Sylla Posted June 10, 2023 Report Share Posted June 10, 2023 Greetings! I have an older manual kiln (Skutt 818) with a kiln sitter. I have been testing a bisque to cone 05 and while the small cone in the sitter bends and turns the kiln off, the two free-standing cones I have inside only bend slightly. My schedule so far has been: -2 hours at low -2 hours at medium -Then turn to high and manually check every 20 minutes. The kiln sitter had shut down the kiln at about 1 hr and 15 minutes. I have two shelves inside and two small extremely bone dry pieces as filler/testers. I am going to run a glaze test, but would love some guidance regarding why it seems like I'm not hitting temp according to the witness cones, but the sitter cone bends and turns off the kiln. Thanks for any advice! Sylla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted June 10, 2023 Report Share Posted June 10, 2023 The cone in the Sitter should be bent to 90 degrees. If it's less than that then you need to adjust the Sitter. Sylla and Pres 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylla Posted June 12, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2023 (edited) Thanks! So I adjusted the sitter. I then re-fired using the same above schedule. After having the kiln in HIGH for one hour, the sitter tripped. The cone in the sitter seems to have bent all the way, but my witness cone barely bent. When I adjusted the sitter, I did so that the claw is about a millimeter over the tongue. Should I make it more? I did use a firing gauge to hold the rod. Thanks in advance! Sylla Edited June 12, 2023 by Sylla correct terminology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Longtin Posted June 12, 2023 Report Share Posted June 12, 2023 It looks like the top ring has no elements in it. Is that correct? Thats known as a "blank ring". Does your kiln have four layers of brick and do they all have elements? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 12, 2023 Report Share Posted June 12, 2023 (edited) The dead ring on top will not help as thats a huge cool area. I thought all skutt old dead rings went in the middle with the plugs passing thu them? Edited June 12, 2023 by Mark C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted June 13, 2023 Report Share Posted June 13, 2023 Yes, ideally the blank ring should be in the middle, assuming it's made with the box connectors. The cone is over-bent, greater than 90 degrees. You should adjust the tab on the weight, moving it just slightly lower so it shuts of earlier. As for reaching temp, I would go 1 cone higher with the Sitter cone, which should get to the shelf cone. Kelly in AK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylla Posted June 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2023 So, the dead ring on top has the lid attached to it, hence why it's on top. I'll try today with a higher cone. Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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