Daraburn@AOL.COM on tue 13 jul 04
Thanks to all who responded either privately or on the list to my question
about slow cooling and wear and tear on elements at cone 6. I probably did
mis-read the "thousands of firings" to mean the life of the kiln itself, but I
really did not know what to expect on the life of the elements.
I do have a kiln vent which I just recently installed. I also use the
following schedule which is the one John posted.
Rate To Temperature Hold
100 220
0
350 2000
0
150 2185* 15
-500 1900
0
-125 1400
0
Ron, John and all, I appreciate your looking into this for me, and I still
would be interested to know definitively, but even if it does cut the life of
the elements, I have to say that I get drastically improved looking glazes with
this schedule so I would sacrifice some element life for the results.
Mel, the hubby loved the idea of the extra weight on the chainsaw...his Stihl
now weighs 265 pounds! We have nightmare borrowing and lending stories!
Dawn in Tennessee
Ron Roy on sun 18 jul 04
Hi Dawn,
Thanks for posting this - I do believe there would be some small savings in
element life if you started your slow cool a bit lower - at say 1850F and
continued till 1350F.
I suggest you try it and see if you get the same results.
What seems to have been forgotten in this discussion is the better results
obtained by slower firing and cooling. More even firings are also a result
and for anyone selling their work - the economics of more keepers per
firing certainly would justify replacing elements a little more often.
From the comments of others firing to cone 6 - it seems your element life
was not dramatically affected by the slower heating and cooling.
John and I would certainly be interested in any results you find in
altering our suggested firing schedules - as would be many others on
ClayArt.
RR
>Thanks to all who responded either privately or on the list to my question
>about slow cooling and wear and tear on elements at cone 6. I probably did
>mis-read the "thousands of firings" to mean the life of the kiln itself, but I
>really did not know what to expect on the life of the elements.
>I do have a kiln vent which I just recently installed. I also use the
>following schedule which is the one John posted.
>
> Rate To Temperature Hold
>100 220
> 0
>350 2000
> 0
>150 2185* 15
>-500 1900
> 0
>-125 1400
> 0
>
>Ron, John and all, I appreciate your looking into this for me, and I still
>would be interested to know definitively, but even if it does cut the life of
>the elements, I have to say that I get drastically improved looking glazes with
>this schedule so I would sacrifice some element life for the results.
>Dawn in Tennessee
Ron Roy
RR#4
15084 Little Lake Road
Brighton, Ontario
Canada
K0K 1H0
Phone: 613-475-9544
Fax: 613-475-3513
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