Eleanora Eden on wed 15 dec 04
Hi all,
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has had it with the lids as
supplied....they degrade and leak their bits on the ware till they're more
trouble than not....except for that lovely steel band around the edge with
its handle. For years I used an over-sized kiln shelf above the ware and
that was good as far as that goes but alot of hassle.
So I planned my escape. I purchased one two inch kaowool board and two
one-inch kaowool boards. These come 24" wide and that is not adequate, so
either way they had to be pieced. Using the old lid as a pattern Fred cut
the pieces with a scroll saw using a good mask). Using Fiberfrax LDS
Moldable (caulking for kilns to 2300F) we pieced and fit. With the 1" I
had more piecing to do, offsetting the joints. If I had it to do again I
would have done both lids with 2", but I was just guessing when I did my
purchases.
Then each lid was fitted into the steel band from the old lids. Fred had
the idea to add an additional handle opposite the one already there. Makes
the lids very easy to handle. Proceeded with ITC, first 100 then 296A on
the surface getting the direct heat after several firings. Mean to
eventually get all 4 surfaces exposed to the high heat and done with 296A.
Meanwhile, when lifting the lid pieced from 1" boards it unglued and one of
the boards got significantly trashed. I just checked the test piece and it
is still firmly tight. We probably didn't use enough. So I didn't try to
use that stuff again. Instead I put the whole lid back together using lots
of ITC100. In the few places where there were still holes I made a pudding
of old kaowool scraps (I keep these in a plastic bag for such
eventualities) and ITC100 and caulked and filled every space I could
find. That is now rock-hard.
So I learned alot doing this and I have two excellent lids now that are
lightweight, easy to handle, and don't defecate on my pots.
We are in line to build a cart that will hold the two lids and the two
collars I have to build up height for a bit extra space (soft-brick held
with two bands of plumbers tape and generously painted with ITC100) and
roll out from under my slab-roller when I need to take them out or put them
away. And I will be using that ITC100/kaowool pudding to make repairs
elsewhere on the kiln. I am thinking I can use it to fix the element
channels which have broken off here and there and are the one real problem
with this old (15 years and counting) kiln.
Hopefully this will give ideas to somebody else who is as exasperated with
those kiln-lids as much as I have been. While I have long ago discarded
the hinge feature that keeps one lid in place I don't see any reason why
this lid couldn't just be substituted for the original one and hinged just
as it was. I can add that if I had it to do again I would make sure to
keep those steel bands tightened regularly and would paint the original lid
with ITC immediately and keep it protected. But since I have always used
multiple lids to keep my e- bills down I would still be needing good
lightweight lids. I can put my hand down on the middle of the top lid
during a cone 04 firing and keep it there. This kiln is not leaking much
heat.
Can't think of more to add but will answer questions if I can.
Eleanora......trying to keep the big picture in focus.
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