Kiln Ring Clamp Repair

[ThruTraffic]

I saw an archived thread about ring tighteners breaking. I just bought an old Olympic kiln and all the clamps are toast and two of them popped off the ring. 
 

Spot welds are good enough for this type of device I guess since breakage doesn’t appear to be very common but most folks don’t have access to a spot welder or to an even better solution; a TIG welder (I’m now happier than ever to have spent some time in welding school ). So mine will be repaired with a Miller TIG machine.

And, I’m not going to use the ones that popped off and am going to pop all the rest off and replace them. One doesn’t have to order special screw clamps either. Look closely and you can see that the part welded on there is nothing more that a big ring clamp cut in half. You can find an example of what you need on the ends of car water hoses, except you’ll need some larger. A 3” or larger hose clamp is likely best. Amazon has them for around a buck a piece. Get stainless steel.

And if you don’t know how to TIG I’ll bet there’s a trade school near you and I’ll also bet the ceramics and welding instructors know each other. (Heck, my welding prof was a potter.)

(You could also MIG tack weld them fairly easily. Stick would work but you’ll need a pro for that thin of a steel.)

[neilestrick]

Welding is of course the ideal solution, but a another solution if you don't have access to a welder and need the thing fixed quickly is to reattach the clamp with sheet metal screws. Three #6 screws will hold it well enough to get the bands snugged up again. Use really short screws, like 1/2" so they don't penetrate the bricks much or else they'll make it more difficult to tighten.