Stephen Lewicki on sat 12 jan 02
I appreciate the response to my comments. Dan Ody, one of L&L's technical =
support people and a great potter, recently revised my interest in the Clayart =
Listserv. It really is a great forum for feedback and commentary. I hope to =
devote more attention to it in the future. My personal background is 25 years =
in designing and making high tech industrial furnaces and kilns, something my =
brother Greg and I did almost completely independently from our father who =
started L&L Mfg. Six years ago my brother and I took over the kiln company and =
I have devoted most of my time since to improving and and "finishing" an =
incredible legacy. My father was a creative self-taught "folk" engineer and =
came up with many unique and wonderful designs and ideas. However, there were =
issues with quality control, out-of-date manufacturing methods, customer =
service, distribution etc. that needed urgent attention. The company could have =
been liquidated. It is also not easy when our competition (particularly our =
good friends at Skutt) are so worthy and competent. In any case, we are here to =
stay and to find our niche again. We have completely revamped our manufacturing =
and are improving it on a continual basis. We recently resent all our line =
through UL (including our great vent system). We have two full time technical =
support people on staff (plus my brother and myself with all our years of =
industrial experience). We care PASSIONATELY about not only "customer service" =
but the underlying causes of any complaint - whether it be technical, =
procedural or even personal. We can't solve every problem and all issues that =
come up are not our responsibility. But I will personally promise this to this =
wonderful community of Clayart - L&L will listen, we will do our best to solve =
problems, to rectify mistakes, and to offer the benefit of our hard-won =
knowledge when we can. Please communicate to us directly or through Clayart =
Listserv any questions, concerns or problems about not only our kilns but kiln =
technology in general.=20
Stephen J Lewicki
President
L&L Kiln Mfg.
Toll Free: 877-513-7869
Fax: 610-485-4665
Email: steve@hotkilns.com
Web: www.hotkilns.com
william schran on sat 12 jan 02
Stephen - I have no interest in L&L except as a owner and teacher
with five L&L's. Very easy to maintain and repair, always recommend
them. Only wish they where better insulated. We have a J2927 that I
only use for bisque firing cause it takes so long to reach cone 6,
more than 13 hours (which is how long I'm at school the days we fire
the kilns). I certainly think the more robust "Jupiter" line with 3"
walls will perform better, and the next electric will be one of them,
but I would bet going with a 4 1/2" wall & lid would be even greater.
Yeah, it would cost more, but it would be worth it!
Bill
Stephen J Lewicki on sun 13 jan 02
Dear Bill-
Thank you for your comments. I would agree that your next kiln should have
the 3" brick. We are recommending this when customers are going to
consistantly fire above Cone 1. Even though almost all of our kilns will
reach Cone 10 the extra insulation helps it get there, adds to element life
and helps with longer cool downs. I also agree with what you say about the
4-1/2" walls. It is a question of cost. We are thinking hard about how to
make a super insulated kiln at an affordable price. I don't think much of
what I have seen. We do make industrial type front loading kilns with 4-
1/2" of insulation (very nice kilns but really very expensive). In the
meantime I do have a helpful suggestion that you (and all the other Clayart
readers) can immediately impliment. Buy 2" of calcium silicate board and
put it under your firebrick bottom. This insulation is very cheap, non-
compressible (so it will take the weight of the kiln) and will withstand
1200 Deg F which will be adequate for the subsequent interface temperature
between the brick and the calcium silicate. You can buy this at any good
industrial insulation supplier. You can also put this on the top for that
matter (and remove it when you open up the kiln). This trick will also
solve another problem. Most kilns fire colder on the bottom so putting
extra insulation there will aid that issue. By the way you may want to
think about getting a new heavy-duty 14 gauge solid galvanealed stand that
we just designed. This would completely support this calcium silicate
insulation. Call us if you are interested.
Stephen J Lewicki
President
L&L Kiln Mfg.
william schran on thu 17 jan 02
Stephen - In your response about producing an "affordable" electric
kiln with thicker walls you said:
"I also agree with what you say about the
4-1/2" walls. It is a question of cost. We are thinking hard about how to
make a super insulated kiln at an affordable price. I don't think much of
what I have seen. We do make industrial type front loading kilns with 4-
1/2" of insulation (very nice kilns but really very expensive)."
Have you sat down and figured out how much more the cost would be?
I started thinking about this looking at my little J18X. Kiln is
built of K23 IFB with each brick size - 2.5" X 4.5" X 9". Composed of
3 sections, each section being 9" high (2 bricks) and about 8/9
bricks around, total 16/18 bricks in each section. If we take the
bricks and lay them down so the wall is now 4.5" inches thick
(instead of 2.5"), each section would now be made up of 32/34 bricks.
With retail cost of these bricks being about $3.00 each (I'm sure
your cost is much less) the additional bricks would be about an
additional $150. Keeping the interior space constant with existing
models, your major change would be longer sheets of steel to wrap the
kiln. Any reason this couldn't be done for a few hundred extra bucks
more than the existing J18?
Thanks, Bill
Stephen J Lewicki on mon 21 jan 02
Bill -
That is actually one of the ideas we are considering at L&L. Unfortunately
nothing is ever so easy. We would have to redesign and remake a lot of
expensive machines (so that cost needs to be amortized and can't be done
for a just a few people). Also the inside dimensions of the kiln would
shrink because the 9" surface of the brick has to be on the outside. Still -
the idea has great merit and I am not rulling it out. I was thinking of
perhaps doing this on what are now 29" diamater kilns (reducing the inside
diameter to 25".
We do have some other ideas that are in the works and at the appropriate
time I will share them.
Stephen J Lewicki
President
L&L Kiln Mfg., Inc.
877-513-7869
steve@hotkilns.com
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