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Broken Lid Hinge


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The lid hinge on my ancient Cress has broken and the screws are tearing up the lid bricks. The hinge was just spot welded. I am thinking about completely removing the hinge part and lift and lower the lid another way. Maybe from some kind of harness hanging from the ceiling??? Or just brute force slide it out of the way???

 

But, if there is something that can be done to fix then I am all for that. Suggestions?

 

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Sliding on/off would be get horrible little pieces of $#$%# falling down on glazed pieces. The solution really depends on what you feel comfortable rigging up.

I can't really see the big picture view-- could the hinge assembly be taken off entirely and rotated to a different section?

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MatthewV in the first pic on the Left, the 2 square pieces of metal have long screws through them so you can tighten the lid band. One of those metal thingys popped its weld loose from the band so I cannot tighten the band at all - it is floating around the kiln lid. I guess I could take the band and hinge off, put a small, short bolt in place of the popped weld and reassemble.

 

This is my bisque kiln, cone 04, and that is all it does for me. I bought this kiln 8 years ago for $150. The previous owner had it outside in a shed for a couple of years. There was at least 1 other owner before that. Don't know how old it really is. I do know they used it for cone 6 firing and actually coated the floor with kiln wash and fired on it.

 

Question - see the exposed screws where the lid brick has given way, is there something to repair the broken out brick or can I use a longer screw to go deeper into brick to get a bite? The pic is of the lid prop holder and how it is secured to the lid.

 

Thank You

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When the pieces used to tighten the bands pop loose, you can just use 1/2" sheet metal screws to reattach them. #6 or #8 screws will work. Be sure to pre-drill with the appropriate drill bit first- 3/32" for the #6, 1/8" for the #8, if you're dealing with thin sheet metal. You may have to go 1/32" larger if it's thick metal. Or use self tapping screws but still pre-drill with the smaller size. They're sort of a bear to drill if they're stainless, so get good bits, and get 2 or 3 because you may break a couple. It's easy if it's not stainless. It should hold fine once you get 3 or 4 screws in them. Then get everything back where it should be and tighten up the bands.

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The screws going into the brick is, for the most part, is incidental. The firebrick won't hold a screw threads. So longer screws will not really help.

 

If you have the tool to tighten and cut metal strapping I would consider adding a layer or two. This isn't a good solution -- just a patch!

 

As this is a bisque-only kiln, I guess you could get away with sliding the lid on and off. This wouldn't be bad at all if there is second person to help.

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Neil thank you for your informative answer.

 

My pleasure. Ideally, where the hinge mounts to the outer jacket of the kiln there should be a thicker piece of sheet metal between the jacket and the bricks. This will give the screws something to hold into well, and provide some rigidity. The more metal you can get into the system, and the more everything is locked together, the better. Most older kiln hinges are really poorly designed and put way too much stress on the top ring of the kiln. I've even gone as far as adding 12" long pieces of rigid sheet steel between the hinge and outer jacket so not all the stress is taken by the top ring.

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A cheap intermediate fix would be a band strap. Available at lumber yards: 24" x 1" strap used to strap joists to the foundation. They are predrilled at 1/4" intervals: and 1/8" thick. They bend relatively easy: so you could get several to encircle the kiln lid and reinforce the hinge. Should be easy enough to align the predrilled sections with the hinge screws. Let them overlap a few inches as you go around the lid and just use screws to attach to each other.

Nerd

 

Edit: commonly referred to as "hurricane straps" in the construction biz.

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I would lightly center punch the stainless band otherwise the drill bit drifts. I also use stainless screws they cost a few cents more but do not rust out. As Neil says add a backup piece of thin metal for best results.

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