Olympic Electric Lid Question

[neilestrick]

10 hours ago, liambesaw said:

Olympics kilns are either cone 8 or cone 10, same wattage, voltage, amperage, only difference is 2.5" brick vs. 3" brick.  Could just be clever marketing or whatever but that's how they do things.

I know 3 inch brick isnt required for cone 10, I went to cone 10 with 2 inch fiber, but there is less wasted energy!

I don't know why they do it that way. Every other brand  has kilns at the same size and wattage with 2.5" brick rated as cone 10.

[MFP]

Probably just to make it a little less scary in terms of the heat. I discovered that they do not make the shelf for my series kiln any more. I ordered the 15 inch shelves and when I was loading I discovered that one of the original shelves was bigger. I already had one of the originals on the bottom. The next size larger is too large. I suppose they don't make three 18 series kilns any more.

I am going to use the smaller shelves in the middle and the big one on the top. Hopefully that will trap the heat more. The original shelves fit very tightly.

 

[liambesaw]

I don't know if this helps or not, but SPS carries 15.5 inch (actual size) shelves for 18 inch kilns.  There is enough room around the edges for your fingers to get into (obviously 1.25 inches on either side).  They're not Olympic brand though, they're just generic shelves. 

http://www.seattlepotterysupply.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=sps_ecat&Product_Code=31152&Category_Code=KS

[MFP]

Thanks! It says they are 18 inches....I will have to clarify with them the actual size. As you can see, there is not much difference between the two shelf types.  The ;arger shelves you can barely get your fingers to the sides and they almost touch the soft brick on at least two sides. 

[liambesaw]

Well you want at least enough room for your hands. A tight fitting shelf does nothing for you versus one with room for your fingers! (Except maybe cause some frustration)

The link I sent says for 18 inch inside diameter kilns and the picture shows the 15.5 inch actual measurement 

[MFP]

I sent them an email to confirm just what the diameter is. The page I looked at was not clear. Mine is an 18 inch kiln though.  You can get your fingers in between the wall and the shelf...but if you had big sausage fingers it would be a challenge. They must have had a reason for making them fit that way. I make no claims to being a kiln engineer.  I also wanted to confirm the temp rating on them since they are not made by Olympic. Clay King told me Olympic has this shelf but it was not on their website....also their shipping is twice what anyone else's is.