Christian K Bonner on fri 24 feb 06
Hi all,
I had a question on purchasing a small test kiln. I noticed that there are
a few posts on the Olympic Doll Kiln and the opinions seem to be mixed. I
was thinking about buying this model to run small tests for cone 9
crystalline and temmoku glazes and was wondering how well this kiln would
serve this purpose. I would attach to it a computer run controller to
control ramping and cooling rates. My questions are simple.
1- Does this kiln reliably fire to cone 9 or is it more of a mid range kiln
that is marketed as a cone 10?
2- What experience have people had in length of time to reach cone 9?
3- I don't know if the Doll Kiln still has crimped connectors (I assume it
does), but when the coils eventually fail is it difficult to replace the
crimped connectors with screw post connectors?
The main issue I have is I can buy a new Olympic Doll Kiln for $150 less
then the next compatible by size and rated temp. If you think that the
Olympic Doll Kiln is not worth $300 is there another that you would suggest
that fires to cone 10 on 120 volts?
Any and all help will be appreciated,
Christian
John Hesselberth on sat 25 feb 06
On Feb 24, 2006, at 10:58 PM, Christian K Bonner wrote:
> 3- I don't know if the Doll Kiln still has crimped connectors (I
> assume it
> does), but when the coils eventually fail is it difficult to
> replace the
> crimped connectors with screw post connectors?
Hi Christian,
I have an Olympic doll kiln and was the one that wrote about the
crimped connectors. I bought it with a computer controller (which in
my view is the only way to get reproducible results from any test
kiln). Everything was wedged into the computer controller box which
was mounted directly on the kiln body. It was very tightly packed in
there and was very difficult to work on. To get the room to convert
it to split bolt connectors I had to add a 4 inch stand-off which I
fabricated from expanded metal. I mounted the stand-off on the kiln
body and the controller box on the stand-off. I had to buy the split
bolt connectors, the expanded metal, some stainless screws, and some
high temperature wire (not easy to find, but it exists). Then I could
put the split bolt connectors in the space provided by the stand-off.
Possible? Yes. Was it fun? No. Should it have been necessary? Not in
my opinion. I don't recommend this kiln because of its, in my
opinion, poor design. On the other hand if you enjoy doing sheet
metal fabrication and don't mind spending a few hours doing this kind
of redesign you can make it work. Personally, I'd rather be throwing
pots. While I still own this kiln, I also added and L&L which, again
in my opinion, is clearly superior in design.
Regards,
John
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