Arnold Howard on mon 21 may 01
Marion, to calibrate your Kiln Sitter, you will need a firing
gauge. (It is a small steel disk with a hole in the center.) Do you
have one?
Arnold Howard
Paragon
--- BARNSCHWA@AOL.COM wrote:
> In a message dated 5/20/01 6:02:34 PM, john@FROGPONDPOTTERY.COM
> writes:
>
> << My sitter is now recalibrated per factory instructions (it
> only takes
>
> 5 minutes) >>
>
> I don't know how to calibrate a cone sitter. Any hints? I got
> my kiln used
> and there was no instruction book.
>
> Marion
>
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scott lykens on tue 22 may 01
>i cant help but to back this up with a short story,
i do tech support all day long, and have never had a situation with in hte
parameters of firing problems that involved a sitter and witness cones,
every time i have seen a classic over fire or underfire issue with a kiln
sitter, witness cones were not used,
and what a situation to be in. you know your material looks strange, but you
dont really know if it has been fired correctly, even if you recalibrate
your sitter every 20 firing you still need to check on your calibration with
witness cones
these guys are so right about this, and even if its 2 minutes extra work per
firing, you'll save big $$ compared to what its cost to make your pots
twice.
sct>
>I'd like to ditto what John said about the mechanical shut off device
>for electric kilns. I have never trusted them, never will, to give
>accurate readings. I use them as they should be used, a back-up
>safety device. I always use witness cones, for both bisque & glaze
>firings. To do otherwise is simply foolish. I feel the same about the
>computer controllers - I'd still use witness cones.
>Bill
>
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scott lykens on wed 23 may 01
>I believe that the folks at dawson recomend shelf cones and a recalibration
>every 20 firings to less, in accordance with the design of the kiln
>sitter.
If folks wish to exchange remaking pots and damaged shelves kilns etc, thats
great more power to them, they just cant get upset at anyone but themselves
when it happens. In a private studio one can control things by look and
glaze consistancy very comfortably, but group studio, lots of students
learning to fire a kiln, many unfamiliar glazes, i think if there is work
in a kiln that belongs to someone that will certainley be long gone when its
time to pay the piper for those kiln repairs, its fair to let a student use
all the tools in learning, and not just hte ones that make things easier.
perhaps the more experienced potter can figure out what is cost effective in
the long run for their private studio, but can the hooby potter, or the
begining -intermediate student who shares a studio with community in mind.
if theres a melt down in hte kiln and the next in line doesnt get to use it,
or even no one gets to use the kiln for 2 weeks, how much cummullative time
was wasted compared to the last hour of the firing where a student , who was
in the studio anyway, checks the kiln 3-4 times,
>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
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots@pclink.com.
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Arnold Howard on thu 24 may 01
I, too, believe it is wise to check on the kiln near the end of the
firing, whether you are using a Kiln Sitter or digital controller.
Shelf cones are also important.
Brad doesn't need shelf cones anymore, because he can tell,
visually, how his glazes fired. His system for monitoring the
kiln's shut off is interesting, too: noting a dimming of the lights
when the firing is done.
But for most people, shelf cones are vital.
Last year I gave a talk to high school ceramic teachers. Out of
about 60, only a few knew what a shelf cone was. After that, we
started silk screening onto the switch boxes of our current digital
kilns a recommendation to use shelf cones.
Hoping you have a great weekend,
Arnold Howard
Paragon
--- Brad Sondahl wrote:
> 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
>
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