Cheryl L Litman on fri 18 sep 98
I'm getting ready to buy a digital wall mount controller for my Skutt
kiln and the only thing stopping me from just buying the one Skutt makes
is that I'd prefer zone control which they don't offer as a retrofit.
Does anyone know of a unit available for wall mount which offers zone
control? Should I even bother with wanting zone control? So far the
glazes I've been using aren't that sensitive but I'm thinking of future
needs.
Cheryl Litman
Somerset, NJ
email: cheryllitman@juno.com
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Gavin Stairs on sat 19 sep 98
Hi Ceryl,
Zone control is hard to get in a retrofit because the easy way to add an
external controller is to control the power at the end of the plug. In
other words, everything is either off or on, no way to turn off the upper
ring for a while. Of course, if you put two thermocouples in the kiln,
high and low, you can monitor the temperature difference yourself, and turn
down or adjust the firing with the kiln switches, especially if you have
infinite switches. The only other way is to rewire the kiln to bring the
individual ring power lines out to a controller, in which case you can
probably use a standard zone controller. Or get a kiln repair person to do
it, and refurbish the kiln at the same time. It should be possible to
retrofit an Orton controller, or some other brand, mounted on the front of
your Skutt, and wired into the switch box, to give zone control, but this
would be a bit of work.
Gavin
At 08:40 AM 18/09/98 EDT, you wrote:
>... I'd prefer zone control which they don't offer as a retrofit.
>Does anyone know of a unit available for wall mount which offers zone
>control? ...
===============================================
Gavin Stairs
Stairs Small Systems
921 College Street, # 1-A
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6H 1A1
Keith Chervenak on sat 19 sep 98
I think the Orton does this. Didn't someone (Ron Roy?) extol the virtues of
this controller not too long ago? You might check the archives. I think
this is the one L&L uses on their DaVinci's, which I am considering.
Keith Chervenak
kac2@po.cwru.edu
216-368-4944
Case Western Reserve University
Department of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A.
John Hesselberth on sat 19 sep 98
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Should I even bother with wanting zone control? So far the
>glazes I've been using aren't that sensitive but I'm thinking of future
>needs.
Cheryl,
I would strongly recommend you get a controller with zone control. I am
not, however, familiar with the stand-alone controllers so can't
recommend any brands. I do have a couple pieces of data supporting my
view.
I have an 18" Skutt and it is extremely uneven top to bottom unless I
continually adjust. I have to follow it with 3 thermocouples + cones in
every zone to get something approaching an even firing. This seems to
get even worse as the elements have aged a bit.
On the other hand I just bought a 23" 3 zone computer controlled L&L.
What a pleasure it is!
The Skutt now just sits there. The L&L is a great kiln at an excellent
price, but I don't think they sell their controller seperately. A person
at Orton told me they were bringing one out this Fall. If you can't find
one, give Orton a call and ask them about it.
John Hesselberth
Frog Pond Pottery
Pocopson, PA 19366 USA
EMail: john@frogpondpottery.com web site: http://www.frogpondpottery.com
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and
hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless
series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." H.L. Mencken, 1925
Ron Roy on sun 20 sep 98
Hi Cheryl,
I use the Orton with zone control - as I have said before - the way it
should be. I can almost set my clock by it and completely even from top to
bottom - no matter how fast or slow I fire.
I do think the wall mount is the proper way to go - circuits don't like
wide temperature variations.
Having your bisque all fired to the same temperature has to have some
benefits as well.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I'm getting ready to buy a digital wall mount controller for my Skutt
>kiln and the only thing stopping me from just buying the one Skutt makes
>is that I'd prefer zone control which they don't offer as a retrofit.
>Does anyone know of a unit available for wall mount which offers zone
>control? Should I even bother with wanting zone control? So far the
>glazes I've been using aren't that sensitive but I'm thinking of future
>needs.
>
>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]
Ron Roy
93 Pegasus Trail
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1G 3N8
Tel: 416-439-2621
Fax: 416-438-7849
Web page: http://digitalfire.com/education/people/ronroy.htm
Ron Roy on tue 22 sep 98
Hi Cheryl,
I use the Orton with zone control - as I have said before - the way it
should be. I can almost set my clock by it and completely even from top to
bottom - no matter how fast or slow I fire.
I do think the wall mount is the proper way to go - circuits don't like
wide temperature variations.
Having your bisque all fired to the same temperature has to have some
benefits as well.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I'm getting ready to buy a digital wall mount controller for my Skutt
>kiln and the only thing stopping me from just buying the one Skutt makes
>is that I'd prefer zone control which they don't offer as a retrofit.
>Does anyone know of a unit available for wall mount which offers zone
>control? Should I even bother with wanting zone control? So far the
>glazes I've been using aren't that sensitive but I'm thinking of future
>needs.
>
>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]
Ron Roy
93 Pegasus Trail
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1G 3N8
Tel: 416-439-2621
Fax: 416-438-7849
Web page: http://digitalfire.com/education/people/ronroy.htm
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