LJ GOMBAR on sat 21 jun 03
Hi!
I have a large L&L x2827 electric kiln that I have fired under 10 times.
When my husband set it up... He made everything level, on the concrete
floor, using flashing, folded to level the kiln. I noticed that the inside
corners of the bottom of the kiln seemed cracked. My last firing, the
stilts did not all seem to touch all the way, but was not unstable. SO
today we totally unloaded the bottom shelves and took a look. Indeed the
floor and lip of the top of the kiln was not level. I also then noticed
that the lid, the 4 corners also had hairline cracks, going diagonally. We
had noticed before that the lid did not sit all the way on top of the kiln
and did not seal all the way around. It seemed that portions of the edges
had raised up, so the entirety of the lid could not rest on the lip of the
kiln. The front right side of the lid seemed to be 1/4 of an inch up from
the lip. I did add another "D" ring to the lift system.... And we did
trouble shoot the hinge, making sure it could raise and lower with the
expansion of the firing.
So my husband has been using a lever system to lift up the corners of the
kiln trying to level it... Adding or subtracting bits of flashing. The
lever is going under the metal frame... And is not being lifted that much,
less than a half inch. Are we making it worse by doing it this way, or
should we be taking the whole thing apart (groan) to level it? I am sure it
makes no use now...as I won't probably get a response in time... But it
would be a good learning experience for me and others.... If someone could
share their expertise.
What else should I try to make a better seal with the lid? Or is it the
unlevelness by the settling that might fix this?.....
LJ
Snail Scott on sun 22 jun 03
At 12:38 PM 6/21/03 -0400, you wrote:
>...the inside
>corners of the bottom of the kiln seemed cracked. My last firing, the
>stilts did not all seem to touch all the way...the
>floor and lip of the top of the kiln was not level...
I would unstack the kiln, and re-true the stand. It
sounds like one leg is not level. Use a stiff piece of
flat board like MDF or an old road sign which doesn't
flex or warp, and make sure that all four corners of
the stand are in the same plane with one another. Then
put a level across the board in several directions as
you shim the feet. Getting it dead level is important
mainly to have the kiln-sitter working properly, but
it's more important to make sure that the stand is
square and even, with no single foot being too high or
low. (The flashing was a good choice for shim material.)
Since kiln stands are fairly rigid, it may not have been
evident that it wasn't evenly supported the first time,
until the heavy kiln was stacked on top of it and then
loaded with (even heavier) clay and kiln furniture.
Once the stand has been re-trued and leveled, go ahead
and re-stack the kiln on top of it - it should be fine.
A few cracks won't do much harm, and most kilns acquire
many cracks in their long lifetimes without impairing
their function at all.
-Snail
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