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Thoughts on the Cress FX-23 P


nathanhinshaw

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The FX 23 P is a manual kiln with a couple of weird ass clockwork timers that controls your rate of climb, a precursor to computer programmable kilns. You can’t can’t program any ramps or holds on this one: you’ll have to brace the cone sitter on, put it on full manual and figure your firings out yourself with a pyrometer. But it’s doable. It depends on your comfort level with just poking at your kiln to see what it does. 

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  • 4 months later...
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1 hour ago, Carol Broach said:

I have a Fx23 p that I have been using for about 2 years. I bought it used.  Last week I started it up as usual and it  clicked a few times, the red light flickered and it went dead. Anyone know what might have gone wrong? Thanks.

Those kilns can be difficult to diagnose if they have the thumbwheel dial and such. For starters, though, are you sure the kiln itself is dead, and not just the red light? Does it heat up? You could start by unplugging it and removing the control box and checking to see if any wires have come loose or if any connections have fried out. Otherwise you need to trace the flow of power with a multi-meter and see where it stops.

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1 hour ago, Carol Broach said:

I have a Fx23 p that I have been using for about 2 years. I bought it used.  Last week I started it up as usual and it  clicked a few times, the red light flickered and it went dead. Anyone know what might have gone wrong? Thanks.

One idea would be, from memory, the pilot light is connected to the primary infinite switch so if that switch is bad no pilot light and the kiln will just not work.

Unfortunately the pilot light could be burned out but the kiln would still work, or power  to the kiln could be interrupted some way,  breaker, connection, relay ........

My best guess (total guess) check the infinite switch.

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  • 8 months later...
On 12/26/2017 at 3:27 PM, nathanhinshaw said:

Quick follow up: I've just gotten an image of the kiln and it seems like it might be a little worse for wear, but I'm not totally sure. I'll attach an image but there is some cracking on the floor and some of the coils look a bit loose. I'd appreciate any advice the community has about the state, questions to ask or issues to look for, and any impact on price or reliability those things might have.

interiorkiln.jpg

 

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3 hours ago, Edd said:

The kiln I purchased has these same cracks. Are they an issue? I have not used it. I'm completely green to pottery

If the cracks go all the way through and the floor is no longer structurally sound, you can put a piece of sheet metal under it to support it, or replace the stand with cinder block to provide support. Have the cinder block hols facing horizontally so air can flow through. If they're just hairline cracks that do not go all the way through, those are normal.

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