Lance Philip Strugar on tue 4 nov 97
Has anyone cut an element slot in insulating brick for an
electric kiln?
The slot in the brick(s) I want to replace have a small opening,
and a larger rectangular space at the rear for the element. I
don't know how this could be cut without something like a special
router bit, or perhaps a band saw.
I was thinking of using a circular saw with a concrete blade,
making the slot mostly the same width from front to back, and
using Kanthal pins to keep the element at the rear. Does this
sound reasonable?
Some experienced help would be appreciated.
Lance Philip Strugar
Dave Ruminski on wed 5 nov 97
Your idea of a router is close. An old time friend gave me this tip that I
have used for years. Using a drill press and a flat wood drill bit that you
can get from any hardware store you can make the slots you require.
Take a flat wood bit, grind the sharp point off and make the an oval
shape on the end of the bit the same width as you need for the slots in
your brick. Grind the sides of the bit narrower than the oval on the end.
Take a brick that you want to copy and test fit the grinding on your bit to
slide through the slot in the brick you are going to copy.
Mount this newly made bit in a drill press and set the drill press table
height to the depth needed for slot you need. Clamp a board to the drill
press table to act as a fence to guide the brick as you route the slot. If
you do not use a fence the brick is very hard control.
Wear safety glasses and a good dust mask. Start the drill press on high
speed and feed the bricks through. I have also connected a shop vac
hose near the working site of the bit in the drill press to cut down on the
dust.
Fire brick will wear out this bit quickly.
Hope this helps.
Dave Ruminski Pittsburgh, PA
>>> Lance Philip Strugar 11/04/97
07:45am >>>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Has anyone cut an element slot in insulating brick for an
electric kiln?
The slot in the brick(s) I want to replace have a small opening,
and a larger rectangular space at the rear for the element. I
don't know how this could be cut without something like a special
router bit, or perhaps a band saw.
I was thinking of using a circular saw with a concrete blade,
making the slot mostly the same width from front to back, and
using Kanthal pins to keep the element at the rear. Does this
sound reasonable?
Some experienced help would be appreciated.
Lance Philip Strugar
Louis Katz on wed 5 nov 97
=3C/NOFILL=3E
-------------------
Use a Piece of All-Thread(threaded rod) Moving it back and forth
parallel to the length of the brick to file a slot. If you have more
than a few bricks to do make a jig that will hold the brick and help
you guide the all-thread.
louis
Steve Mills on wed 5 nov 97
Lance,
I make replacement element bricks with a home-made "router" cutter made as
follows: I used a redundant 3" long nut and bolt, the size of it being
dictated by the size of the element channel and the width of the slot between
it and the inside of the kiln. the nut was screwed up tight to the bolt head
and the two heavily modified with a file 'till it resembled a sort of double
tailed comma ( the tails opposite each other) the resulting "bit" was then
case-hardened by heading to straw colour - dipping in white sugar - then
re-heating. I did this four or five times, then quenched in oil. As I don't
have a router I mount this thing in the chuck of my drill press, attach home
made wooden fence - place brick on a particle board "slider", PUT ON MY
RESPIRATOR!! and groove my bricks (man). You'll find that if you feed so that
the blade "pushes" the brick against the fence it's a pretty straight forward
job.
My cutter is still as good as new after many month's use in K23 brick.
Steve
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
If you can't afford it make it, if you can't make it save up!!
Arial MT on wed 5 nov 97
When i had some bricks replaced in my kilns a router blade was used and
seemed to do an effective job.i do not know which blade nor remember any more
details.
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