problem. The LOI (% weight loss) of these materials can affect your glazes (causing bubbles, blisters, pinholes, crawling). Notice talc: It is not finished gassing until 1650F, yet many glazes have already begun melting by then (especially fritted ones). Even Gerstley Borate, a raw material, is beginning to melt while talc is barely finished gassing. And, there are lots of others that also create gases as they decompose during glaze melting (e.g. clays, carbonates, dioxides).

One random thought on the clay sticking to itself: maybe experiment with your attaching method. There’s a number of different ways to attach handles because sometimes it’s not the user, it’s the clay body. I’ve noticed that some clays need to be scored with a lot of slip used, and some only need to be scratched with a wet tool. The technique that worked best on the first didn’t work on the second, and vice versa.
 
 

New to this all, and thank you so much for these thoughtful responses. I will continue since the idea of the wild really intrigues me. Your comments will lead me on. Unfortunately, no kiln of my own yet but I will experiment in the ways that I can.