Hulk

Christmas lights are a great idea.  I only try to save one plant every year.   It is a Whale's tongue agave,  it will tolerate down to 11 degrees unfortunately it will get down to -10.   My husband built a huge 2 inch thick styrofoam box and we put two lights inside of it.  The plant is 7x7x4 feet,  we are hoping to live long enough to see it bloom.   We have had it 10 years and it takes 25 years to bloom.   Denice

It's going in tonight - will let you know how it goes!

We've tented frost sensitive citrus (dwarf variety, in containers) trees with a light tarp to get them through freezing nights - a short string of xmas lights to add some heat makes a big difference...

Guys! You're all out here saving lives! For the life of me I don't know how I read this chart so wrong, I swear I have the worst case of pregnancy brain.
I hope this post one day helps someone as clueless as I was!
Thanks a million!!
 

nice, lee.    i agree with bam.   the softer edges of your work seem to make them more accessable to the general public.  smooth a few more of those sharp corners so they do not look as though they broke by accident.
denice is right, it is still too cold.   my studio is heated by an oil boiler and 2 radiators, 1 is five feet long.  i turned the heat up from the usual 40 today and plan to do so tomorrow as well.  i have a choice of heating the house to 68 and turning it down at night to 61.  tomorrow the studio will go to 68 and the house can stay at 61.  with oil over $5 a  gallon, i am frugal.
today i made another pattern block using flowers from a succulent that grows inside the very front of the house with eastern sun.  it is just starting the blooming season with coral colored bell shapes dangling above a huge plant.   the final result will be a piece pressed into the pattern block so the flowers are in relief when a new piece of clay is formed into a butter dish, a small bowl or plate, soap dish, candy dish or whatever size tray i want.   look at christie knox's fabulous work.
last year the favorite pattern was actually 3 or 4 different flowers, snowdrops, hellebore at 3 different stages, dogwood and honeysuckle, my personal favorite.  these pieces sell very easily and are not so expensive that everybody can afford something nice to look at and use every day.  pretty is important enough to let their wallets hang open matching the smile as they buy.
good luck with this change!  the one partially shown on the left center looks like you could use it as a great  pattern block just as it is.  fire to bisque, roll clay into it but put some foam rubber under the whole thing before you roll it!
 

Thank you Mark and Hulk.  Digging through the archives I've found great information from you and others and am making good progress.
First, fusing.  The correct fuse is 6mm x 30mm ceramic body sand filled 10 amp slow blow.  I hadn't noticed that this is actually indicated on a sticker on the controller itself, see photo below.  This is also the type specified for current model Brent wheels.  The 20A fuse that came with the wheel made no sense since its purpose is to protect the appliance itself, not the building wiring which is protected by its own breaker in the building's load center.  

Next, belt guards.  The wheel had neither belt nor guard when I acquired it and I assumed the guard had been separated and lost and I was planning on replacing it with a modern one from Brent.  However, there is a steel rib welded across the underside of the deck which looks as if it would prevent a new style guard being fitted, image below.  There are two holes drilled in the deck close to this rib, and corresponding holes in the mustard yellow molded plastic (not Formica) table top. Did these early wheels use a different guard attached by two countersunk machine screws through the table top and deck, or is mine one of those sold without a guard?  Don't worry, I'll fabricate something if there isn't a commercial option - wouldn't want the cat to lose its tail.

(As an aside, Hulk posted a news article about the Brent sale to Amaco which quotes Robert Brent saying he wanted to pursue a business without liability concerns (making calendars), and I wonder if he was reflecting on the wisdom of having sold wheels without guards.)
Now belts.  Did this model use two separate 1/4 inch wide belts side-by-side, or did it use a single belt with two grooves similar to the current 4 and 6 groove belts?  I believe this latter would be called a banded twin groove belt.  Does anyone have a specification for the belt (or belts) and  a manufacturer's part number (not a Brent part number as they don't sell them any longer)?  Images below show the profile of the grooves.  The required belt length won't be known until the wheel is reassembled and the guard situation  is resolved.

I'll post additional images that may help identify the model of wheel in due course, but in the meantime, many thanks to anyone who can answer the questions above.
 

In a recent QotW (2/15/24) about how often we fire our kilns, I disclosed some personal functional limitations that I'm coming to grips with, that significantly change how and what I do with clay. "The next fire is my first post-diagnosis test run--will she sink or will she swim?? The main challenge is that construction is fairly rough & funky , but I don't want the pieces to look too rough & too funky,  so I need to turn the heat up under the burner labeled "visually appealing", and pray." This is the first greenware heading into this new phase. I'll come back post-fire with the results. My tag line is (still) "Sculpturally Functional Ceramics ".  Most of the work is draped bowls/catchalls/small trays and tea light bases.

Can you confirm that:
- the controller is "alive"
- it behaved exactly as it did when starting previous firings
- it isn't displaying an error message
Did you hear any relay clicks?
PS
Diagrams at http://coneartkilnsshop.com/index.php/wiring-diagrams/
... are you using 240v?
http://coneartkilnsshop.com//wp-content/uploads/Wiring_Diagrams/pottery/BXGX_1822D_1240rev21Aug23.pdf
http://coneartkilnsshop.com//wp-content/uploads/Wiring_Diagrams/pottery/BXGX_1822D_1208rev21Aug23.pdf

I decided to explore the opinion of AI on matters related to this subject, so I asked Google Gemini AI a series of questions. The result is the  attached  "discussion" I had with Gemini. I have copied the "discussion" without reformatting or editing the text. I make no comment about the validity of this material. I simply offer it for your information. Please check it against other sources where appropriate. Note the Gemini disclaimer at the end.
  
Conversation with Gemini.pdf

The answer is "it depends".  On what you might ask?  The weather. 
This time of year, things dry slowly - often too slowly, so they get covered with dry cloth to help absorb some moisture.  When it's hot or even just sunny, the greenhouse can warm up quickly, even in winter.  Either way, they come indoors and sit on a shelf over the bath - bathroom is not used and is north-facing.
It's a balancing/juggling act.  Don't let things dry too quickly, or so slowly I can't refine them, and miss the next kiln firing at the community centre.

I tend to want to finish work than dry slowly. I use plastic sheets from laundry bags (for delicate work) to thicker plastic from my banana boxes which has some holes in it.
So say handles throw dry on plaster and handle same day cover that night and then dry fast 
If its slab built fish than its cover  with plastic sheets and keep in cooler place either down a few levels  in shop or is shade outside in summer-depending on the season .
I have not had a wet box since collage-(thats 48 years ago) I'm way more into drying faster than slowing the work down.Its a production potter thing .Now some work like teapost need to slow and again it wrap in plastic and keep on lower level in shop. I may be done making teapots come to think about it.

I have a utility cabinet that I  bought as a drying cabinet.   It works great it dries very slowly,  if I want more moisture I put a bucket of water on the bottom.  I will wrap or bag anything  to  keep them wetter.    Denice

Years ago when I produced much more than now, I used an old refrigerator outside as a wet cabinet. Had to have a lock on it in order to use it that way it worked. The freezer compartment was especially nice for longer term small pieces.
 
best,
Pres

We have an old crappy cupboard, edges sealed with vinyl tape, and doors sealed with a rubbery gasket. It maintains humidity well. A pan full of water in the bottom clinches the deal. Saves some time fussing with plastic. When that’s full, its plastic drapery and inverted storage containers…everywhere. 

Got on the phone with customer service and sounds to them like they have to replace the motor. Something wasn't right and they were surprised it passed quality control. Luckily I live in portland so I'm going to take it in next week. Gotta appreciate the customer service at Skutt!

A cleanup with a commutator stone will probably help a lot. Does the motor have a small access plate on the side?

I agree regarding the firing schedule. A shorter firing with holds in the proper places could cuts hours off the firing time, and probably reduce firing costs as well. The slow creep to 300F is totally unnecessary, especially if your work is dry. Just run it up to 200F or 220F, hold as long as needed to make sure everything is dry, then go for it. Also, that first ramp  can be a lot faster than 60F/hr, like 150F/hr will work just fine. There's no reason to take 2 hours to get to the preheat temp, because the hold is where you're really drying things out. 

Bill:  I'm replying to the suggestion to lower the B2O3 because I spent some time this AM thinking about it.   I know that a good average is .15 from the work that Katz did, but I think the B2O3 is okay in the Wollastonite Clear recipe as it almost the same recipe as G2926B (less silica) and Toni has explained the .33 level this way:  
"Just enough to melt to the degree you need. This is different for each recipe (e.g. G2934 only needs 0.12 to have a fluid melt, G2926B needs 0.34). Complex eutectics are involved in every recipe. If lithia or zinc are present less boron is needed."   He fires this using the C6DHSC schedule.   
With the Studio White at 0.15 and without testing:   the presence of Zinc seems to indicate it will melt well at cone 5.5.  
Decided that if I am going to continue experimenting with fluidity, then I should do some melt flow tests.  (Toni's flow tester is too expensive for me).
I looked at the B2O3 recipes that I previously tested and they range from 0.15 up to 0.34.   I selected WC and Studio White because they  had less pinholes in all firing schedules.  The others had a cross section of B2O3 levels:  e.g. Marc's clear, Sue's clear,  Glossy Base Glaze Liner, and all the rest of the MC6 base glaze bases in their book, as well as numerous others.    
Thank you for suggesting this, it made me delve deeper into my understanding of the B2O3 level.  Please come back at me with any additional thoughts on this as I haven't ruled out changing the B2O3 level to make it more fluid.  
Cheers  

An electric heater may help.
We use electric "crock pots" to melt wax for bicycle chains, e.g.

New, this type of unit starts at $20+ (US dollars), however, we found used ones at local thrift stores for less than $10...

The circled defects (posted image by OP, above), is the bare clay visible?
Are the other(smaller) spots also defects? ...looks like tiny pits in the glaze.
The circled spots look like what I've called "large particle defect" - where something in the clay was off gassing, something that wasn't burned out in the bisque.
I'd added a hold at 1500°F to the bisque when experimenting with black and dark red clays*; it seemed to help, a lot. One full hour, or half hour on the way up and again on the way down.
Since, I've left the bisque hold, against the occasional "large particle defect" which seems to happen more or less often, depending on the clay...
Running a powered kiln vent - supplying oxygen - should be helping with the burnout*.
Are there more defects where the clay is thicker?
More defects in thicker/heavier pieces?
The blue and green glazes aren't showing any defects? 
 
*credit to Forum member GlazeNerd
 

Hulk: I  hope it doesn’t mean a change of clay as this is the new clay I changed to after having a delayed crazing issue with Laguna 65.  Fingers crossed that my next experiments with fluidity and firing schedule have a happy ending. 

A little more detail (and perhaps a picture) would help the experts decide what's the best option for you.
Some suggestions in this thread
 

Isn't it annoying how life gets in the way or working in the studio.   I wanted to test  some more slip recipes,   I was getting my glaze materials together and realized  I was out of it.   The next formula I was missing a material for it.   I decided to go pick them up the next day.  It was such a beautiful day we ran errands and went out for a nice Valentines dinner.  Today my husband woke up with a terrible cold,  I got up and  discovered the home we left in a mess.   Grocery that we had pick up were all over the counters,  the dishwasher needed to filled and ran  and the laundry I had started was all over the laundry room.  To  top it off it was trash day.  I spent the day putting the house back together.  Maybe tomorrow life will give me a break.   Denice

The bricks are quite fragile, so in addition to the advice already given, do not attempt to lay the kiln sections on their side. Even when hand carrying the sections, do not hold them any way except upright and flat. When hand carrying, keeping the sections on a piece of plywood will help.  All of this will keep the kiln walls from flexing.  Flexing of the kiln walls can do a number on the firebricks.

Awesome!  I hear you loud and clear.  I'll let you know how it goes.  THANK YOU!
By the way, I live in Oregon now, but for a couple of decades of my younger years I lived in towns neighboring Grayslake (Gurnee and Waukegan) - such a small world.