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Metal bit in element holder


desertpotter

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3 hours ago, Hulk said:

Interesting!

The element holder - in the original pic - has a rather big piece of the rail missing; could be that previous owner had (attempted to) fixed the element using a metal fastener?

No that’s all my doing lol. Took a bit of drilling before I even realized the metal bit was there! 

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3 hours ago, Bill Kielb said:

Interesting in that if Kanthal A-1 it really takes above 2500 f to melt it and above 1000 f it loses its magnetic properties. Maybe the mystery bit of metal forever. You seem to have removed it nicely though. I would think fine to operate as is or you could fill with a touch of patch. If patched  I would wipe away clean so the element can  not touch the patch material. Some patching materials are conductive.

It only takes above 2500 to melt if there isn't a flux on it.  With a piece of glaze or clay on it, all bets are off.  And it retains it's magnetism, I actually used a magnet to pick up all the old element pins in my kiln when I changed the elements.  I'm guessing if it were blasted with flame it would lose its magnetism, but maybe being charged constantly by electons allows it to remagnetized

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Yep, my favorite tool is my telescoping pocket magnet, which I use to pick up all the element pins every time I work on a Skutt.

@desertpotterI've seen melts much worse than what you've got there. I've seen the element holder melted clear through and into the brick. I'm 100% sure that anything magnetic in the mess was from your element.

I'd like to see more of the black stuff removed before putting a new element in there. If I was doing it for a customer, I wouldn't put an element in that holder until it was ground all the way back to clean material. You don't know how that spot is going to behave when it gets hot- it may melt again. It won't hurt anything to have a hole in the back of the holder.

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