Justin on sun 26 feb 06
Help, I recently purchased a Skutt Kilnmaster 1227 with the electronic
interface. I bought ceramic bisque from a reputable dealer and some family
used mayco stroke and coat to underglaze. I then used a mayco glaze,
allowed it to dry for 24 hours and evenly distributed my bisque throughout
my kiln. I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening the
kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them sturdily, but some
pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt melted all the way
through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve. Some pieces have pinholes
or blisters in the glaze, and I am pulling my hair out wondering what to
do. I am opening a contemporary paint it yourself ceramics store and now
am curently behind schedule. I don't want to open until I can fire a piece
without problems. I would hate to ruin s 5 year old's masterpiece for his
mother. Please help, I can send pics to you if it would help. I am also
unsure as to haw to remove the bisque from the side firebrick where a small
piece had fused. Any help would be greatly appreciated. A local woman has
offered to help me, but she wants $1500 for a weekend and with a new child
and 2 new business ready to open I don't think I can afford that.
Please help, and thank you for your time
Justin
Dannon Rhudy on mon 27 feb 06
Justin, are you absolutely sure that you fired to cone
06, and not to cone 6? If your clay melted, then either
the clay was mis-formulated, or it was over-fired.
Fire it again, make absolutely sure that you have an
06 cone in the sitter, that your pyrometer tells you
approximately when it should be finished, and that
it in fact is not over-fired. If it melts again, you have
serious clay problems. Get in touch with your supplier
at once.
regards
Dannon Rhudy
> Help, I recently purchased a Skutt Kilnmaster 1227 with the electronic
> interface. I bought ceramic bisque from a reputable dealer and some
family
> used mayco stroke and coat to underglaze. I then used a mayco glaze,
> allowed it to dry for 24 hours and evenly distributed my bisque throughout
> my kiln. I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
> underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening
the
> kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them sturdily, but some
> pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt melted all the way
> through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve. Some pieces have pinholes
---
---
Joan Klotz on mon 27 feb 06
Justin it sounds as if you may have fired to cone 6 instead of
06. Did you have any pyrometric cones in with the load? The fact
that the stilts as well as the ceramic pieces failed is very
suspicious. Mama Klotz's advice - always include at least one cone
pack, machines fail, people make mistakes and when things go wrong
its nice to be able to rule out some of the possible reasons.
Joan Klotz
At 08:53 PM 2/26/2006, you wrote:
>Help, I recently purchased a Skutt Kilnmaster 1227 with the electronic
>interface. I bought ceramic bisque from a reputable dealer ...
> I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
>underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening the
>kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them sturdily, but some
>pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt melted all the way
>through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve.
Michael Wendt on mon 27 feb 06
Justin,
This is the classic case we write about constantly.
To be sure you are firing correctly use witness cones.
look on the glaze bottles:
"fire to witness cone 06 or 04"
Computer controllers are not a substitute in this case.
Try it again but watch the cone pack and shut it off
when the correct cone falls. Just read and follow the
directions on the boxes of cones.
Until you are sure your kiln is calibrated correctly
use two lower guard cones to alert you that the load
is nearly done.
Regards,
Michael Wendt
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Ave
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
USA
wendtpot@lewiston.com
www.wendtpottery.com
Justin wrote:
Help, I recently purchased a Skutt Kilnmaster 1227 with
the electronic
interface. I bought ceramic bisque from a reputable
dealer and some family
used mayco stroke and coat to underglaze. I then used
a mayco glaze,
allowed it to dry for 24 hours and evenly distributed
my bisque throughout
my kiln. I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as
listed on the
underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold
time. After opening the
kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them
sturdily, but some
pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt
melted all the way
through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve. Some
pieces have pinholes
or blisters in the glaze, and I am pulling my hair out
wondering what to
do. I am opening a contemporary paint it yourself
ceramics store and now
am curently behind schedule. I don't want to open
until I can fire a piece
without problems. I would hate to ruin s 5 year old's
masterpiece for his
mother. Please help, I can send pics to you if it
would help. I am also
unsure as to haw to remove the bisque from the side
firebrick where a small
piece had fused. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. A local woman has
offered to help me, but she wants $1500 for a weekend
and with a new child
and 2 new business ready to open I don't think I can
afford that.
Please help, and thank you
for your time
Justin
Arnold Howard on mon 27 feb 06
It sounds like the kiln fired hotter than cone 06. Did you place witness
cones on the shelf? If so, how did they bend?
Even though you have a digital kiln, you should still use witness cones on
the shelves, especially during the first firing. Place them inside the kiln
so that you can see them through a peephole. If anything goes wrong or if
the kiln seems to be taking too long to fire, you can check the cones.
Is it possible that you entered the wrong cone number when you programmed
the kiln? You could find out by using Program Review. It is easy to enter
the wrong cone number. This is why some people do not use Cone-Fire mode.
They would rather type in the actual cone temperature in Ramp-Hold mode.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Justin"
> Help, I recently purchased a Skutt Kilnmaster 1227 with the electronic
> interface. I bought ceramic bisque from a reputable dealer and some
> family
> used mayco stroke and coat to underglaze. I then used a mayco glaze,
> allowed it to dry for 24 hours and evenly distributed my bisque throughout
> my kiln. I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
> underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening
> the
> kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them sturdily, but some
> pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt melted all the way
> through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve.
Jim Willett on tue 28 feb 06
On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 23:53:54 -0500, Justin wrote:
>... I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
>underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening
the
>kiln half of my pieces had fallen....>
Justin,
It's just a thought but, maybe you set the kiln to fire to cone 6 rather
than cone 06. That's how it sounds to us anyway.
Jim and Cindy
http://www.outofthefirestudio.com
http://potblog.outofthefirestudio.com
William & Susan Schran User on tue 28 feb 06
On 2/26/06 11:53 PM, "Justin" wrote:
> I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
> underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening the
> kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them sturdily, but some
> pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt melted all the way
> through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve. Some pieces have pinholes
> or blisters in the glaze, and I am pulling my hair out wondering what to
> do.
Justin, take a deep breath!
What happened is simply you over-fired the ware.
Are you certain you programmed cone 06 and not cone 6?
This is just one of the reasons I always advocate using witness cones.
And this is why I always advocate never leaving the kiln while firing,
And expecting the kiln to shut itself off at the programmed temperature.
Checking and charting the firing the first few times you fire a kiln is
critical to finding out how fast your kiln fires and when you should expect
a firing to be completed.
-- William "Bill" Schran
Fredericksburg, Virginia
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
Justin on tue 28 feb 06
Thank all of you for all the help. My first set of witness
cones were 07, 06, and 05 ALL turned to puddle of glass. I called Skutt
and they told me some of the wiring was done wrong and that my thermocouple
was off by about 300-400 degrees. They walked me through re-wiring it
correctly and then I re-fired my kiln. This time the witness cones didn't
turn into a pool of glass and after I called Skutt back with the results of
that firing-- my kiln is running about 10-15 degerees hot, they taught me
to reprogram the kiln so that me temperature range stays within the cone I
set it for.
Thank you all for your help, advice and time
Justin
Delores Taylor on tue 28 feb 06
By electronic interface do you mean you can moniter the kill through your
computer or that you have an electronic controller? If you have the
electronic interface with your pc then look at the top end temperature and
compare that to a cone chart to see how hot the kiln got and the related
cone that temperature is associated with. If you mean electronic controller
pull up the last program you ran and see if it's showing 6 or 06.
Go to your local pottery supplier and buy various cone sitters say 04, 06,
6. Place the whole box of cone 06 sitters throughout the shelves (after you
chisel off the damaged pots). Run the kiln again and see if the pre set
program (if this has an electronic controller) on the kiln is set truly at
cone 06. When you pull up your program look to see if it's showing 6 or 06
on the interface (not sure how skutt's interface is set up). The cone pack
test will be a good test no matter as it lets you know where your hot spots
in the kiln are. You can repeat this process until you determine if you
have a thermocouple problem or if you inadvertently just entered in cone 6
when you meant cone 06. I believe skutt has the Bartlett controller on it
and you just enter 06 and it runs the 06 program. Make sure you enter a 06
instead of 6 or you would be running at a higher firing option.
The owner's manual should have a section regarding knowing your kiln and
they would have pictures of the above process so you can test for hot/cold
spots in the kiln. Run the cone pack tests then if it isn't apparent what
the problem is I'd call Skutt customer service so they can trouble shoot
your problem.
-----Original Message-----
From: Justin [mailto:jhova511@AOL.COM]
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 8:54 PM
Subject: HELP!!! extreme warpage
Help, I recently purchased a Skutt Kilnmaster 1227 with the electronic
interface. I bought ceramic bisque from a reputable dealer and some family
used mayco stroke and coat to underglaze. I then used a mayco glaze,
allowed it to dry for 24 hours and evenly distributed my bisque throughout
my kiln. I set it for cone fire mode to cone 06 (as listed on the
underglaze) at a medium speed setting with no hold time. After opening the
kiln half of my pieces had fallen. I had stilted them sturdily, but some
pieces melted around the stilt and some had the stilt melted all the way
through causing the piece to fuse to the shelve. Some pieces have pinholes
or blisters in the glaze, and I am pulling my hair out wondering what to
do. I am opening a contemporary paint it yourself ceramics store and now
am curently behind schedule. I don't want to open until I can fire a piece
without problems. I would hate to ruin s 5 year old's masterpiece for his
mother. Please help, I can send pics to you if it would help. I am also
unsure as to haw to remove the bisque from the side firebrick where a small
piece had fused. Any help would be greatly appreciated. A local woman has
offered to help me, but she wants $1500 for a weekend and with a new child
and 2 new business ready to open I don't think I can afford that.
Please help, and thank you for your time
Justin
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