Hulk

@MinOh man thanks so much for this!! My arthritic wrists really hope i can rehab this thing!! Thanks truly

Mine isn't a Bluebird but I found this video of someone cleaning theirs, at around 40 seconds he opens the vacuum chamber, is this what you are looking for? Figured it's a good video so it might help. Good luck with your project, puggers are such a help.
 

RV4NAYSD503A ALLEN BRADLEY potentiometer 50 kOhm, 2W RV4 RV4NAYSD Series
Part Number: RV4NAYSD503A
Mfr: ALLEN BRADLEY
RV4NAYSD503A ALLEN BRADLEY RV4 series potentiometer. 50000.0 ohms. 2 watt. 500 volt.
This appears to have a shorter shaft than the original,  but manufacturer, wattage (2W), resistance (50k-ohm) and linear taper (i.e. type J) are corrrect.  If you can't source a long shaft version, just glue the pinion to the shorter shaft if it's too short for the grub screw to grip.

I also use my lighter shelves on the bottom and the heavier one on top.   I would like to find someone  to mentor,  they could learn from me and help with heavy lifting.  I had a couple of people in mind who started in clay during Covid.  Once things got back to semi normal they lost interest in it.   It would also be good to have someone that could put the studio equipment to good use when I am no longer around.    I would rather give it to someone who is a serious clay person than sell it.     Denice

My bad, my E28M kit came with 6 half shelves. So adding the extra two would allow me to have 12 to 16 depending on the size of patens and whether I use a broken shelf to raise two of the patens to fit 4. I am using the kit shelves that are pretty heavy, but the half is light enough. I will get the lighter shelves for the second layer from bottom as that is the furthest bend/reach. Next two layers are easier. 
best,
Pres

Im hoping to snag some lighter half shelves at NCECA this year.  I need a few more shelves to pack a few more patens into the kiln. Kit came with only 8 half shelves. One more witll allow me to fire 16 patens to a firing.
best,
Pres

I think I will be firing my kiln for the last time tomorrow.  At 84 it is getting too hard to lift those full shelves into my 7cu ft Olympic  5 burner updraft kiln.  I think I'll go back to doing my firing at the studio that my group runs.  Lin

You are right oldlady-some did just crack off and I deliberatly left them as such (my "honoring the survivor" stylistic aesthetic, my artwork as related to trauma).  I do smooth all edges, then I  close my eyes and feel the piece all over to be sure nothing is sharp.  Upon reflection, I guess the pieces would look better if I go ahead and  made those areas more curved. I'll try it!  Thanks-- to you & also to  Bam2015

Loading my test kiln tomorrow with my red calico clay and slip test.   My husband is still down and out,  thought is was a bad cold.  Now he has no energy or spark,  I think it might have been Covid.   Suppose to be warm tomorrow great day to be in the studio.  Denice

Bendy foam hair roller from the dollar store, I use them for supporting the rims of slab pots etc and also around the handles of the glaze tongs. I slit them up the side then tape them on, saves rubbing the skin sore between my thumb and index finger on a long glaze day.
 

I'm-a start saving for lightweight shelving!

I'm-a start saving for lightweight shelving!

Ceramic Shop lists this part: SBCBWHA
From Clay Planet website:
 "14” wheel head with sturdy steel structure and long lasting polypropolene[sic] composite surface "

For anyone needing to replace this 50k ohm rotary potentiometer it's a 1/4" diameter long shaft linear taper type for which a Google search finds many sources and different qualities ranging from $0.90 to $20, the former being a generic unsealed type (hence the big gob of silicone RTV in the image in earlier post) and the latter being a precision instrument type.  Certainly more common than the 'slider' type used on later models.
Wheel was a freebie thrown in with some other Craigslist purchases, so if it gives 10 years of incidental use for the price of belts, switch, fuse holder, and paint I'll be more than happy.  Although it's 52 years old, it appears to be a low mileage specimen that took a long barn vacation with rodents.  If the drive train dies it will revert to a banding wheel, the wheel head bearings are very smooth running.

Best of luck to you Joseph. I have enjoyed reading your posts. 

A corner might be good.  Clay is such a therapeutic way to manage all sorts of stress, life events.  As we have all witnessed the last 4 years, prices have gone up and up and up.  If you decide to go back to clay, your cost outlay would not be as steep.  I hope you can find a corner.  As @Denice suggested, maybe the slab roller?  If it takes up a lot of space?  Your life is crazy busy right now, but it will change.  We had 3 kids.   We get it.   Best of luck to you Joseph. 
Roberta 

Good to know. I might just find a corner in my garage and neatly organize everything. Still haven't decided on what to do. I dislike selling things because I am not a haggler at all and that process annoys me greatly.

Drilling is the very very last resort-the PB blaster soaking for days then varouis mechanical tools would be my go to. Never had that fail ,heat before drilling for sure as well
drilling will screw up the threads so that means retaping to the next larger size. patience is whats needed here and I have little myselg except when it comes to the se situations .
The easy outs are the ticket as Hulk posted above -. Drill only the center-then soak it for a day or two then use the easy our-You tube this to see how if you do not have experience with tham

Never ever lost my patience …………… er sort of - I have also had luck when drilling to get a left hand drill bit for extra special frustrating  occasion to stack the odds in my favor.

Hope you can get the set screws loosened/removed without damaging the threaded holes.
A drop of LiquidWrench might help - it dissolves rust/oxidation.
We've used heat to loosen threaded fasteners*; warming the surrounding metal  causes it to expand.
Tap-tap, some light percussion - a hammer*** - can help loosen the oxidation/rust.
Repeat the heat, the taps, the time while the LiquidWrench soak in thar...
Stubborn/broken threaded bits sometimes respond well to screw extractor type tools. I've had better luck with the straight tapers, e.g.

over the spiral type.
Be careful to drill the stuck part without damaging the threads in the surrounding material(s)!
Added: if the threads are damaged, "chasing" the hole with a tap might save it, else, if there's room to drill it out and cut new threads to the next largest size - that could save it.
 
*One must be very careful when using heat!
Not burning oneself, others, the shop, its furnishings and tools, check.
Add: beware generating fumes; beware changing the surrounding metal's temper; beware cooking any seal, bearing, grease, paint, etc.
***Tap-tap! Careful there, so easy to allow frustration to boil over and over-hit, heh.

Hi.  I have found this stuff to work well on rusted screws.  It may take a few applications (spray...wait several hours or day...spray) 
Now I need to check the screw heads on my Clay Boss.

Copper red glaze test tiles is a good idea - I will mix up a batch and make sure I have some test tiles in my next firing. I fired a large West Coast gas kiln for many years, but when the studio closed I moved to my garage, switched to a Cone 8 electric kiln, and reformulated all my glazes to Cone 8. Now that I am moving back to Cone 10 gas firings, I will dust off my old glaze recipes and get used to my small gas mystery kiln. I had a copper red formula that was great because it was beautiful in reduction, but also a lovely green in oxidation. Hopefully I can blow the dust off my notebooks and find it!
For anyone that has a small gas kiln, is it hard to get good reduction throughout such a small volume? 
Thx

We call that color ‘snot red 

Another technique some use  for later is to mix up a copper red glaze for reduction and place samples throughout the kiln to see just how well you reduce and maintain it. This oxblood color goes ugly green / grey pretty quickly with any sneaky oxygen infiltration. It teaches the importance of keeping the kiln in full reduction top to bottom while providing a way to map the reduction performance within the kiln. Only a handful of metals are significantly affected by reduction btw.
 

No reason you can't put the water into the old glaze bucket to start with. I agree with sieving once unless you have a specific reason for doing that.