Kiln Identification

[AlabamaDamascus]

Hello Everyone, This is my first post, I hope it is in the right thread.

Though we don't do ceramic work, the knife company I work for just bought an older kiln from a tile manufacturer and  we intend to use for normalizing our rough forged Damascus billets. It is a 3 phase front loading kiln with a West 2050 controller. I have looked over every inch of the thing and cannot find a single indication of who made it; not even a shadow of a removed data plate or badge. The controller appears to be original, the controller itself is dated 1987, and the copyright date on the manual I got from West was 1989 (they couldn't offer any leads as far as what manufacturers they sold to at that time), so that seems like a likely date range to work with.  The interior dimensions are 30"deep x 28" wide x 18" high. There is a rectangular top vent that an be opened via chain on the front.

When casting a wide net on Google, I ran across a couple of Norman kilns from the 80's that had a very similar color of 'hammer-finish' silver paint and the same style of small vent covers on the door, but they were all 110v kilns, not nearly as large, and the similarities are purely aesthetic. We just need any info we can get so that we can order (or adapt) parts in the future.

As an aside, I did take ceramics in college and am very impressed by the amount of information on this forum; I wish I had used it then!

Thanks everyone,

Al

Al

 

[CactusPots]

No help, but I watch Forged in Fire regularly and I'm always amazed at the seat of the pants tempering of the blades.  Occasionally, someone's home forge will have a controlled heat, but more typically, the obvious color of the blade is uneven and frequently it's too hot.

[AlabamaDamascus]

CactusPots, we have had several contestants come by the shop, and a few are our customers. TV drama always present on the show,  but a quality heat treatment is still essential. We're going to experiment with batch heat treating with this kiln, actually. 1550 degrees F is ideal for our Damascus formula.

[neilestrick]

No clue on who made that kiln. However, that doesn't mean you can't keep it running. Most kiln parts- switches, relays, controllers, etc- are off the shelf parts, not specific to kilns. Euclids.com will be able to make elements for you if/when you need them.

The first thing you're going to have to do is figure out the amperage draw of the kiln so you can hook it up on the correct size breaker. Hopefully the tile manufacturer you bought it from can tell you what the amperage draw is. If not, since you don't have a serial plate with that information, you can calculate it based on the element resistance and configuration. You'll need to measure the resistance of each element, figure out if each branch is wired in series or parallel, and calculate the amperage draw with your service voltage. THIS PAGE on the L&L kilns website has a lot of great information on how to calculate that. The other option is to have your electrician temporarily hook it up to a  large circuit you have at your shop, like 50-60 amps, turn it on high, and measure the draw. If you have any dead elements, you can still figure out the total draw based on the branches that are working. By code, the kiln should be on a circuit that is 25% greater than the draw of the kiln.

[AlabamaDamascus]

Thanks nielestrick, we'll give it a try. Our electrician is pretty slick, but I'll pass it on to him. I'll check out that link too, it looks very helpful.