Dave Finkelnburg on wed 29 jan 03
Carole,
I have moved a thermocouple (TC) between kilns with no problems. IF you
have a sturdy TC (made from about 1/8-inch T C wire) it will hold up to that
kind of thing.
Yes, you can put a TC in the peep, only then how will you see the
witness cones???? :-( IF you use a peep, pack clay around the TC so you
don't get air leakage in affecting the reading. It would be better if, with
the power off, you drilled a special thermocouple hole, from the inside out,
so you guarantee you miss the elements. You could make a small pilot hole
to get the location right.
Ideally, you would buy more than one TC, put one in each kiln, and then
hook up your readout device to whichever kiln you are firing.
IF the Fluke model you refer to is set up to take a plug at the end of
the TC wire, then you could unplug it and move it to the next kiln very
conveniently.
By the way, I use type K thermocouples and find the heavy duty ones I
get from Marc Ward are very sufficient and accurate enough for my purposes.
Good firing!
Dave Finkelnburg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carole Fox"
> Since I know little about pyrometers, I did want to check and make sure
I'm
> headed in the right direction for my situation. I would like a pyrometer
> that would be suitable for both my electric kiln and my fiber bonnet raku
> kiln. I'm working on getting a gas kiln as well, and wouldn't it just be
> sweet if the same pyrometer would work for all the kilns! But...Is it a
bad
> idea to move the pyrometer from one kiln to another?
>
> Also, I am assuming,in the electric kiln I can just stick the thermocouple
> in a peephole, no? Or must I drill out the bricks through those little
holes
> in the kiln casing? And then...can I move the thermocouple from hole to
> hole? In my homemade fiber raku bonnet, where would the thermocouple go?
>
> So... the archives led me to the conclusion that the Fluke 51 would be
> ideal. Baileys has them for $163!! That is a lot cheaper than other places
> that I checked.
| |
|
