Kim Overall on fri 29 sep 06
I tried contacting William Schran by phone but got a recording so I'll post
my question here.
I want to remove the middle burner and plug the opening in my 7cuft 3-burner
in order to butt the two half shelves together to fire wider pieces. I don't
have a problem reaching cone 10 as I had it plumbed for "my dream kiln" (a
Geil 16 cuft.)
I'll continue to use the top baffle shelves butted together because IT
WORKS. If I need to, I've got ideas to "swirl" the flames to even temp and
atmosphere. I wouldn't believe it necessary given the kiln's rinky dink
size, but plan "b" is there.
Getting to the point, is it just a matter of unlocking the burner set screw
and dismantling and unscrewing the burner out? Could it possibly be that
easy? Kinda hard doing everything sideways and against the ground with this
thing.
I'll go tinker to see what happens. Or...maybe I should find the manual
with an exploding view of how it works first...
HELP!
Kim in Houston
Rob Haugen on fri 29 sep 06
Kim,
Instead of removing the middle burner, just remove the orifice and replace
it with a blank orifice. This will shut the burner off without any
modifications to the kiln. The hole in the floor can be plugged with
ceramic fiber or covered with a firebrick. The bottom section of the kiln
can be slid out of the frame for easy access to the burners.
Rob Haugen
Olympic Kilns
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Overall"
To:
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 1:54 PM
Subject: Olympic Kiln fixit idea
>I tried contacting William Schran by phone but got a recording so I'll post
> my question here.
>
> I want to remove the middle burner and plug the opening in my 7cuft
> 3-burner
> in order to butt the two half shelves together to fire wider pieces. I
> don't
> have a problem reaching cone 10 as I had it plumbed for "my dream kiln" (a
> Geil 16 cuft.)
>
> I'll continue to use the top baffle shelves butted together because IT
> WORKS. If I need to, I've got ideas to "swirl" the flames to even temp
> and
> atmosphere. I wouldn't believe it necessary given the kiln's rinky dink
> size, but plan "b" is there.
>
> Getting to the point, is it just a matter of unlocking the burner set
> screw
> and dismantling and unscrewing the burner out? Could it possibly be that
> easy? Kinda hard doing everything sideways and against the ground with
> this
> thing.
>
> I'll go tinker to see what happens. Or...maybe I should find the manual
> with an exploding view of how it works first...
>
> HELP!
>
> Kim in Houston
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
William & Susan Schran User on fri 29 sep 06
On 9/29/06 1:54 PM, "Kim Overall" wrote:
> I tried contacting William Schran by phone but got a recording so I'll post
> my question here.
>
> I want to remove the middle burner and plug the opening in my 7cuft 3-burner
> in order to butt the two half shelves together to fire wider pieces.
Kim,
I was at school warping some young minds with thoughts of pottery.
Dismantle the kiln, it will make it easier to reach the burner.
Either unscrew the top of the burner and unscrew the orifice and replace
orifice with blank (no hole) or unscrew burner from manifold and replace
with threaded pipe with screw on cap.
-- William "Bill" Schran
Fredericksburg, Virginia
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
Overall's on fri 29 sep 06
Whew! I'm so glad you answered this William.
I was sitting in the Home Depot parking lot with the
burner part trying to sketch out what I needed. I
just came back home.
My husband and I are discussing tapered pipe threads
and straight threads for gas under pressure. Should I
be concerned about this? He's fixin' to help me
remove the base.
K
--- William & Susan Schran User
wrote:
> On 9/29/06 1:54 PM, "Kim Overall"
> wrote:
>
> > I tried contacting William Schran by phone but got
> a recording so I'll post
> > my question here.
> >
> > I want to remove the middle burner and plug the
> opening in my 7cuft 3-burner
> > in order to butt the two half shelves together to
> fire wider pieces.
>
> Kim,
> I was at school warping some young minds with
> thoughts of pottery.
>
> Dismantle the kiln, it will make it easier to reach
> the burner.
>
> Either unscrew the top of the burner and unscrew the
> orifice and replace
> orifice with blank (no hole) or unscrew burner from
> manifold and replace
> with threaded pipe with screw on cap.
>
>
> -- William "Bill" Schran
> Fredericksburg, Virginia
> wschran@cox.net
> wschran@nvcc.edu
>
>
______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change
> your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be
> reached at melpots@pclink.com.
>
Kim Overall
http://www.houstonpotters.com
Kim Overall on sun 1 oct 06
Rob,
I tried to find a replacement for the orifice, but the local hardware store
had everything but.
I ended up capping the orifice with a 1/4" pipe thread cap sealed with
teflon paste the guys recommended. Tested it with soapy water and no
bubbles under maximum opened pressure.
Took an IFB and made a plug to fill the middle burner port hole. Bottom
kiln shelf off the base and ready to begin loading.
I am baffling the flames over the two remaining burners to deflect some heat
towards the center of the kiln. About halfway up the kiln's interior I used
uneven heights of 1-1/2" diameter stilts with a smaller 1" diameter stilt
laying across both and all wired together. Looks like a tall pi symbol over
each burner. In testing the flames it looks like it should do fine.
I'll use kiln padding to secure in place on all joinies.
Loading up Monday with cone packs and refires to see how she goes.
It was so much easier looking at all this from above instead of from
underneath after the bottom kiln section was removed!
Thankee again...
Kim in Houston
http://www.houstonpotters.com
Kim Overall on wed 11 oct 06
Rob, William Schran, Dale Cochoy and all Olympic kiln owners:
I fired the 7 cuft Olympic kiln after changing it from a 3 burner to a 2
burner (goal: firing wider pots than 8")
It was loaded with only two big bowls, short and wide on bottom and tall and
wide on top.
I was going to baffle the flame, but it would've warped my bowls so I opted
out of that using a rectangular brick to protect the bowls' sides closest to
flames instead.
Reduction was acutally better; but as predicted, firing temperature was very
uneven, and yes, I still used baffle half shelves butted together at top
leaving 1" air space. Bottom only got to cone 8 soft. Red liner was more a
crazed "peach bloom" on that bottom shelf. Top bowl YES! A keeper (seller
actually) firing to about cone 10-1/2. When top cone 10 was getting soft, I
backed off the gas gradually and adjusted dampers to keep in reduction
trying to "soak 'n hold" to see if the bottom cones would move.
I'll use flame deflectors next firing to help even out temperature.
Kim in Houston
http://www.houstonpotters.com
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