WarmGlass.com

Hey Bruce, Went with an evenheat 4124 x 13 deep, about bigger than the studio, but the dream of a fusing lifetime. And rampmasterII. Now if I can only live up to it.... building one is a dream I have, specially since my kid is an electro-mechanical engineer who always tells me how easy it would be (but gee, puting a new infinate switch on my paragon would be "easy" too!) Let me know what you run across, and I'll keep an eye out..sounds interesting.
Yo

Hi guys,

Just finish building my own kiln in Ceramic Fiber Blanket.The performance is absolutely perfect.If you need more info on how to do it.

let me know


Dan
L&D Design

Dan, if it's not too much trouble, please let me know how you built your kiln. Can e-mail if prefer,
empiregallery@netscape.net
Thanks, Yo

A kiln building workshop was given in Santa Fee New mexico last year. I unfortunetely could not attend, but I bought the notes from the actual workshop from Carol. 505- 424-6090 Carol own a studio in Santa Fee and Had invited a guess to give the workshop.

I bought the notes from her for 50.00 dollars and build my own kiln based on those notes. I took a series of 20 pictures that I will eventually post in my own web site. I am in the process of building my site and we will put those pictures with my own explanation on how to build your own kiln. I found out that I can actually improve the explanation and quality of the kiln by changing some variables.

For instance in her notes , they have the information for a infinite controller, I found a 31 program, 126 segment controller for 300.oo dollars. Impossible to find a better deal than that. It is not even worth it to try to build your own controller.

I aslo found alternative material to bhuild the shell etc...

All in all, their is no way that I could have bought the same quality of a kiln on the market.Especially if you are interested to go large.

Have fun and let me know how it goes


Dan

YoDuh wrote:Dan, if it's not too much trouble, please let me know how you built your kiln. Can e-mail if prefer,
empiregallery@netscape.net
Thanks, Yo

Bert Weiss will be offering a kiln building workshop in January covering all aspects of kiln building, and of building different size kilns. You'll have a hands on oppportunity to build a kiln and access to a master kilnbuilder to ask your questions. Check the classifieds of September 1. There are still 2 spots left in the workshop.

Carol

I'm also quite interested in your kiln building experience. Please let me know when you've gotten your site updated (where is it by the way?). I'd love to see an info you have about the kiln building in the mean time. How much did you end up spending to get it done?

I just came back from the photo shop to have my film put on a cd rom that I can then post them on my site.

The inside dimention of my kiln is 14 square inches by 12 inches deep.
The outside structure has been build with 1/8 thick angle iron with mesh wire for the outside wall. 4" of insulation ( ceramic fiber blanket for 2300 F)was used for the side wall with 6inches of the top. My element are attaced to the top only.The bottom of the kiln is build with a1/8 steel plate with 2 row of refractory soft brick. That is essentilaly the structure


The Element were custom build by Euclide element, the Controller is an Omega as well as my relay.The total cost of my kiln was 1,100 dollars Canadian.This include everything from my 400 dollars controller ( 31 possible program with 126 segment)and the cost of having build my own steel frame for 500 dollars.900 of the 1100 dollars can easily be cut in 1/2

Some conclusion on my work. The controller could be an infinite controller for 100 dollars instead( depending what you want to do) and the structure could be build for a much cheaper price. I am now working on a project to try to use a water tub or even a hot water tank cut in half by a torch.I am now working on a inside Kiln that will be 4 foot long by 2 feet wide and 12 inches deep for about the same price 1,100 dollars canadian.

My controller has been connected with a jack that can be plug and unplug on demand. That way I can use the same controller for my small kiln or for my large kiln depending of my demand.

The kiln is being used for tacking, fusing , casting and painting. the performance is absolutely fantastic.

My web site will have all the electrical info, calculation and supplier of where I bought all my stuff to do it. My goal is to have the knowledge out there . How cool would it be to build a 1,000 dollars ( Canadian)Kiln that you would have to pay 5,000(US) if it was commercially made.

I hope to keep you posted shortly for the web site address.


Dan
L&D Design
Montreal

well, you can get a skutt clamshell, which is 23x23x13 with a controller for <$2000, so you're off by a bit in your costs.

You simply forget that 1000 dollars Canadian is really 650 Us compare to 2000 us.Also keep in mind that the economy of scale would allow you to build a much larger kiln like 4 feet by 2 feet for also the same 650 us.

I did not build my kiln for saving money and time because it is very time consuming the first time, since I had very little to go by and I had no clue how much it would cost me. I actually did it for the adventure of it. Essentially you can build a kiln for 1/3 of the price that you would pay for a commercial one. An yes you are right ,their is no cost savings for building a small kiln. The saving starts kicking in with the larger kiln.

However, you have no warranty, no service dept to talk to and no one will take responsabily if anything goes wrong. There is nothing wrong by buying a commercial Kiln, the reason that I decided to build my stuff is that it did match my adventurous personality. Everything we do in the studio is experiment after experiment


Dan

I saw this book listed on eBay on kiln building. As I am not interested in building my own, I'll pass it on.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=28124

YoDuh wrote:cancel - I broke down and ordered new..
YoDuh

Yooper? What did you pay for a kiln that large?

Jack

Jack Bowman wrote:

YoDuh wrote:cancel - I broke down and ordered new..
YoDuh

Yooper? What did you pay for a kiln that large?

Jack

just under $1800. shipping additional, but not bad. then, lets not mention the new wire cable, box, conduit to studio, electrician (ok, my kid'll do it for a burger.

just curious: what cha mean with "Yooper"? I have to assume that you wouldn't couldn't possibly know that that is what they call people who were born in the "upper penninsula" (U P) of Michigan, and that I am a "yooper-troll" (now live "under the bridge") I never realized til now how much we/I talk in parens Anyhow, kiln should be here next week maybe, and all i'm doing these days is rearranging the studio to fit that papa bear into it. YoDuh

I'm a troll living in Utah. Born and grew up in the Detroit area. You mentioned NW MI, thet's Yooper land. I have relatives living in Detroit, Ludington, Traverse City, and Interlochen. Check out the kiln on my link below. Built it for about $2200 including the controller. I miss the hardwood forests of the UP. The water's nice too. Where are you?

Jack

Jack,
Wow! What a kiln!
I have a ton of questions if you don't mind:
Did you do all the welding, fabricating? Is the whole kiln ssteel?
Is the bell cage welded on? Are the elements custom or "off the shelf?"
How long did it take you?

Oh, yeah, nice "bomb shelter" too!!

I did everything. Ordered elements from Dudley Giberson. The bell raises via an electric wench. It was my first one of that type and took about a month. Rounding up parts etc. I could build another in a week. I also built the controller from scratch.

If you wan't to know more email at bobo1148@xmission.com

Jack

please remove

Jack

Nice job! I have a tip for you. Get steel wheels with a V groove iin them. I got mine from Northern Hydraulics (now Northern Tool). You put down a track made with 1.5" x 1.5" angle iron with tbe V facing upside down. I can move my bell back and forth easily by myself and get it in the right place. My design is similar.

I will be giving a class in kiln building on Vancouver Island at Carol Swann's studio in January. There are still a couple of spaces left. The kiln building class will be followed with a sink making and architectural panel class. Carol can you repost the info in the classifieds. I looked and it is not still there. Carol lives in a year round vacation spot near Mt Washington. (Just like me only it's a different Mt Washington)

We will put together Carol's kiln and then use it. The pictures and plans for this projedct will be made in to a book. Bell kilns can be scaled up to humongously large or down to tiny table top units. The book will cover several sizes.

I use a different insulation system. My design is faced with HD board which will hold up better to wear and tear. HD board is more expensive than blanket, but I back it up with 1900º mineral wool which is less expensive than blanket, and a better insulator.

My experience using my big bell since 1990 has given me some good insight as to how good my design turned out to be.

BTW I recently heard of a material that can coat any interior kiln surface including blanket and reflects heat back in to the kiln. It can reduce energy use by up tp 25%. The catch is that it costs $300 for a gallon bucket that coats 50 - 75 square feet. It is made by a company called ITC coatings and is available in New England at Cutter Northern Refractories.

Bert,
from one yankee to another, are you going to have any classes on this side of the continent??

There was a lot of discussion on the other Brad Board a while back about ITC and other coatings. Some swear by them, others haven't found them to make any difference at all. I reached the conclusion from reading the posts that they don't seem to make much difference until temperatures get much higher than ours or atmospheres get much more corosive. Most on TOBB were using them in furnaces rather than kilns. Ceramists that do a lot of salt glazing seem to like ITC as a protective layer rather than an insulator. Salt glazes eat refractories.

ch

Buy high temp flue mortar and water it down( thin it, I mean) , then spray on your kiln. Works as good as ITC for 10% to 25% of the cost. works great in Raku ( on 2300 degree fiber) kilns and pottery kilns.