Bill Kielb

1353 is cone 017 ish. I assume you were trying to go to cone 04. I would suggest refine to 04, hopefully you are using cones. Bisque firing removes organics and chemically combined water so how much time and how much time at temperature is the important part. I would troubleshoot the kiln, fix it then re-bisque to desired cone.

Ya probably already know this but worth mentioning I think. Breakers fail because they are old but also because they overheat. Here in the US the breakers you buy should not exceed 80% of the rating stamped on the breaker.  For kilns which are considered continuous loads by code, per code they require a breaker at least 125% of the kiln full load and not more than 150%. 
For a kiln that draws 40 amps, minimum breaker size is 50 amps (40X 1.25), maximum breaker size is 60 amps (40X1.5). I mention because electricians often get this wrong. The rule is there to prevent the breaker from overheating and failing prematurely. Often this is not common knowledge so I think worth passing along since you just experienced a worn out breaker on this kiln.

FYI - Quite often once fire folks will do a single firing at bisque speeds. In effect a bisque first to burnout everything then continue on to glaze temp, usually for tested clay and glaze products that work well this way without excessive glaze defects. If their clay is known clean or tested with a glaze known to work without issue then not so much at the reduced speed but the tested speed. I would not ignore the time at temperature unless verified ok through prior testing.

1353 is cone 017 ish. I assume you were trying to go to cone 04. I would suggest refine to 04, hopefully you are using cones. Bisque firing removes organics and chemically combined water so how much time and how much time at temperature is the important part. I would troubleshoot the kiln, fix it then re-bisque to desired cone.

Thanks for the info on the breaker I will check with husband make sure he knows this before I try to run kiln again.  My newer kiln has never done this (so far) 
I am so glad I found this forum. And folks are willing to share their knowledge and time to submit it

... and presumably the "house" wiring needs to be rated for the new breaker size. Which might be an issue for some retro-fitters.

Ya probably already know this but worth mentioning I think. Breakers fail because they are old but also because they overheat. Here in the US the breakers you buy should not exceed 80% of the rating stamped on the breaker.  For kilns which are considered continuous loads by code, per code they require a breaker at least 125% of the kiln full load and not more than 150%. 
For a kiln that draws 40 amps, minimum breaker size is 50 amps (40X 1.25), maximum breaker size is 60 amps (40X1.5). I mention because electricians often get this wrong. The rule is there to prevent the breaker from overheating and failing prematurely. Often this is not common knowledge so I think worth passing along since you just experienced a worn out breaker on this kiln.

They are still in business so a call to Amaco might be revealing. They also seem to sell Amaco motors as well as brushes on their site. Maybe matchup to what you have. Your motor hopefully has a nameplate. Amaco website https://shop.amaco.com/equipment/parts/brent/wheel-motors/

So how about a few full shelves and a few half shelves? That should give you the flexibility you may need or want...

@chloemmetcalf What are the dimensions of the kiln interior. If we know the volume of the kiln we can compare that and the wattage to other kilns of similar size to get an idea of how hot it will get.
 

Thinking along Rae's line, a setup where you have a motor like that from a microwave turntable, and some jury-rigged pulleys and a belt, may work just fine, and could be done on the cheap. It's something I've thought about in the past and this thread has gotten me to thinking again. I've made banding wheels from thrift store ceiling fans and the motor can be got from a discarded microwave oven. It's something to consider if you are mechanically inclined.

Think about mounting the motor outside of the booth to avoid these issues. 

I use a regular banding wheel often when I spray, most often cover it prior with cardboard or often with a small plastic bag  over just the head and then set a piece of cardboard. It’s never motorized though, I need to hand spin it for control while hand spraying. I use my medium height banding wheel often. Whatever your final cover is it needs to be absorbent with minimal puddling and stiff enough to resist the air from the sprayer. When I am lazy I’ll just take a low height banding wheel and  neatly cover and tuck in newspaper. All result in hand control (which I need)  and minimal cleanup at the end of the day.
With this setup I hand spray with regular HVLP spray gun (glaze), touch up gun (glaze) and even airbrush (underglaze) 

They are still in business so a call to Amaco might be revealing. They also seem to sell Amaco motors as well as brushes on their site. Maybe matchup to what you have. Your motor hopefully has a nameplate. Amaco website https://shop.amaco.com/equipment/parts/brent/wheel-motors/

Hi SacredDrop, Welcome to the Forum!
The motor might need a clean up, and/or new brushes? ...could have a bad switch, faulty winding (particularly if the two speeds are achieved via two separate windings)?
Identifying and correcting the problem(s) might extend the life of the motor*.
Finding an electric motor shop that can help - I see there are several in the Boise area - might take some looking and luck.
Can the motor be repaired? Is it worthwhile?
From Boise Electric Motor Repair webpage: "We repair pumps and motors of any kind."
 
*the sparking and heat (and hence, smells) may reduce the life of the motor...

Rub ink into the crackles and say, “I meant to do that”?

Yes, mostly ought to be fine. One color can influence another a bit I suppose on occasion but folks use liner glazes different than their exterior glaze all the time. Folks often dip their tiles … 3 second, 5 second dip …. 1 coat, 2 coats. So using test tiles and brush applying each side has its drawbacks.
With respect to glazing the outside and not the inside or Vice versa this can create an unbalanced stress in the clay as the glaze often squeezes the clay so to speak. This tiny bit of compression can increase the strength of the ware significantly. So one side glazed and the other not can cause unequal stress in the ware. End result - more fragile ware occasionally breaking suddenly when someone puts hot coffee in a cold mug for instance. Fully glazed well matched - glaze and clay- generally enhances the durability of the ware.

"...Is it ok to test glazes both on the front and the back of standing tiles?"
Good question!
My first thought was - it makes for the tests to mimic the intended applications - then, huh! ...ok, I'm going to think about that a while*...
You might try side by side comparisons, set of tiles with glaze on one side only, another set with different glazes on both sides?
It's possible that glazes that have dissolved materials could influence the other side...
I liner glaze almost everything but have never set up test tiles with liner on one side and "outside" glaze on the other side; just dipping about halfway in at a forty-five degree angle, where second dip overlaps in the middle as Bill alluded to.
My test tiles check a new glaze against clays I'm using, else glazes I'm using against new clay, looking for:
   fit - no crazing or shivering
   coverage - no crawling
   color
   fizzing/bubbles
   pinholes
   how it works applied thinly, thickly
   ...
*I pour in and out the ware interiors, and dip the exterior, with a full dry in between.
So, my test tiles don't reflect how I'm glazing wares, with liner on one side and color on the other.
When I do a set of test tiles, almost always I'll also fire a small ware or two of the test case(s) that are liner glazed.
 

Yes, mostly ought to be fine. One color can influence another a bit I suppose on occasion but folks use liner glazes different than their exterior glaze all the time. Folks often dip their tiles … 3 second, 5 second dip …. 1 coat, 2 coats. So using test tiles and brush applying each side has its drawbacks.
With respect to glazing the outside and not the inside or Vice versa this can create an unbalanced stress in the clay as the glaze often squeezes the clay so to speak. This tiny bit of compression can increase the strength of the ware significantly. So one side glazed and the other not can cause unequal stress in the ware. End result - more fragile ware occasionally breaking suddenly when someone puts hot coffee in a cold mug for instance. Fully glazed well matched - glaze and clay- generally enhances the durability of the ware.

The difficulty we noticed and actually humans have to navigate, are the very small pressures to monitor and interpret.  Linear movement of a damper changes area / draft exponentially. Minor gas pressure changes that vary the output again exponentially by nature and valves are not proportional while the kiln dynamic losses increase. Reduction was a bit difficult as well. In the end we settled  to build and program a monitor that could help folks fire manually. Seeing the effect of minor changes and managing a firing rate definitely helped folks learn the techniques.
Interesting project, remote monitoring and reminder timers ended up to be an important tool that got a lot of use, plus folks learned real firing rates, minimal adjustment and consistent reduction strategies. A monitor ended up a far better teaching tool than pure automation.

You should be able to find a variety of sizes (Truck ball joints and heavy equipment a bit larger) - not sure it’s worth the pursuit though. My thought is it’s 3/4”- 1” shaft. Likely need to cut up some washer for spacing and bearing though. One that fits in a large hammer drill available also for extra stuck stuff. After reading your post though if you can get a head, I would probably cut it off also.

That link only reveals what has been in my cart. Not sure it is working as intended. With respect to. Safe products you can buy food grade epoxy.

Reduction only affects a handful of metals. The reality, nice to explore, fun to learn, extremely wasteful, environmentally and from an energy standpoint. Exploring other methods may be the future.

Min has a great point especially if it does not perform well. It’s hard to change the weight of the glaze that way, unless ….. it’s not stirred really well. So if you are just skimming water off the top when measuring, make sure it is mixed well and not a whole bunch of ingredients are at the bottom of the bucket.

Most glazes thicken over time if the water is allowed to evaporate. My thought is this was mixed with a lower specific gravity at some point. You could allow this to evaporate to get to a preferred SG. It’s a commercial glaze so no way to know what is in it and if it likely will perform as expected without testing once restored to your preferred SG