Katie M Posted May 28 Report Share Posted May 28 Hello- I was gifted this old kiln and have no manual and no idea how it works. Anyone ever seen one like this? All it has are 2 switches- one is the power and I have no idea what the other one does. Cannot find on the internet anywhere. Thanks Katie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted May 28 Report Share Posted May 28 (edited) Since this does not appear to have a sitter or shutoff device it’s quite old and likely needs to be fully supervised while firing. I would not operate this until it’s been inspected and confirmed safe, confirmed it will meet your needs for the cone you fire to, and the cost to improve it makes sense for those needs. Edited May 28 by Bill Kielb neilestrick and Hulk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 I've never seen a kiln like that. Not sure what that part on the top is, but I'm betting it's not made for ceramics. Can you post some pictures of the interior and the lid open? Based on the size of the kiln and it being wired for 115 volts, most likely it is not going to get hot enough for ceramics. Chances are this is for glasswork or metalworking or something like that. Also, as repair tech I will not work on kilns that have old cloth wrapped wiring. Paying me to rewire the kiln with new wiring is part of the deal if they want me to work on it. While the wiring may be okay, typically the wires and sheathing are pretty brittle when they're that old, and I'm not going to fix another part of the kiln and leave that bad wiring in place. Hulk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick White Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 The manufacturer's address on the label is a city, zone, and state, i.e., pre-zipcodes. Zipcodes were implemented by the Post Office in 1963. That gives you a marker for the kiln's age. The electrical rating is 19 amps @ 110V, or about 2000 watts. The apparent size of the kiln plus the low watts of heat suggests it will not go past earthenware temperatures. Hulk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulk Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 (edited) Cress may have moved and/or had several sites that have been moved/consolidated/closed/?? - there may still be more than one location. I'm seeing Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Monrovia, California; El Monte, California; Carson City, Nevada. The kiln info plates with street addresses also have a zip code; where there is no street address, no zip code - this is my observation. The Cress website "About Us" article indicates "Cress was founded in 1973..." The units that look like the OPs that I'm seeing/finding are model C-14 Heat Treatment furnaces. Added: on t'other hand, J.J. Cress and Cress may be separate and unrelated (excepting the name) companies, per archived (this) Forum threads Edited May 29 by Hulk aha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 10 hours ago, Hulk said: Added: on t'other hand, J.J. Cress and Cress may be separate and unrelated (excepting the name) companies, per archived (this) Forum threads Cress swears that they are not related to JJ Cress in any way, even though all the kiln model numbers and construction appear to be the same. So I don't know what the real story is there, probably some legal issue, but the current Cress company does not or will not have nay information on JJ Cress kilns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulk Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 Aye, my image search indicated Cress was at same El Monte, CA street address as J.J. Cress, per CorporationWiki... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.