Paul & Kathy Greaves on thu 31 jan 02
Hi everyone,
John and Ron's book has me all fired up to finally get to know my own kiln
and firing at cone 6. I've been doing most of my firing at cone 10R at
school, so the glaze testing there doesn't fully apply to what I can do at
home. I talked with my husband about getting a test kiln, and he thinks he
can modify my Skutt electronic controller to control either kiln with an A/B
switch. The catch is that I would need the same voltage on both kilns. Can
anyone recommend a good, cheap 220V test kiln? Also, has anyone done what
my husband plans on doing?
TIA,
Kathy Greaves
Fredrick Paget on fri 1 feb 02
Kathy,
You can easily run a 120 volt test kiln from the controller.
All you have to do is put a 20 amp receptacle on the kiln circuit and
instead of bringing both sides of the controlled line to the receptacle
just bring one side and use the neutral for the other side. That will give
you 120 volts at the receptacle.
You should put a 20 amp fuse in that line just before the receptacle since
the 240 volt breaker has too much amperage for that circuit. I am assuming
you are in the USA and have our type of wiring. This won't work in some
countries since they don't use our system of wiring.
I have done this on my Bailey wall mounted controller so I can run my
little Aim 88 test kiln on 120 volts from the controller. Of course you
will have to pull the thermocouple out of the other kiln and stick it in
the one you are using. And be sure to turn off the other kiln.
Fred
>
>
> I talked with my husband about getting a test kiln, and he thinks he
>>can modify my Skutt electronic controller to control either kiln with an A/B
>>switch. The catch is that I would need the same voltage on both kilns. Can
>>anyone recommend a good, cheap 220V test kiln? Also, has anyone done what
>>my husband plans on doing?
>>Kathy Greaves
>
>
From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
Paul & Kathy Greaves on sat 2 feb 02
Fred,
Thanks for your advice! I showed your message to my husband (I don't speak
electronics very well) and that sounded good to him. The Scutt's controller
is mounted on the kiln, so we'll probably get the A/B switch, add a relay to
the box, and get a second thermocouple as well as installing a 20A fuse at
the appropriate place, or at least that's what I remember my husband saying.
Anyway, it looks like it'll work fine. Now to study the archives on what
test kiln to buy...
By the way, we're practically neighbors. We live northeast of Sacramento,
near Folsom Lake.
Thanks again,
Kathy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fredrick Paget"
To:
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: 220V Test Kiln?
> Kathy,
> You can easily run a 120 volt test kiln from the controller.
> All you have to do is put a 20 amp receptacle on the kiln circuit and
> instead of bringing both sides of the controlled line to the receptacle
> just bring one side and use the neutral for the other side. That will give
> you 120 volts at the receptacle.
> You should put a 20 amp fuse in that line just before the receptacle since
> the 240 volt breaker has too much amperage for that circuit. I am assuming
> you are in the USA and have our type of wiring. This won't work in some
> countries since they don't use our system of wiring.
> I have done this on my Bailey wall mounted controller so I can run my
> little Aim 88 test kiln on 120 volts from the controller. Of course you
> will have to pull the thermocouple out of the other kiln and stick it in
> the one you are using. And be sure to turn off the other kiln.
> Fred
> >
> >
> > I talked with my husband about getting a test kiln, and he thinks he
> >>can modify my Skutt electronic controller to control either kiln with an
A/B
> >>switch. The catch is that I would need the same voltage on both kilns.
Can
> >>anyone recommend a good, cheap 220V test kiln? Also, has anyone done
what
> >>my husband plans on doing?
> >>Kathy Greaves
> >
> >
>
> From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
>
>
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