Dave Earley

Ttwo years ago I rebuilt a 4ft x 4 ft catenary arch kiln that I had saved in a pile of bricks for several decades. While rebuilding it i found I was short 4 #3 arch bricks. I bought a bag of refractory cement, rated at 3000 degrees F, made a form using an available brick and cast them. I have also recently made some bricks using wild clay from my back yard.

Here is a view of the clay vein in my yard, and a lidded casserole fired to cone ten with white and rutile slip under a mild chrome glaze.

I have a whole two acre lot with a stream that has cut through it. There are no cracks in either bowl , they ring nicely. I dipped the rim of the left hand bowl in an ash glaze. the brown cube was my melt test fired on a cookie to cone 10.

Here are the bowls fired to electric cone 10 with a semitransparent blue glaze

I found clay in my back yard while leveling the ground for an above ground pool. Here is a sample I fired to cone 10 and some bowls (unfired) that I threw. Clay in bowls put through an 80 mesh screen.

here is a drawing of proposed wood fire box added to the kiln pictured above

This summer I got two used furnace oil burners and added a second nozzle to each one. After preheating to near 900 Fahrenheit with propane weed burners, I turned on the oil burners. I was using waste motor oil with a little diesel added to thin the mix. At around 1700 F I noticed oil leaking under the kiln and shut it down. the oil was too heavy to be atomized and was spraying in a stream. I am now researching rocket burners for economical wood firing.

I threw these bowls with clay from my back yard in Strongsville, Ohio. I first tried to use the clay as a slip with stain under an ash glaze. That didn't work. Then I fired a cube of the clay to cone 10. here are pictures.

I solved this problem by buying a different switch from Euclid's and the kiln works. Now I have a different problem. I asked the Ceramic Shop in PA where I purchased the first switch for a return/refund. They are giving me the run around, asking for troubleshooting details, did I check with a kiln technician, send them a picture of the damaged part. The switch is open on one leg in the high setting. I even said I would accept a credit. Are they trying to stiff me? I have answered all their questions and am waiting.

As the picture of the new switch shows, the two tabs in the middle are connected and i wired one end of each pair to those tabs. Using a slip of paper on each coil on the high setting only one coil is heating. I rechecked the wire connectors but still not working. Thanks for the diagram that is what I was looking for.

The kiln has third wire, marked green. plate is labeled model 180, 230 volts ,24 amps. the elements obviously go on the bottom row of connectors but in what order

I have a Blue diamond kiln sitter kiln that has new elements. I replaced one 3 heat switch that read open on high setting. I hope i wired the new switch correctly but it did not have a terminal for the neutral wire so I connected that to the chassis ground, the kiln stalled at 1940 F. I initially did a test with paper on the elements which led me to replace the upper switch. The kiln is rated 230 volts so I don't think it has 208 v elements. I haven't found any element to switch diagrams or repair guides. I talked to the RobertShaw company switch tech who said the switch i bought from the Ceramic Shop was originally used for south American air conditioners. He had no information on wiring. The Ceramic Shop was no help either. they said to call Euclids

Here are the documents that came with the wheel. I don't remember how or where i bought this wheel but I'm sure it was in 1973.

Maybe pictures are here

I just had a minor flood last week in my garage, ( blocked drain) and my Brent wheel would not stop. I took the bottom plate off the pedal and saw some moisture. I blew it dry and tried to adjust it and it wouldn't stop spinning. Spent hours on line searching for answers, saw high prices. My wheel is a Brent CK (a kit I think) and is at least 50 years old although not used for 3 decades so I was getting resigned to spending $600 to fix it. I tried adjusting the pedal one more time and it works now. Phew. It is a great wheel.