Richard Gralnik on thu 18 jul 96
Sometimes if you want to get the job done you have to do it yourself,
so I just finished a 6 week welding class where I actually started
building my kiln!!! (Wild cheers and applause redirected to my wife
who watched our 4 kids 4 hours a night 4 nights a week for 6 weeks
so I could do this. How do you thank someone for something like that?
Well, tonight's her birthday. I'll think of something).
Anyway, I've learned basic TIG/GTAW and MIG/GMAW (neat new lingo huh?)
welding, oxy/acetlyne cutting, chop saw, drill press, grinder. The
pieces of the kiln frame are cut and notched, and I'll actually put
it together next semester (just 2 nights a week), along with building
the burner manifold and a venting hood. Unfortunately my potting is
on hold in the meantime, but I figure it's worth it. One thing I
learned is that the $1000 the pro's estimated to build this kiln frame
is a very fair price!
Richard G.
thinking about how to combine welding and pottery...
Richard Gralnik on sat 7 sep 96
News update from the kiln building front -
All of the metal for the frame is cut, notched and punched, and we began
tacking the pieces together last night. It's exciting to see the front
and back panels of the main firing chamber taking shape, plus I got to
try my hand at arc welding!
Richard Gralnik
graLNIKILNsRus :)
Richard Gralnik on tue 22 jul 97
The saga continues and another milestone is reached...
My gas line is in! (Cheers! Applause! The crowd goes wild!)
And I did it right. Got a permit. Used scotchkote'd steel pipe. Dug a
40' long, 14" deep, 12" wide trench (I was going to put an electric
conduit in the trench too). I even broke down and got help from a
licensed plumber when I realized I couldn't tighten the joints enough
for a good seal by myself (I did the primer and tape wrap myself. I
just don't happen to have a 2' pipe wrench laying around. That's what
you need to get the leverage to turn the pipes and "tighten the s**t out
of them" - as the plumber put it). Had the work inspected - held 20# of
pressure overnight. No problemo.
Dunt dunt dunt. Another one bites the dust!
I also bought my arch bricks. You may remember a post a month or so
ago that AP Green had G26 #1 arch bricks available for $1 each. Well,
they don't have as many available as they used to :) And I saved over
$100 in the process. (Hey, it paid for the plumber.)
On to painting the frame!
Richard
Richard Gralnik on thu 21 aug 97
Another milestone in the age old saga of the kiln has been reached.
I took delivery of the bricks this morning. Mt. IFB now stands proudly
in my garage next to the curtain of plastic sheeting that forms the walls
of my do-it-yourself paint booth where I will be painting the kiln frame.
I also have 2 large boxes of K-fac 1900 degF insulating board for cold
face insulation, and a roll of ceramic paper that will become the door
gasket and expansion joint filler.
I also wrote a check for just over $1000 to pay for all this neat stuff
but every silver lining has its cloud.
Richard
pottery and welding junkie
If there's slurry in my veins, there's shielding gas in my lungs
Richard Gralnik on wed 12 may 99
Everyone,
Things are moving along suddenly in the great saga (or is that the never
ending
story???)
I actually lit the kiln up for the first time!!!
You may remember my despair at the failure of the pilot system to stay
ignited.
I played with the positions of the flame sensing thermocouples, made a few
minor tweaks to the spacing of the gas train components and VOILA!!!!
It was a beautiful sight to see the flames dancing along the pilot trailers
and up
the sides of the silver-painted, ITC213 (?) tipped MR750 burners, with that
little
cone of fire extending across the mouth of each burner.
Then the moment of truth. I opened the shutoff on one burner and cracked
the
main gas shutoff that feeds the manifold. A startling WHOOOOSH followed by
the pop of the gas igniting and flames shot through the burner port up into
the
kiln. OOOOOHHHH BOY!!!!
Another burner opened up. WHOOSH! Pop!! FLAMES!!!! FLAMES.
Burner number 3. One sideof the kiln firing like a 3 nozzle rocket engine!!!
WOW!!!! It works. It really works. TOO amazing.
Then the other half of the kiln. One burner at a time, teasing, prolonging
the
intensity of the moment. The WHOOSH not startling anymore, but VERY DAMN
SATISFYING. Finally, a sight to behold, especially at night. Fire
blasting out of
all six burner ports. OH BABY! This is better than sex!!!
I don't know who was more excited, the pyromaniac inside who was enthralled
with all that fire or the kiln builder who finally got satisfaction after 3
years of work.
Who cares???
It's finally time to order the shirt I've been promising myself for years
that I'm going
to wear the first time I fire a load of pots in the kiln. From a hot sauce
maker in
San Luis Obispo who I really hope is still in business, it reads:
MO' HOTTER, MO' BETTER.
I got a new computer at work this week which is known to the Internet as
"highfire.desktalk.com" in honor of the dragon.
I bought the first of my kiln shelves from Paul Geil (12x24x1" high alumina
shelves).
Not cheap, but beautiful. (By the way, for any Geil fans out there, his
wife was
delivering their first child, a boy, yesterday afternoon).
I just got back from Thorley Refractories with a load of brand spanking new
1 1/2"
square kiln posts, 6 each in lengths of 1/2", 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", 6", 7",
8", 9" and 12".
Overkill? Probably, but all 66 posts cost less than $60. The Thorley
factory is an
interesting place. Dry pressed shelves stamped on a press, posts extruded
from
the mouth of a standard pug mill, 3 large car kilns and a tunnel kiln. The
whole
operation is housed in a building made of corrugated steel walls and roof,
on a side
street in South Gate across from a residential area. I drove right past it
the first time.
I even made some pots over the last couple of weeks. Nothing special.
Cylinders
and some bowls and things. No point investing a lot of time in pots that may
blow to smithereens if I don't learn how to control temperature increases
P.D.Q.
but I got my hands dirty and found I can still throw a little.
I plan to order a pyrometer and digital thermometer from Omega before the
end of
the week. My neighbor works for a marble and granite store and is going
to cut
an old kiln shelf into a damper for me. Some fiber insulation gluedd to
the hotface
of the very front arch bricks where the heat gets too close to the angle
iron frame
and I should be all set for a real firing. I don't believe it myself.
Richard
still smiling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard Gralnik Ph: (310) 323-5998 x.1050
Sr. Systems Engr. Fx: (310) 323-6197
DeskTalk Systems, Inc. rgralnik@desktalk.com
19401 S. Vermont Ave. #F100
Torrance, CA. 90502
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