Kimani Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 I have an elderly skutt 818 which I am setting up. It came with a rusted stand which I'm fairly sure wasn't original - so looking to get a new one. Can any one point me to the dimensions of the original? I can find them listed for sale but no specs. I'm in Australia so will probably get it made rather than buying as shipping costs are prohibitive (and exchange currently awful). Any general recommendation on how to make a good stand for a small 8sided kiln? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 I've seen people use a hot water heater stand. Or just weld some angle iron together yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 Perforated angle iron and carriage bolts if welding is an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 Make it bigger than orginal and the stand should suppoprt the floor and the walls-I always add a piece of steel plate that covers the stand and goes out under the walls- Its really a short coming to not support the walls as well as the floor. Its just common sense from a engineering point of view-less stress on floor less cracking as well. You could also just use some cinder (cement ) blocks and some heavy sheet steel cut to a circle -I have even used diamond plate aluminum under my 10 cuboic electric . Lets face it many kiln manufactures try to cut corners and a light under sized stand seems to be common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 You can also just use cinder blocks, set so the air clan flow through them. Whatever you do, make sure the floor is even, so it doesn't rock. It doesn't have to be perfectly level, just even. If the floor rocks, that means it will flex when you load it up, and will eventually crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 4, 2020 Report Share Posted January 4, 2020 I'm using Ospho rust converter on a Skutt kiln stand today-then after the rust is converted to iron tomorrow I'll spray it with high heat silver paint-should last longer than me.Stand is still one piece barely. Love the Skutt quality . Looking at this piece of junk stand its made from galvanized steel and renenfored with stainless corners and plastic feet. Satinless and galvo create dissimilar metal corrosion on their own-add heat from kiln and the Galvo goes away and rusts to iron junk. I'm guess if they made it from Stainless it would last a lifetime and cost $8 more per unit tops. Of course selling any replacements would be zero $$ for them and me fixing poorly made stuff would give me extra time for making more pots.No chance of that either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimani Posted January 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 Thanks for the replies - My welding skills aren't really up to making weight bearing things :-) Bolted together sounds good. Supporting the walls sounds very sensible - the floor seems good so far so hoping to keep it so. Does the bottom surface need to be exposed to the air (for cooling)? Most stands I've seen have an open surface (like the skutt ones) although the occasional one has a solid sheet of metal - much like Mark describes. I'm thinking this is just to save materials rather than provide ventilation to the bottom surface of the kiln. Just for fun this is what it came with ... supporting something made out of soft brick material with a narrow edge seems counter intuitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 19 minutes ago, Kimani said: Thanks for the replies - My welding skills aren't really up to making weight bearing things :-) Bolted together sounds good. Supporting the walls sounds very sensible - the floor seems good so far so hoping to keep it so. Does the bottom surface need to be exposed to the air (for cooling)? Most stands I've seen have an open surface (like the skutt ones) although the occasional one has a solid sheet of metal - much like Mark describes. I'm thinking this is just to save materials rather than provide ventilation to the bottom surface of the kiln. Just for fun this is what it came with ... supporting something made out of soft brick material with a narrow edge seems counter intuitive. Cooling not really a major issue, metal plate very good. Remember the entire weight of shelves and wares will be on this so supporting everything very evenly as Neil mentioned is important. In a pinch if heavy gauge metal is not your thing or you don’t own power sheers you could cut a decent piece of 5/8” cement board to overlay an open frame. If you make a bolt together version I would suggest two interior angles supporting the bottom in thirds rather than a single center support, then overlay with the cement board to minimize deflection and provide one very level surface for the entire kiln to sit on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 (supporting something made out of soft brick material with a narrow edge seems counter intuitive.) Wait you have a better idea than Skutt? holly cow what a concept-I think many of us are in that boat. OK I'm a bit cranky at Skutt right now as about an hour ago after cutting off a metal jacket on one section of my electric I found out they they sent me all the wrong Jackets (all three are wrong) .So My good will toward Skutt which I admit was low- is right now less than low.Looks like no fixing the etectric next week.Prying out crappy metal (not stainless screws for an hour did. not help either. But On a good note I'm sending the old rusted jacket back as an example of what I need in stainless so I have a little piece of mind.When I was rolling it it snaped in a few spots-oh well.I'll do. photo post when this job is done. Using tile backer board is better than nothing but steel is best. I have a large aluminum circle of diamond plate under my large 10 cubic kiln which I just took apart and the metal looks great. The stand does not need to cool the floor at all ,as Bill said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted January 5, 2020 Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 kimani, that thing was never designed to support a kiln! i have seen that kind of stand for making a tile table whose top would fit inside the L shape around the top. looks like glue is still inside the rim from the plywood support for the tiles. somebody just put it into your hands as a kiln stand. do not put your kiln on anything that will not support it with a flat surface. if you use angle iron, make sure the flat side is up when you finish it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimani Posted January 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 9 hours ago, oldlady said: kimani, that thing was never designed to support a kiln! i have seen that kind of stand for making a tile table whose top would fit inside the L shape around the top. looks like glue is still inside the rim from the plywood support for the tiles. somebody just put it into your hands as a kiln stand. do not put your kiln on anything that will not support it with a flat surface. if you use angle iron, make sure the flat side is up when you finish it. Yep my conclusion exactly - it was apparently in use by the previous owner who had had the kiln for a year (or two maybe) in a small teaching studio - a bit alarming - I may rehab it for another use but definitely not going back under the kiln. (eta - the flaking stuff is rust and paint...) Taking all this info on board - not in a big hurry as January is a bit of a go slow for electricians and pottery supply shops - both of which I need to ramp up activities. Mark, Skutt kilns aren't real common here - my impression has been that historically at least they were a good kiln, sad if the quality has dropped I should mention I love this forum :-). long time lurker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 OK Skutt stepped up and is sending the right bands on their nickel and e-mailed a pick up label for wrong parts. Even mailed an item for free-so they came thru after the error.Feeling better about them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Skutt typically has very good customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 I added some diamond plate aluminum years ago to my Skutt stand for better support -I picked it up on special at a fabrication shop as it was an order that never got picked up. It is a bit small diameter but does work-Now that Im rebuilding whole kiln I'll add a right sized piece of cement tile backer on top of this diamond plate for full floor support. I put the diamonds down as to not imprint the bricks.Its about 5/32nds thick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimani Posted March 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2020 Thanks again for the input folks .... progress has been made ... trying to source a piece of fibre cement to put on top and we're good to go. Electrician coming on Thursday - unless we are further shut down before then (NSW, Australia) Hopefully I can at least get bisquing as I'm going to run out of space on shelves for greenware before I run out of clay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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