mel jacobson on tue 7 nov 06
i have had a dozen or so emails about the plans
that kurt wild and mel did for the minnesota flat top mini
kiln. it was published in pmi magazine a few years back, and they
keep the plans on their website. it has received thousands of requests
for copies.
go to:http://www.potterymaking.org/FlattopKiln_Complete.pdf
it is a pdf and takes a little while to load...so wait for it.
you can print that set out....and it is a dandy.
as with all kiln plans, you may want to modify the size and shape
a bit. and that is easy to do.
nils figures that there are now upwards of a thousand+
of these sorts of kilns out there, built and firing very well.
in spite of detractors and those that think it is ugly.
(kiln snobs run amok in this clay society.) it is a dandy kiln...
easy and simple to build and the costs are within reason.
in many ways the mn flat top is closer to an industrial
furnace than an `institutional kiln`. and, of course industrial
kilns are fired for fuel savings and consistency.
(andy and heidi casto have just built their's in ohio...and
it is making them smile...big time.) tim frederich got them
a pallet of soft brick at a great price...and they did it themselves
over a weekend...with two calls to mel...with simple fix questions.)
the plans are all cad drawn. and you can just count
the bricks and see where they go. the new 3d plan
for the flue and chimney is much easier to understand.
kurt and i did this article to just cut back on the xerox
bill that was mounting fast from those that wanted the
plans...(free)
of course, nils' book is a great companion to the plans.
mel`
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
andrew casto on thu 9 nov 06
Sorry - sent this the other day and just saw it bounced back to me...
mel wrote:
in spite of detractors and those that think it is ugly.
(kiln snobs run amok in this clay society.) it is a dandy kiln...
easy and simple to build and the costs are within reason.
in many ways the mn flat top is closer to an industrial
furnace than an `institutional kiln`. and, of course industrial
kilns are fired for fuel savings and consistency.
(andy and heidi casto have just built their's in ohio...and
it is making them smile...big time.) tim frederich got them
a pallet of soft brick at a great price...and they did it themselves
over a weekend...with two calls to mel...with simple fix questions.)
As mentioned...it is making us smile. Firing #4 is happening today with
Heidi in charge while I'm off working for the man. The kiln is about 35
cubic feet, castable floor and walls, soft brick roof (hand delivered by
Tim Frederich - yes, for a great price). It fired to cone 11 in 7 hrs last time, and
it was perfectly even with no cold spots. Thanks Mel for helping us with
it. It was no problem to build...1 weekend after the
forms were built for the castable (That took 2 weekends). Oh - and my
chimney is 10" galvanized steel pipe, 12 feet tall with flue liners soaked
in thinned out 3000 degree mortar inside. The liners were free from a friend...the pipe was $1.75 at the local scrap yard. The whole kiln cost us less than $800 to build. We couldn't be happier with it.
We have named it "Jimmy Hoffa", since it looks like a large concrete box. Thanks for your help Mel!
Andy
www.redbridgepottery.com
Lee Love on fri 10 nov 06
On 11/10/06, andrew casto wrote:
> As mentioned...it is making us smile. Firing #4 is happening today with
> Heidi in charge while I'm off working for the man. The kiln is about 35
> cubic feet, castable floor and walls, soft brick roof
What kind of castible did you use?
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
"When we all do better. We ALL do better." -Paul Wellstone
Dan Hill on sat 11 nov 06
Hey Andrew
Could you tell me what sort of burners you are using.
Dan Hill
Wilno, Ontario Canada
----- Original Message -----
From: "andrew casto"
To:
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 11:36 PM
Subject: Re: kiln plans/mn flat top/small size
> Sorry - sent this the other day and just saw it bounced back to me...
>
> mel wrote:
>
> in spite of detractors and those that think it is ugly.
> (kiln snobs run amok in this clay society.) it is a dandy kiln...
> easy and simple to build and the costs are within reason.
> in many ways the mn flat top is closer to an industrial
> furnace than an `institutional kiln`. and, of course industrial
> kilns are fired for fuel savings and consistency.
> (andy and heidi casto have just built their's in ohio...and
> it is making them smile...big time.) tim frederich got them
> a pallet of soft brick at a great price...and they did it themselves
> over a weekend...with two calls to mel...with simple fix questions.)
>
>
>
>
> As mentioned...it is making us smile. Firing #4 is happening today with
> Heidi in charge while I'm off working for the man. The kiln is about 35
> cubic feet, castable floor and walls, soft brick roof (hand delivered by
> Tim Frederich - yes, for a great price). It fired to cone 11 in 7 hrs last
time, and
> it was perfectly even with no cold spots. Thanks Mel for helping us with
> it. It was no problem to build...1 weekend after the
> forms were built for the castable (That took 2 weekends). Oh - and my
> chimney is 10" galvanized steel pipe, 12 feet tall with flue liners soaked
> in thinned out 3000 degree mortar inside. The liners were free from a
friend...the pipe was $1.75 at the local scrap yard. The whole kiln cost us
less than $800 to build. We couldn't be happier with it.
>
> We have named it "Jimmy Hoffa", since it looks like a large concrete box.
Thanks for your help Mel!
>
> Andy
> www.redbridgepottery.com
>
>
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>
>
Andrew M Casto on mon 13 nov 06
For our kiln we used a castable called "Wescolite 2600LI". It is a low iron
insulating castable from Wesco refractories in Fort Worth Texas (
http://www.wescoi.com ). I came across a furnace builder who had some extra
that was expired that he wanted to get rid of for a tax write off. I gave
him $100 for 2 pallets...about 80 70lb bags. I did not pick this castable
for any reason other than it was available cheap. I actually would have
never even tried to use castable for this if I hadn't found it so
inexpensively. So I think we used about 65 of those bags to do the kiln. I
called them and talked to their ceramic engineer about the castable...I
asked him if I should reinforce it (like with rebar or pins of some sort),
if we should cast the whole thing in one pieces, sections, etc., and how
well it would stand up to regular use in a potter's kiln. We ended up not
reinforcing it, and casting seperate floor and wall units. The walls are
all one piece with no joints. The roof is a flat top made of 2600 degree
soft bricks. We have had some cracking in the castable, which the engineer
said we should expect, but none of it poses any structural concern. The
flue opening is 33.75 sq inches, and we made the double venturi flue box
exatly as it is listed in Nil's book and Mel and Kurt's diagrams from the
PMI website. I also lined the exit flue opening and burner ports with
superduty hard brick.
The burners we have came from Paul Borian in KY ( www.blanketcreek.com )
who converted his kiln from propane to a waste fryer oil system. They may
be old Ward burners...not sure. They are powered and we fire with propane
at 11" water collumn. I think they do about 650 thousand Btu's each. So far
I never go past 4 (lbs? inches? not sure) on the guages, and I keep the air
about 1/2" open for a sligtly reducing firing throughout (I do not have an
oxyprobe - maybe soon). Any more gas than that appears to be too much fuel
for the kiln and I loose temperature. I have no flames from the chimney -
just a haze from the heat. At reduction we have slight black smoke from the
spy holes and cracks around the door.
Currently we are firing to cone 11-12 in just over 7 hrs, with a 2 hr
preheat on the pilot burners before the firing. The kiln has been around
200 degrees or so when we turn the burners on...after about an hour and a
half of easing them up, I go to the full amount of gas, reduce at 08 soft
through 06 flat, and then just hang out until it is done. It has been
great. It has been even everywhere in the kiln (even by the flue), and has
fired within 15 minutes to the same reading on the pyrometer. We may try to
fire down some next time for a slower cooling.
I'm happy to answer any questions people have about it. We have fired this
kiln 4 times now and feel very good about it. Our wood kiln has been a bit
of a challenge, so it has been nice to have such a reliable alternative.
Andy
www.redbridgepottery.com
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