Hulk

Set o' mugs

Haven't heard or read "grep" since ...retirement!
Awk sed nice batch head finger ! (aka bang)

Correlation of pyrometer readings to cones - that may be important for any/every control system?
I'm still watching my one pyrometer and flipping three zone switches - low, medium, high; hence, I am the "controller."
Earlier on, was donning kiln glasses and looking at cones through the peeps. Now that I have some firings under me belt, I look at cones afterward, as I'm confident in the pyrometer, wall clock, and notes to guide the "controller."

Haven't heard or read "grep" since ...retirement!
Awk sed nice batch head finger ! (aka bang)

If you fire it with that element unsupported, it'll sag and stretch and you'll have a mess. Because of the element holder you can't pin it as-is. You have several choices on how to deal with it:
1. You can carefully chip out the rest of that holder and then pin. Install a pin every 4-5 coils, pins angled upward so they don't sag. Place the pins at the upper part of the coil so the element hangs on the pins. When it's time to replace elements, replace the holder then by method 3 below.
2. Carefully chip out the broken holder and install a new new one by chewing off the bottom lip of the new holder with a pair of pliers and pocketing it in. If you break the upper groove in the brick this won't work, so be careful. Kiln cement tends to keep it from sitting flush in the brick, so don't use any other than along the front edge at the bottom, just along the surface of the joint, if needed.
3. If the elements are flexible enough, you can carefully pull the element out of the groove, remove the brick, slide in a new holder, and slide the brick back in. HERE is a video, although it's much more extensive than what you need to do. You just need to loosen the body band clamps and slide the brick out. Also remove any parts on the outside of the kiln between the clamps and the broken brick because the screws will keep the  band from being able to move. I'd go ahead and replace both holders in the brick.
Your elements look pretty good. Check them with a meter, but I think they'll work for a while still.

Thanks for this kind hearted comment. I do want you to know though that I definitely don’t feel bad for not knowing everything. And learning this craft, especially the challenges, does not make me unhappy. Do not worry for me, I delight in “learning the abc’s” knowing I am swimming around in a craft that is as old as human history. I realize there is more to know about ceramics than I can wrap my head around all at once and that does not embarrass me or make me think I should give up. The truth is, I have had many questions along the way and books and google and YouTube have been amazing but, well, they miss the mark after a while:). I am not one who needs to know it all to be happy(I do like to eventually kniw enough to control my outcomes!)I have other areas of my life where I am the  “expert”. Being the expert doesn't make me happy, learning and improving and the creative process, that is what makes me happy. I have learned a lot in a short amount of time and, frankly, it is awesome. I am loving it! And my pots came out pretty decent actually! I haven't had much time today for testing but I did soak a newly fired cup and a fully vitrified cone 6 body cup of the same design and then microwaved them both. I could feel no temperature difference. Now I’m sure someone will tell me how wrong or inaccurate that is, you are probably right, I’m still learning! Give people a break, its not a crime to learn something new, make mistakes and question “but WHY do you have to do it that way?”

Well seeing as I had already built about 35 pieces out of this nebulous clay, (which I swore was a ^6 as I looked it up in Laguna’s online catalogue while I was standing over it at the art shop-need to upgrade my glasses again apparently) I begin my experiment and set my kiln. My pieces have thin walls, quite a bit of exposed clay and I am doing a slow glaze, I hope all these things add up to less heat work needed and more heatwork occurring at ^8. I also added in a 20 minute hold. My last pieces, done in ^6 clay to ^6 had a bit of a burnt look on some raw clay edges. Maybe my new kiln fires a little to hot? Again, arent I so good at bargaining with myself? Later I plan to go buy some ^6 B mix at the art store, this is too stressful!! 

i had greenware sitting around for well over a decade.  they survived a trip when i moved house and when i finally got the kiln plugged in, they fired perfectly as if i had made them only a week or so ago :-)

Original owner had just bought a new set of half shelves; she gave me four of the old set. Two serve as the base, on half inch risers; the better of the other two sees service as top shelf when I have a short stack. The fourth one is falling apart; it might serve as a bottom if the other ones disintegrate...
I'm liking half shelves for staggering the load - helps even out the heat. The extra posts take up some room, but overhanging can make up for it.
Am looking forward to joining you in new kiln land one of these days Pres. I have a plan!

Upon reflection, I am a little more structured with regular cleaning and maintenance than I would have given myself credit for.  I clean the glazing/firing area after a glaze cycle and I clean my little studio top to bottom once a year (pulling everything out and purging things I have not used and really getting in the corners)  and then of course I clean after throwing/trimming cycle.   As far as kiln maintenance, that is a once a year task and I do try to time it so it is not happening in the middle of show season.  Unless of course I get glaze on an element and it burns through or a relay burns out or some such.  
@Mark C.  Good job with the hand recovery!!!     I get a new hip on Monday.  Hoping it doesn't slow me down for too long.
 

I'm still doing Pt daliy at home on hand myself-I found throwing small sponge holders helped seed up PT recovery for me and I then worked up size wize to 2# forms and then tried to center using other parts of left hand on  6# bowls. My Pt pl;ace cut me loose last Tuesday and now my only restrictions is not to pug on thumb palm and I cannot pinch for 12 more days with thumb.Turns out I can make pots without pinching at all.Clay work really brought my hand back around fast.The hand will not be 100% until late July than zero restrictions

Maintenance for me putters along with the work/activity - there's some clean up and put away associated with every session, tools are touched up when they begin to show dull, inventory edited/updated when container requires filling, reclaim when there's sufficient amount in that clay's bin, order/wish list updated when supply is low, orders placed when supply/item will be needed soon, and so. I'm not quite able to remember everything; lists help.

I clean up and reorganize between projects,  I started cleaning my studio before I hand my hand surgery.   I  go out their and move a few things around but my hand doctor wants me to take it easy.  He even cut back on my physical therapy to once a day.   I will see him again in a couple of weeks I hope I am ready to get back to work.  Denice

I clean the studio and ware boards with water once a year-after Christmas -usually during my break .I tend to wash kiln shelves in spring when its getting sunny and warm out to dry them outside.Summer is gas kiln repair usually-bag walss etc . every 10 years or so in summer I grind flat any wonky palster bats outside on a wheel with a mask on.60-80 grit stuck to a bat does nthat fast-really dusty job.
I vacuum the shop on Sunday afternoon weekly with central vac system that also our trash out  and recycling day so  I deal with cardboard in recycle tub and trimmings  collected in buckets 
If its warm and sunny I empty my two tub clay waste system early in week to dry out in clay boxes for Sundays trash as well.
I have been on this schedule a long time now but its noit fixed in stone.
same is true with glazing and firing certain days.

Before I retired in 2009 the HS studio was on a schedule. Once a year the Walker pug mill had the gear oil replaced and the rubber drive grommet checked. The Bailey air filtrations system had its filters replaced and the entire studio was cleaned by cleaning staff. This included dusting pipes and other over head areas like the ceiling lights and ducts. Sink traps were cleaned out on schedule once a month, and all of the tools were hand cleaned by students and myself once a month. As to sharpening and upkeep of tools, if i noticed a dull tool, or handle loose etc, I put it in a small bin to get to on an inservice day. All of my classes would wash table tops, replace tools after cleaning, and wash out the sink after the cleanup was done.
best,
Pres

I have a certain amount of cleaning incorporated into my work cycle. Mopping happens after reclaim, glaze or trimming days, because those things generate the most dust. I find if I don’t work tidy, I can’t concentrate. I have a hard time filtering out visual clutter. Or at least the wrong kind of visual clutter. I’m not a minimalist by any means.
l don’t have a schedule for equipment maintenance, but I do keep an eye on how things are working. I’ve got a set of elements and some other kiln parts handy, because I don’t want to be caught out if and when something goes wrong. The last thing I need is to have to wait 3 weeks for replacement parts to be shipped. Note to self: your next kiln will be a model that’s actually serviced in your own country.
This time of year, I’d normally be pulling my booth setup out to see what needs spiffing up, or if the sign need to be repainted. Spring shows were cancelled again this year, however, so that part of maintenance won’t happen likely until July. The farmer’s market ought to be a go.

Oh boy, I just fix things as they break and clean things when I can't move anymore... I'm really bad about that, but this is not my full time job, and it's in a separate building, so it's kind of out of sight out of mind.
Speaking of which, I'm getting a new 3D printer soon so I need to clear off a shelf for that... Hmmm, where to put this giant box of underglazes....
 
I do prebox things I put on my website so I can simply grab them and toss them in an outer box and ship them out as soon as an order comes through, so I'm not completely disorganized...
 
Also, I do keep general maintenance parts around (elements, thermocouples, wheelhead grease, etc) so that when something does finally get bad I can fix it right away.  

Maintenance for me putters along with the work/activity - there's some clean up and put away associated with every session, tools are touched up when they begin to show dull, inventory edited/updated when container requires filling, reclaim when there's sufficient amount in that clay's bin, order/wish list updated when supply is low, orders placed when supply/item will be needed soon, and so. I'm not quite able to remember everything; lists help.

It's not quite spring here yet, but I did clean both the glaze/kiln area and my little studio.  Throwing out and cleaning and rearranging.  I usually do that right after the Holidays, but it was pushed to March this year.  
That indeed was a slow boat @LeeU!  Wow!! 

Cool! I've been to Quezon city many times, it's very nice there!  How did you land that gig!?

The 3 feet of snow on the back porch has slowly melted down to a foot & a half  X a foot & a half bar of solid ice, welded to the flooring, so I still can't get out the back door without a jack hammer.  I need to move 2/3rd of the stuff in my kiln room out onto the porch, mostly furniture. Then I can get at the kiln, the ware cart, the 2nd work table, the firing supplies etc. I'll throw hot water through the screen until I can pry it loose.
Of course, I'm delighted to be procrastinating, since I dread how much I have to push myself to get on with it---"it" being another boat load of the ever-popular (but oh-so-boring to make) plant markers.  At least they bring in the spendoolies and I am truly grateful for that. 
Oh-here's a fun fact. The case of them that I sent to an outlet in the Philippines in very early January arrived yesterday.  Yesterday!! I will never ship international again. And I only learned after the fact that the U.S.  does not track after it leaves the states, and I have no recourse if it is lost/stolen/damaged.  I ship almost nothing, ever, & don't qualify for any discounts, anyway.  I am learning to love local!
 

I made some pots a week or so ago and now they're dry.  So today's task was to load and fire the kiln.
Before that could happen, of course, I had to make space to roll the kiln out from under the greenhouse staging, and into the middle of the floor.  So I also had to move stuff away from the kiln, and from on top of the kiln.  Also had to lift and store the anti-fatigue mats that keep my feet warm.  Then had to sweep the floor. Silver birch seeds get everywhere!

shoveling it out.   stuff collects there since it is near the car just outside the french doors.  might need a construction dumpster.

Hi folks, little late with this as I just didn't have an idea for a topic this week, but thought of something that is nearing for all of us, and in the north is important. .. Spring! Its on the way. So I thought that something about the season was appropriate.
So, QotW: Now that Spring is on the way what will be your first task in the studio?
This change in the seasons, and the warmer temperatures will bring on several days in the shop. I will not be throwing or producing anything, but unloading and unfinished glaze load, removing two kilns, and clearing the area for the new kiln. I will also take the time to do the yearly material inventory and cleaning to get ready for the new kiln due at the end of April. Lots to do, with big excitement!
Once again I will ask Now that Spring is on the way what will be your first task in the studio?
best,
Pres

And here are the finished vases, not on the workbench, but on the hearth.