drhender

@neilestrick, @Bill Kielb, thanks for your time and advice.

Good news!! Based on @Bill Kielb, suggestion I looked into the thermocouple-- it has a metal sleeve, so I am assuming it's a k-type. I double-checked the setting in the controller-- it was set to r-type. I switched the setting to K and ran another cycle to see if that resolved the problem. I monitored temp inside the kiln with a digital thermometer and after correcting the thermocouple setting, the digital thermometer readings were very close to those displayed on the controller. When the cycle finished, the pottery appears to be fired as expected. I didn't have any test cones to be more sure, but the pottery now rings like fired ceramic and not raw clay. @neilestrick, your concern about elements in the lid are well headed. The reason I acquired it is because the glass artist wasn't able to use it anymore for glasswork because the way the elements are installed in the lid makes it weak and over time, the lid has started to flex and crumble onto the glass. The elements are also sagging a little. I plan to rebuild the lid and leaving the elements out after the rebuild will make that job easier. Should I move the elements into the side walls? Right now, there's only two loops of elements in the lowest ring of bricks in the walls. Thanks again to all for the help!

Ahh... I hadn't looked closely at the plate-- it states max temp is 1700F. Does that mean there's nothing I can do to change it? I know this same controller is used on ceramics kilns. Is it the case that the elements just can't provide the heat to get to where I'd like it to go?

I have acquired a kiln that has a Sentry 2.0 controller that was initially built for working with glass. I'd like to use it for firing cone 4-5 ceramics. I loaded it up and then set it to run a cone 5 program, It ran through the program and the controller seemed to work fine. At the end, it cycled through "CPLT", "1044", "2166", and then "0100" . My understanding is that the 2166 is the max temp. However, when things cooled off and I got to handle the pieces, it was clear that the clay isn't truly fired. If I wet a sponge and rub the edge, it looks like it's not much more than just air dry. I can scratch into it with my thumbnail. I have heard that some of the Sentry controllers that are installed on kilns meant for glass work have a max temp somewhere in the firmware settings. I found what looks like that setting and it is set to 2300, so I don't think that's the issue here. So my question is, what happened? Did the kiln not get as hot as the display indicates? Am I reading the display wrong? Do I have a bad thermocoupler? Thanks, in advance, for any advice. David.