neilestrick Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 I picked up a little Evenheat test kiln last Fall and finally got around to getting it up and running this week. It was in brand new condition, only fired a handful of times to low fire temps, but it was a cone 8 kiln, not ideal for all the cone 6 firings I'll be doing in it. So I talked with Euclids and had them make me some custom elements that bumped it up from 2000 watts to 2700 watts, a 35% increase in power. It should have great element life now. It was originally set up for 120V service at 17 amps, and with the new elements it's set up for 208V 1P service at 13 amps (wired in series). I gutted the control box, removing the Kiln Sitter and wiring, and installed a terminal block that connects the elements directly to the power cord. I don't need the sitter since I'm using a wall mounted digital controller. The controller has a Genesis Mini controller and a solid state relay- you can see the heat sink on the left side of the control box. I've been using this box for a few years now and it works great. It was originally an Orton Auto-Fire, but I modified it a couple of years ago to work with the SSR. I also put the thermocouple in a protection tube. I had a successful bisque firing yesterday, and I'm running a cone 6 glaze firing today. I don't expect any problems, but it's still a bit stressful since it's a new setup. Fingers crossed! Bill Kielb, Hulk, Rae Reich and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 Nice work! Just to pass along if you ever find the need, heatsink USA was always a good resource for low cost heatsinks of decent size. Always have been able to design these to run in 90 degree ambient - no fan but takes a bit of heatsink to do it while not breaking the bank. neilestrick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick White Posted March 8, 2023 Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 Nice job, been there done that too. Some years ago I acquired a little Paragon 1193 of about the same size, and also 120V, 19 amps. I thought it would be a nice test kiln. Not so, the elements kept wearing too fast at cone 6, despite it nominally being a cone 10-capable kiln. It had a 3-button Sentry controller. So, I did the math, changed the plug to a 20 amp 240 plug, swapped in a double breaker, but didn't need to change the wiring through the wall as it was already 12 ga. Bought a pair a generic 12 amp elements from Kreuger, wired them in series, and swapped out the Sentry controller for a Genesis Mini. Also sprang for an S thermocouple. 30% more power and 100% more accuracy. No space for the SSR stuff, so keeping the standard relay. neilestrick and Bill Kielb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted March 8, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2023 3 hours ago, Bill Kielb said: Nice work! Just to pass along if you ever find the need, heatsink USA was always a good resource for low cost heatsinks of decent size. Always have been able to design these to run in 90 degree ambient - no fan but takes a bit of heatsink to do it while not breaking the bank. Thanks for the link! I can't remember where I got the heat sink I'm using. I've got a 50 amp SSR and 10 gauge wiring in the box so nothing is having to work very hard to run the 13 amps. It's been a nice little system. 3 hours ago, Dick White said: Nice job, been there done that too. Some years ago I acquired a little Paragon 1193 of about the same size, and also 120V, 19 amps. I thought it would be a nice test kiln. Not so, the elements kept wearing too fast at cone 6, despite it nominally being a cone 10-capable kiln. Yeah, this kiln replaced a little Paragon that I'd been using for years. The element life wasn't great, plus the bricks were getting pretty worn out or I would have just rewired it. I was lucky to get the Evenheat at an estate sale where I was buying a 7 cubic foot Evenheat. The big kiln was in the basement, which was a little bit of a hoarder situation but they had already cleaned out a lot of it. While digging through all the kiln stuff I found a couple of small kiln shelves that would fit a test kiln. I asked if there were any other kilns in the house and they guy said no, but while I was moving stuff out to my truck he found the little one buried in a corner. I offered him $100 and he took it! I just took a peek at the firing, and at 2000F degrees and a rate of 325F/hr the kiln was at 71% duty cycle. Plenty of power! Rae Reich and Bill Kielb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 6 hours ago, neilestrick said: Yeah, this kiln replaced a little Paragon that I'd been using for years. I think under appreciated by many - test kilns / small kilns can be super handy. Until you have one at your disposal it probably just seems like a luxury. Really nice build, should last a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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