Steve Mills on mon 28 may 01
Like Brad I've been using the ubiquitous Kiln Sitter for many years,
both at home and at work; we offer a firing service for our kilnless
customers and use a combination of a controller and a Sitter on 2 out of
3 kilns. It's an excellent set-up combining the best of both worlds,
with the cone (in the Sitter) having the 'last word'!
Incidentally the Sitter never gives trouble if treated correctly AND,
like any other machine, regularly serviced
Steve
Bath
UK
In message , Brad Sondahl writes
>Since comments are running against kilnsitters, and since I feel
>otherwise, I'll speak for them. I've used them for 20 years, over 100
>firings per year, only occasionally using backup cones. I occasionally
>dink with the set screw if the shut off lever won't stay in place when
>you're starting the kiln, or if I install a new rod. I fire crystalline
>glazes with it, and learn the hotter and colder parts of the kiln. I
>can tell the cone the kiln reaches on opening without witness cones,
>since I know my glazes. Also I may substitute a lower or higher cone
>for a while if I'm not getting the results I want. Many more problems
>have resulted from burned out elements than anything related to the
>kilnsitter, and those would still occur using witness cones, unless you
>checked both top and bottom.
>Several times in 20 years I've had severe overfires, wrecking pots and
>sagging shelves. If I had set the timer more carefully those wouldn't
>have happened. The time spent remaking those pots would be nothing
>related to the time of babysitting 2000 kiln loads to a visual shutoff.
>Since I live and work in the same place, I usually wait for slight
>brightening of lights that signals the kiln is done before resting
>easy. Otherwise I'm free to do other stuff.
>If the Dawson kiln sitter didn't work as designed, the design would have
>been changed or discarded. It's simple. It works.
>Brad Sondahl
>--
>For original art, music, pottery, and literature, visit my homepage
>http://pages.about.com/bsondahl
>Pottery homepage http://sondahl.freeyellow.com
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
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