Pklove

Olympic recommends 5/64ths. ( and that just made everyone who uses the metric system make a sour milk face.) I generally think that failure is okay, it’s how you learn. And a kiln takes a dozen times to fire before you know what you’re doing. I learned how to fire forced air alpine’s originally. And that took time. After a certain amount of time I could hear when there was a problem and smell when I needed to make changes. I would love to talk to some who knows this bugger. I have a sneaking suspicion that the stack is very critical. But unfortunately the manual is…bad.

Olympic recommends 5/64ths. ( and that just made everyone who uses the metric system make a sour milk face.) I generally think that failure is okay, it’s how you learn. And a kiln takes a dozen times to fire before you know what you’re doing. I learned how to fire forced air alpine’s originally. And that took time. After a certain amount of time I could hear when there was a problem and smell when I needed to make changes. I would love to talk to some who knows this bugger. I have a sneaking suspicion that the stack is very critical. But unfortunately the manual is…bad.

I’m beginning to get the impression that this is the Yugo of kilns. I now have drill bits for 40, 5/64, 50, and 60…I’m getting seriously good at that. No two sources have said the same thing. It doesn’t help that the manual is so horribly done and that Olympic is …well…not in the running for when I upgrade. I would prefer if they just said “that model is obsolete, you need a new burner system” instead of wasting my time.

The Olympic torchbearer doesn’t have a chimney. It is basically an octagon (like a Skutt) where the burners come in through the floor and exit is through a hole in the lid. I got it because it is “portable” and I like the idea of being able to move it for pop up workshops.

Thanks for the response. The top shelf is over an inch below the top. Dampers are set to keep the atmosphere neutral, no reduction stink. The stack is loose, no plate shelves and open in the middle. A good two inches from the walls, plenty of room to breathe. Gas is not full bore, about 75% and the flame is blue at the burner tips . It climbs great to about 1700 F (500 degrees an hour) and then it struggles and craps out at 1800. I’ll check out the link, I’m guessing that you are thinking “convert it to a downdraft.” Which is what I’m thinking. Which I’ll probably do anyways. I just want to fire, I’ve got a ridiculous amount of work made already. Soon I will not be able to get into the studio without causing an avalanche. The thing is rated to cone 10, and I’m only shooting for 6. So I figured that it would be easy peasey. Ha. Time to start digging in the archive. (That is hilarious, most of the replies are from you. You must be shaking your head thinking “another one.”)

I have an Olympic Torchbearer 2827g set up for propane. It’s the older version with six small burners. The manual for this is…badly written (I deleted a lot of words here.) I have a 250# tank, a regulator rated for 11” water column, orifaces drilled to #40, as per the manual (I’ve also tried #50 and #60.) No leaks, ample pipe size, full tank, air wide open. I am at sea level, I swim in Lake Michigan daily and walk there. But it stalls on me, constantly. It’s stalling right now. What am I missing here? So far no help of use from Olympic, I’d be fine if they said “oh, that burner set up never worked, scrap it and get (fill in the blank.)” I got back into pottery for stress reduction…not this (again, fill in the blank.) Any help appreciated.

Thanks for this Bill, I’ve been beating my brains out juggling the specs from Olympic (which are only for the later model of this kiln, not what the OP posted pictures of...and mine is older) and the random stuff online. This helps soooo much.