David Woodin Set Clayart Digest on fri 24 jul 98
It doesn't sound like a thermocouple problem, I would call Skutt and ask for
technical assistance. 503-774-6000
gatos on fri 24 jul 98
My suggestion would be to call Skut Technical support and ask them. They have
always been helpfull to me.
Louis
Cheryl L Litman on fri 24 jul 98
If I ever get a digital controller for my studio kiln, I will make sure
that I have a kiln sitter as a fall back. We have a digital Skutt at our
summer art camp for kids and all of a sudden the controller is screwing
up. It fires segment 1 (12-16 hour candling) of a 2 segment program but
won't go into segment 2 (slow ramp to bisque temp.). I can run them
independently, both as single segment firings but that defeats the
purpose of having a digital controller at camp. I like to candle to
drive out the moisture then start the bisque so it ends before I leave
camp for the day. Now I have to start the bisque in the mornings and
assume it shuts off ok. At least I can still fire it! But a kiln sitter
backup would feel safer to me than a programer which is partially
screwing up.
Anyone else have controller problems? A recent post said that the
thermocouple is a critical link in the system, could a bad thermocouple
screw up the program in the way I described? It may read wrong but I can
do the firing in single segments and it seems to behave?
Cheryl Litman
Somerset, NJ
email: cheryllitman@juno.com
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Ken Russell on sat 25 jul 98
>>A recent post said that the thermocouple is a critical link in the system,
could a bad >>thermocouple screw up the program in the way I described?
Yes a bad thermocouple will screw up the controller's ability to fire
correctly. I've got two KM 1227's and it sounds like a bad/weak
thermocouple to me but call Perry at Skutt (503-231-7726) just to make sure.
Perry once told that the thermocouples should be replaced after about fifty
firings.
Ken Russell
The Arlington Pottery
gone2pot@iw.net
barn on sat 25 jul 98
The thermocouple gives the controller the temperature in the kiln. The
thermocouples
according to Skutt tend to drift to cause over firings. A witness cone in
each firing or
every other firing will indicate problems. Saving these cones will even show
how the
thermocouple is drifting and will tell when to change the thermocouple. A
program not
working properly (i.e. a segment not running) sounds like the digital
controller to me, but
I advise calling Skutt. From the workshop I had on troubleshooting the
Kilnmaster I was
told that when the kiln does wierd stuff the controller is suspect. The
program in the controller
monitors the temperature in the kiln and maps that temperature and time to a
Orton equivilant via a table
in it's memory. The biggest part of troubleshooting the automatic kiln is
much like troubleshooting
a glaze (I think) is being aware of what's happening and making sure nothing
has changed
(i.e. I took apart the kiln sections or banged a shelve against the
thermocouple). Electronics in
general are very reliable. They run on low power. Mechanical and the high
power components
are the more likely fail points. The electronics can and will fail. Heat is
the real bug-a-boo for
the electronic components. This is why Skutt says not to fire the automatic
if the outside air
temp is over 100F degrees. When it is 100F outside the inside of the digital
circuit chips is
much hotter. I forget the actual difference, but it can literally melts the
silicon/germanium substrate.
I'm sure if I said the wrong value I'd be corrected. :-}.
If your computer isnt in air conditioning or swamp cooled it would be better
not to run it. The computer
may not fail when it is hot, but chances are an electronic fail was initiated
by heat. This is why most company
systems have dedicated A/C. Hope this helps.
Barney
Cheryl L Litman wrote:
> If I ever get a digital controller for my studio kiln, I will make sure
> that I have a kiln sitter as a fall back. We have a digital Skutt at our
> summer art camp for kids and all of a sudden the controller is screwing
> up. It fires segment 1 (12-16 hour candling) of a 2 segment program but
> won't go into segment 2 (slow ramp to bisque temp.). I can run them
> independently, both as single segment firings but that defeats the
> purpose of having a digital controller at camp. I like to candle to
> drive out the moisture then start the bisque so it ends before I leave
> camp for the day. Now I have to start the bisque in the mornings and
> assume it shuts off ok. At least I can still fire it! But a kiln sitter
> backup would feel safer to me than a programer which is partially
> screwing up.
>
> Anyone else have controller problems? A recent post said that the
> thermocouple is a critical link in the system, could a bad thermocouple
> screw up the program in the way I described? It may read wrong but I can
> do the firing in single segments and it seems to behave?
>
> Cheryl Litman
> Somerset, NJ
> email: cheryllitman@juno.com
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
> You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
> Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
> Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
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