Judy Musicant on fri 22 mar 02
I'd like to share a recent firing experience for the benefit of all of =
us who use electric kilns with controllers. Over the past couple of =
years, I developed a firing schedule that works well for my cone 5-6 =
work, using my Bailey/Cone Art electric kiln with controller. Even =
though the kiln has a controller, I always use cones so I know when to =
stop the kiln. Up until now, the cones have shown that the firings =
were finished with a 24 minute soak at 2155 F. The last firing, =
however, was a bit fuller than usual, with an extra shelf. The kiln =
took a half hour longer to reach temperature, and the cones showed a =
completed firing after only a 10 minute soak at 2155. The firing was a =
great success. If I had not been watching the cones for the end point, =
and simply set the controller to turn off the kiln after the usual 24 =
minute soak, I would have had a disastrous overfiring. For you folks =
who use controllers only, and don't have consistent results, use witness =
cones. They don't lie.
Judy Musicant
Mountainview Pottery
Mountainside, NJ (where we finally got a couple of inches of rain this =
week, but still not enough)
Arnold Howard on sun 24 mar 02
Judy offers great advice on cones.
If you keep firing records, and note the density of load, final
temperature, and soak time, you can duplicate that firing using the
controller.
Another firing variable with a digital kiln is temperature drift of
the type K thermocouple. However, your firing records will alert
you to the temperature drift.
Arnold Howard
Paragon
--- Judy Musicant wrote:
> I'd like to share a recent firing experience for the benefit of
> all of us who use electric kilns with controllers. Over the past
> couple of years, I developed a firing schedule that works well
> for my cone 5-6 work, using my Bailey/Cone Art electric kiln with
> controller. Even though the kiln has a controller, I always use
> cones so I know when to stop the kiln. Up until now, the cones
> have shown that the firings were finished with a 24 minute soak
> at 2155 F. The last firing, however, was a bit fuller than
> usual, with an extra shelf. The kiln took a half hour longer to
> reach temperature, and the cones showed a completed firing after
> only a 10 minute soak at 2155. The firing was a great success.
> If I had not been watching the cones for the end point, and
> simply set the controller to turn off the kiln after the usual 24
> minute soak, I would have had a disastrous overfiring. For you
> folks who use controllers only, and don't have consistent
> results, use witness cones. They don't lie.
>
> Judy Musicant
> Mountainview Pottery
> Mountainside, NJ (where we finally got a couple of inches of
> rain this week, but still not enough)
>
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards®
http://movies.yahoo.com/
| |
|
