Richard Gralnik on fri 29 aug 97
Wendy,
You built a gas kiln for under $1000 from all new materials? Whatever
you do, don't show your cost sheet to my wife!
My kiln is a downdraft high fire kiln with outside dimensions of
47"Wx41"Hx37"D. It's basically a homegrown copy of a Geil kiln without
the nice burner system. Here's a rough breakdown of my costs:
About 500 K23 bricks @$1.75 (They're $2.20 now) (I got
100 bricks for the chimney from salvaging an old kiln.) $875
75 G26 arch bricks from AP Green via a post here on clayart
a few months ago cost me $1.00 each (usually $2.45 or more)
plus Greenlite26 straights (finish the arch, and for skews) 90
Add $110 for K-fac1900 insulating board to back up the bricks 110
Ceramic paper for expansion joint filler and door gasket 25
12x24 Shelves are about $30 each (x12) 360
Posts will add about $100 100
I bought the angle iron and other steel for the frame,
door, burner manifold and venting hood for about 300
A friend of my parents gave me the steel-aluminum alloy
sheet metal for the venting hood (should have been about $250)
plus $350 for the cost of welding classes and various tools 350
and paint for the frame and manifold 100
I got the 6 MR750 burners for free from the same kiln salvage
project where I got the chimney bricks (saved about $150)
Pilot, shut off valve and other gas safety components 200
The gas pipe (1 1/2" coated pipe for underground) plus fittings 160
plus $100 to the plumber. 100
plus the gas line permit (I ain't messin' with gas) 60
Add in cement for the kiln slab and post holes 120
sheet metal, posts and hardware for the kiln shed 300
Pyrometer and thermocouple (not bought yet) 200
Water column pressure gauge from the kiln salvage (saved $40)
Misc nuts, bolts, rivets, bits of pipe, tools, other stuff 300
------
Total 3,750
======
And I'd say that's conservative. (Not to mention the $700 or so I saved
on materials I scrounged, was given or got unexpectedly cheaply.) It
also doesn't include the *MANY* hours invested in learning, planning
and doing.
Richard
| |
|
