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Thanks Jackie. I'll send a few more when the elements are in. Hmm.....let's see now on the glory hole....Matt's got to finish the Lap Grinder which should take us to the summer so maybe about a year from right now. Come On Roll-Ups!!! Cheers, Phil PS - Just had our first snow this morning. All gone ...

I would suspect longer firing times more from cooler temperatures not drop in line voltage from holiday lighting. Even a modest display of lighting does not equal having two or three 100 watt indoor bulbs on, unless you are using very old lighting. If your power company is dropping their line voltag...

Hi Brock Yep. Lots of pictures, with lots of details. I've over geeked this thing as you can probably guess. I've embedded a bunch of thermocouples at intermediate layers within the insulation so I can characterize the entire kiln in a very detailed manner. Much of what I've heard on kiln building, ...

Hi Brock, Yep. Got the fiberboard just about all in. Going for the blanket insulation next. Will probably get the elements in tomorrow. Turns out this is pretty late in the season for everybody (which was my big concern) so I'm going it kind of solo. A friend of ours has a foreign exchange student f...

If you are looking for a good temp probe Omega Engineering has a nice selection. Here is one I found for under $100 http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref=HH307_308&Nav=teml09 You will need to buy a thermocouple probe for this unit. That should run you $15 to $25 more depending upon what you buy...

In art, that is called change in value. I would recommend practicing in an art medium first such as pencil drawing, pastels (my favorite), oils or acrylics. When you feel you have a handle on how to achieve the effect you are looking for in drawing then you should try working with powders in glass. ...

The missing Matt Hoppes ....explained. Just so you don't think he's ignoring you. Matt lost his email service with his ISP. Long story. Won't bore you with those details but he has finals coming up in Thermodynamics, Numerical Methods, Feedback and Control systems and one more core engineering class...

Why are you crash cooling? You don't really need to and you will cause problems with your kiln. In particular if it has a brick top, you will accelerated the degredation of the bricks and they will start to rain particles on your work. Just program your controller to go AFAP or FULL from your peak t...

Rich

If it is a computer controller, it must be working a simple PID control loop which would require a thermocouple input. How could a closed loop controller work without this?

Phil

Not a problem. Give me a holler if you have any more questions.

Phil

What kind of kiln? What kind of controller? Typically, an add on controller works in series with your kiln. Assuming you have an infinite switch type controller now, what you would do is put your infinite switch in the highest setting or full position and you would plug your kiln into your new contr...

Tony, I'm thinking of switching more because I just don't like the noise and the controller I have will only work with mechanical or SSR's. Bert likes to use SCR's which are different but just as good. The SCR's allow him to modulate the level of "on" through the control voltage. This is p...

Couple of points: Surge protectors....most, if not all of these are totally worthless and provide little protection to AC surge voltages and no protection to lightening. What most of these do do is give you lots of AC outlets that you do need for a typical computer setup. Some power companies offer ...

Tony, Ok, I understand. They are using peak demand meters in addition to RMS. My old house in Scottsdale had one of these. I my case, since I had a pool and ran the pool pump at night, it did save us money. I forgot all about those. I'm pretty sure the metering system I have up here in Overgaard doe...

I stand corrected Kitty, should have said continental US, and my condolences. Now if you had about three football fields of solar panels, or maybe hooked up to little geothermal from one of those handy volcanoes... Bert and Phil, yes, demand metering is vexing. I once forgot to reset my timer when ...

Bee Manufacturing, sold through CR Laurence. It is the green free standing one. Probably cost about $1500 or so with shipping, starting belts, etc. Next to my kilns, the one tool I use every day.

Phil

Bummer Bert. I have a demand load meter up here in the sticks of Overgaard. Here it is a choice. They hit me $5 more per month on the minimum per month but if I fire between 9pm and 8am my electricity is 4.5cents/KWH. Haven't wired all of my kilns up yet to the new box. Should have that done by Jan ...

Sheet steel is ok. It tends to spall and you need to cover it with a fair amount of kiln wash because of this. If you can use stainless steel it is much better.

Phil

Hmmm .....hosing down the house. I always thought that homes, especially for people raising young children are designed wrong. When my kids were little the design I always wanted for the eating area was a concrete floor with a slight slope to it. I would have a wood picnic table with the plates nail...

Rubber mat's are a must. I've got peripheral neuropathy and standing is a chore but standing on concrete is just a killer. Every workspace I have I've got those same rubber mats. The difference is night and day.

Phil