soak?

"I bisque to cone 06 and glaze to cone 5 or 6. I soak for 30 minutes in
both
cases."

what do you mean by soak?

dana

Soak is to hold at a given temperature for a certain amount of time. You
should be aware that doing so will essentially be firing to a higher
temperature than what you may have programmed in as the temperature you want
to reach if you are firing by a programable controller rather than a cone.
Your kiln manual should give you the appropriate information.

http://www.masteringglazes.com/Pages/faqframe.html has a very nice schedule
for firing cone 6 glazes. I also highly recommend their book.



"Dana" wrote in message
...
"I bisque to cone 06 and glaze to cone 5 or 6. I soak for 30 minutes in
both
cases."

what do you mean by soak?

dana

"DKat" wrote in message
...
Soak is to hold at a given temperature for a certain amount of time. You
should be aware that doing so will essentially be firing to a higher
temperature than what you may have programmed in as the temperature you
want to reach if you are firing by a programable controller rather than a
cone. Your kiln manual should give you the appropriate information.

http://www.masteringglazes.com/Pages/faqframe.html has a very nice
schedule for firing cone 6 glazes. I also highly recommend their book.


is there any way to soak at a given temperature using a kiln sitter type
shutoff, besides using duct tape on the lever and a stopwatch?

regards,
charlie
http://glassartists.org/chaniarts

Here is John's latest firing schedule.

http://www.frogpondpottery.com/nceca2004/p21.html


Bert Gibson
http://home.comcast.net/~mc6gtest/wsb/



"DKat" wrote in message
...
Soak is to hold at a given temperature for a certain amount of time. You
should be aware that doing so will essentially be firing to a higher
temperature than what you may have programmed in as the temperature you
want
to reach if you are firing by a programable controller rather than a cone.
Your kiln manual should give you the appropriate information.

http://www.masteringglazes.com/Pages/faqframe.html has a very nice
schedule
for firing cone 6 glazes. I also highly recommend their book.



"Dana" wrote in message
...
"I bisque to cone 06 and glaze to cone 5 or 6. I soak for 30 minutes in
both
cases."

what do you mean by soak?

dana

Wow, I have no idea how to hold a temperature for a given time on a
non-programmable controller.... I'll be interested to hear on this one.

If you have a temperature controller could you just turn them all to low at
around the cone you are firing to and then turn them up as the temperature
drops? You would have to at least have a pyrometer for this though...
And you would have to have a higher cone than you wanted to fire to in the
kiln sitter, watch the temperature or cones at around the temp you wanted
and then manually turn off the kiln... It would be a real dance and
experimenting to find what works.


"Charles Spitzer" wrote in message
...

"DKat" wrote in message
...
Soak is to hold at a given temperature for a certain amount of time. You
should be aware that doing so will essentially be firing to a higher
temperature than what you may have programmed in as the temperature you
want to reach if you are firing by a programable controller rather than a
cone. Your kiln manual should give you the appropriate information.

http://www.masteringglazes.com/Pages/faqframe.html has a very nice
schedule for firing cone 6 glazes. I also highly recommend their book.


is there any way to soak at a given temperature using a kiln sitter type
shutoff, besides using duct tape on the lever and a stopwatch?

regards,
charlie
http://glassartists.org/chaniarts

"Dana" wrote in message
...
"I bisque to cone 06 and glaze to cone 5 or 6. I soak for 30 minutes in
both
cases."

what do you mean by soak?

dana


Hold the kiln at the top temperature. This gives time for gases to be
released and reduces the risk of pinholing.

"Annemarie" wrote in message
...
Hold the kiln at the top temperature. This gives time for gases to be
released and reduces the risk of pinholing.


I was told that 20 minutes at any top-temperature is enough, but I see that
some use 30. I am guessing that the longer you soak, the more sure you are
that things go right. Would like to read from those of you with experience
here.

Marianne

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:44:10 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:


"DKat" wrote in message
. ..
Soak is to hold at a given temperature for a certain amount of time. You
should be aware that doing so will essentially be firing to a higher
temperature than what you may have programmed in as the temperature you
want to reach if you are firing by a programable controller rather than a
cone. Your kiln manual should give you the appropriate information.

http://www.masteringglazes.com/Pages/faqframe.html has a very nice
schedule for firing cone 6 glazes. I also highly recommend their book.


is there any way to soak at a given temperature using a kiln sitter type
shutoff, besides using duct tape on the lever and a stopwatch?


The problem with the "duct tape" approach is that it won't hold at a
given temperature. The elements will still be fully on, and the
temperature will continue to rise just as if you had no sitter at all.
The only way it would "hold" would be if your kiln was maxed
out already, which is doubtful since it approaches the max
temperature ever more slowly.

You might be able to use an "infinity switch", which is like
the control on an electric oven or range. The control itself
heats up when the current to the kiln passes through it,
and the heat causes an internal expansion. When it
expands to a certain (settable) amount, it trips off the
current. Then the control starts to cool, and turns itself
back on. The trick here is that you would have to rig
the sitter switch to activate the infinity control instead
of shutting down the kiln, and the infinity control would
need to be pre-set to the right setting, by trial and error.
You could do that initially with a thermocouple to see
what temperature you can hold with any given setting.
Also, when the sitter activated the infinity switch, it
would have to start a timer to shut the whole works
down after the soak.

None of this would be terribly difficult to do, but it
might be simpler to just get a real controller!

Best regards,



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

"Bob Masta" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:44:10 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:


"DKat" wrote in message
.. .
Soak is to hold at a given temperature for a certain amount of time.
You
should be aware that doing so will essentially be firing to a higher
temperature than what you may have programmed in as the temperature you
want to reach if you are firing by a programable controller rather than
a
cone. Your kiln manual should give you the appropriate information.

http://www.masteringglazes.com/Pages/faqframe.html has a very nice
schedule for firing cone 6 glazes. I also highly recommend their book.


is there any way to soak at a given temperature using a kiln sitter type
shutoff, besides using duct tape on the lever and a stopwatch?


The problem with the "duct tape" approach is that it won't hold at a
given temperature. The elements will still be fully on, and the
temperature will continue to rise just as if you had no sitter at all.
The only way it would "hold" would be if your kiln was maxed
out already, which is doubtful since it approaches the max
temperature ever more slowly.

You might be able to use an "infinity switch", which is like
the control on an electric oven or range. The control itself
heats up when the current to the kiln passes through it,
and the heat causes an internal expansion. When it
expands to a certain (settable) amount, it trips off the
current. Then the control starts to cool, and turns itself
back on. The trick here is that you would have to rig
the sitter switch to activate the infinity control instead
of shutting down the kiln, and the infinity control would
need to be pre-set to the right setting, by trial and error.
You could do that initially with a thermocouple to see
what temperature you can hold with any given setting.
Also, when the sitter activated the infinity switch, it
would have to start a timer to shut the whole works
down after the soak.

None of this would be terribly difficult to do, but it
might be simpler to just get a real controller!

Best regards,



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

that's what i was afraid of. the kiln only cost me 300, so i hate sinking
more than that into just the controller. i might just sell it when a
controller kiln comes along in the paper.

thanks,
charlie
http://glassartists.org/chaniarts

Bob,

I *Soak* my Olympic top Loader with a Kiln Sitter & timer by Shutting
off at the main when the sitter drops, over-riding it by lifting the
latch, pressing the button and lowering the latch GENTLY, setting the
timer to the required length of time, setting the Infinity switch to 4.5
(three position switch: medium), and turning on the main again (takes
longer to write it than do it!). Usual soak time: 30 minutes for
earthenware, 40 for Stoneware.

Steve
Bath
UK



In article , Bob Masta
writes

The problem with the "duct tape" approach is that it won't hold at a
given temperature. The elements will still be fully on, and the
temperature will continue to rise just as if you had no sitter at all.
The only way it would "hold" would be if your kiln was maxed
out already, which is doubtful since it approaches the max
temperature ever more slowly.

You might be able to use an "infinity switch", which is like
the control on an electric oven or range. The control itself
heats up when the current to the kiln passes through it,
and the heat causes an internal expansion. When it
expands to a certain (settable) amount, it trips off the
current. Then the control starts to cool, and turns itself
back on. The trick here is that you would have to rig
the sitter switch to activate the infinity control instead
of shutting down the kiln, and the infinity control would
need to be pre-set to the right setting, by trial and error.
You could do that initially with a thermocouple to see
what temperature you can hold with any given setting.
Also, when the sitter activated the infinity switch, it
would have to start a timer to shut the whole works
down after the soak.

None of this would be terribly difficult to do, but it
might be simpler to just get a real controller!

Best regards,



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK