Kelly Savino on tue 26 apr 11
So, I know the official answer to this, but to the cobblers and scroungers =
out there:
How bad would it be to use elements in one kiln that were designed for anot=
her?
Heat and stretch them a bit, or compress them a bit, and make them do?
Not that I would ever do such a thing (looks over shoulder)
but desperate times call for desperate measures...
yours
Kelly in Ohio
http://www.primalpotter.com
jonathan byler on tue 26 apr 11
it could be real bad, or might might not be. you have to check the
resistance of the element with an ohmmeter to make sure that it will
be complatible with the ones you have and the kiln you are firing. I
would hazzard a guess, based on previous electrical work that if they
are +/- 10% of what you already have that they would work out
passably. if the resistance is too high, divide by lenght to get ohms
per foot, then figure out how many feet you need to match the other.
of course this is complicated by things being coiled.... if you check
resistance, try and use the sharp pointy probes on the ohmmeter and
scratch through any oxide on the surface to get a good reading.
if the elements are too short you would need to do as mel did and heat
the wires, clean them well and twist together. not sure how you
anneal wire like this, and whether twisting hot wires together is the
way to go if annealing is not possible/easy. obviously mel made it
work, you could too.
you need to maybe worry about watt density, so it would definitely
help if the wires were the same diameter, otherwise you would probably
get premature failure of the smaller wire. also might need to worry
about making sure they are the smae alloy, but I think most kilns use
the same NiChrome alloy. there are a number of different alloys,
though, and these will not work well connected directly to one another
in the ware chamber. heat will make the resultant galvanic corrosion
happen really fast, as can be seen when using the wrong kind of wire
to hold the elements to the brick.
good luck to you!
On Apr 26, 2011, at 12:43 PM, Kelly Savino wrote:
> So, I know the official answer to this, but to the cobblers and
> scroungers out there:
>
> How bad would it be to use elements in one kiln that were designed
> for another?
>
> Heat and stretch them a bit, or compress them a bit, and make them do?
>
> Not that I would ever do such a thing (looks over shoulder)
>
> but desperate times call for desperate measures...
>
> yours
> Kelly in Ohio
>
> http://www.primalpotter.com
Fredrick Paget on tue 26 apr 11
An ohm is an ohm and a watt is a watt so if you can come close with
the scrounged elements just stick them in and praise the lord!.
You don't even have to heat them . New element wire is malleable
before it is put in service so stretch them cold as needed .
A few years ago I came across some 480 volt elements at a junk yard
that looked to be about the same wire size and coil diameter as the
stuff you buy for big money to fit a kiln. . I got the lot for 2
dollars. They can be cut up and stretched to fit my 120 volt test
kiln, I just cut off an 8 ohm piece if I remember correctly. (If you
have a new one check the element with an ohmmeter while it is new
and write it down somewhere) An old element will wear down to give a
higher resistance (Ohms) but not by much.
Any way just remember E equals RI. That's Ohms law and doesn't have
a copyright or trademark on it.
Fred Paget
Twin Dragon Studio
Mill Valley, CA, USA
>.So, I know the official answer to this, but to the cobblers and
>scroungers out there:
>
>How bad would it be to use elements in one kiln that were designed
>for another?
>
>Heat and stretch them a bit, or compress them a bit, and make them do?
>
>Not that I would ever do such a thing (looks over shoulder)
>
>but desperate times call for desperate measures...
>
>yours
>Kelly in Ohio
>
>http://www.primalpotter.com
--
Twin Dragon Studio
Mill Valley, CA, USA
William & Susan Schran User on tue 26 apr 11
On 4/26/11 1:43 PM, "Kelly Savino" wrote:
> So, I know the official answer to this, but to the cobblers and scrounger=
s out
> there:
> How bad would it be to use elements in one kiln that were designed for
> another?
> Heat and stretch them a bit, or compress them a bit, and make them do?
> Not that I would ever do such a thing (looks over shoulder)
> but desperate times call for desperate measures...
Kelly, Elements not designed for the kiln may heat faster/burn out sooner,
may not get as hot may take longer to reach temperature or might be ok and
work just fine. Keep a watch on first couple firings to log firing times.
Go ahead, nobody's watching...
When there ain't no money, one does what one must.
I've installed 208v elements in 240v kiln, fired on 240v, just got to ^06 a
heck of a lot faster...
Bill
--
William "Bill" Schran
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
http://www.creativecreekartisans.com
John Post on tue 26 apr 11
This reminds me of something I saw on television about Cuba. They
have many old American cars there because they couldn't get new ones.
Embargo. The cars down there last forever because they don't see
winter snow and salt. Many of the cars are 50 or 60 years old, but
even when they were new, they couldn't get parts to fix the stuff that
was broken. So the television journalist had a driver pop the hood on
one of these cars. All the cooling hoses were non-standard garden
hoses or whatever could be scrounged up and rigged. It stuck in my
mind because I remember thinking just how creative people can be when
they need to apply a non-standard solution to make something work.
I think that is my favorite part of working on stuff and building
things, figuring out how to take things apart and put them together.
My mom teases my dad that all of his wood carving tools are altered by
him in some way. He is always buying new tools and shortening them or
adding a different handle or changing the curve of a blade. Once I
started making pots, it gave me a whole new appreciation for all of
the ways my dad made his tools fit his work.
My dad used to deliver potato chips. It was a big deal when handheld
calculators came out. Some of them that we buy today at the dollar
store sold for a few hundred bucks back in the day. It cracked me up
one time when I went into his truck and he cut off all of the plastic
buttons that he didn't need on one of his calculators . If it wasn't
addition, subtraction, multiplication or percentage, he cut the button
off. He told me that whenever he hit one of the damn memory buttons
he'd have to spend 10 minutes trying to get the calculator to return
back to normal.
His truck had velcro everywhere. Anything he needed in the cab was
held in place with velcro and when he got older he made a wooden stick
with a hook on it to pull boxes around in the truck without having to
bend down. If he didn't have to work to so hard to support his
family, he might have made a helluva fine artist if he got to finish
going through art school. Well he actually is quite a fine artist
when it comes to his wood carvings but he has no interest in showing
them or selling them, he just makes them for himself.
John Post
Sterling Heights, Michigan
http://www.johnpost.us
Follow me on Twitter
https://twitter.com/UCSArtTeacher
Arnold Howard on thu 28 apr 11
On 4/26/2011 12:43 PM, Kelly Savino wrote:
> So, I know the official answer to this, but to the cobblers and scrounger=
s out there:
> How bad would it be to use elements in one kiln that were designed for an=
other?
Kelly, a replacement element that draws too much amperage could burn out
wires inside the kiln's switch box. Or the kiln may not fire evenly with
the new element.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
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