My Dytsson shelf broke!

[Havi]

Sorry and angry at myself to have caused this.
The shelf which served me for several years now, is about 4 c'm thick [almost 2"] Quite heavy, and actually lying always in my kiln, on top of appx 2" thick furniture. It is 24" 'squarish' as the corners are rounded. The kiln is Jen Ken, imported from USA.

Lately I needed to do a very quick firing of powders on fiber paper - i.e. no danger to anything [except the shelf itself.....]
According to the firing instructions went asap to 740 Centigrade, set for 4 minutes, and let it down. At 300 Cen. I opened the kiln to ventilate from the fumes - everything looked OK.
Later when the process was done , I was shocked to have found out that the shelf broke on one of its 'corners.'

I think that this is a typical thermal shock.

Do you think I can glue the broken piece and re-use this shelf safely?
Or should I forget about it and use another shelf. I won't bye another dysson - as it is too expensive, and too heavy for me anyway, if and when I want to move it I must call a man with strong mussles to do the job for me....

Many thanks in advance,

Havi

[Buttercup]

Havi, can’t help you with the repair question but do suggest a Ceramaguard shelf for its lightweight ease of handling, its price and, as a bonus, it’s apparently impervious to thermal shock. Someone else may have a different experience but so far I’ve not had any issues.

If you still want to call a muscular man to help keep a wrist brace handy so you can’t flex your fingers to lift the new lightweight shelf.

[Brad Walker]

:Do you think I can glue the broken piece and re-use this shelf safely?

My Dyson shelf broke also, after several years of use. I tried to repair it with kiln brick cement -- it worked well enough to hold everything together for more firings, but there was a line where the break was that I couldn't quite smooth away.

In the end I just cut the shelf up and replaced it with several smaller shelves. I liked the Dyson shelf, but it was very, very heavy and also meant that my kiln took several hours longer to cool. Aside from the occasional time when I need a really large shelf, I don't miss the Dyson at all.

(Dyson, by the way, no longer makes the shelves. They're now sold by Euclid: http://euclidkilns.com/kiln-furn.htm )

[Havi]

Many thanks, Brad!
You are SO RIGHT, also about the cooling down time.
I'll do as you did, will glue the shelf, but use it rarely.
I have another shelf, smaller, but also much thinner, yet double shelves, like the Dysson is.

It is so heavy for me, that even the broken shelf, I can not lift on my own...

Thanks again,

Always good to learn from the more experienced

Havi