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Can Nothing Go Right?!



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 12th 03, 02:27 PM
Doug Porter
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Default Can Nothing Go Right?!

A couple weeks ago I finished my first glaze firing in my brand new
Olympic Kiln----WHAT A DISASTER!!!!
I am still trying to chisel pieces of glaze and pottery off of my
shelves. Anyways, to add to my misery I noticed, post firing, that
the fire bricks on the bottom of my kiln have cracked. How could this
have happened and what should I do about it? I did put kiln wash on
the bottom per recommendation of the instruction manual---could that
have contributed? I also put two shelves on posts down there so I
wasn't loading directly on the bottom---also per recommendation of the
instruction manual. However the cracks are nowhere near the post
locations. Will I be able to fire with the bricks like that? Is this
normal? HELP PLEASE!
LMac
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  #2  
Old August 12th 03, 04:12 PM
Adrienne Kriel
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You do not state whether they were hairline cracks or serious cracks. I had
the same from my new kiln and the builder assured me that it is natural for
these soft bricks to have hairline cracks, it has to do with the temp.
increase and cooling down, apart from it sounding as if your kiln overfired
which could be because of a few different reasons of which the most likely
would be that you used a controller and what I normally do is to calibrate
my controller by firing with a cone at the same time and checking until the
cone goes down to make sure that I have an acurate reading on my controller.
From then on it should not be a problem to fire to the correct temp. If you
have serious cracks I would reccomend that you ask the manufacturer to send
someone to take a look and do another test fire taking you through step by
step it could be that inferior bricks were used or they were not lined
correctly.


"Doug Porter" wrote in message
...
A couple weeks ago I finished my first glaze firing in my brand new
Olympic Kiln----WHAT A DISASTER!!!!
I am still trying to chisel pieces of glaze and pottery off of my
shelves. Anyways, to add to my misery I noticed, post firing, that
the fire bricks on the bottom of my kiln have cracked. How could this
have happened and what should I do about it? I did put kiln wash on
the bottom per recommendation of the instruction manual---could that
have contributed? I also put two shelves on posts down there so I
wasn't loading directly on the bottom---also per recommendation of the
instruction manual. However the cracks are nowhere near the post
locations. Will I be able to fire with the bricks like that? Is this
normal? HELP PLEASE!
LMac



  #3  
Old August 12th 03, 04:22 PM
Lindsay MacArthur
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Default

So, I spoke with the people at Olympic Kiln and they were very nice
and explained to me that the cracking is not abnormal and not a
structural problem. They recommend I tighten the bolts in the back on
my next firing. Does anybody have any conflicting information on
this?
LMac

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:27:48 -0400, Doug Porter
wrote:

A couple weeks ago I finished my first glaze firing in my brand new
Olympic Kiln----WHAT A DISASTER!!!!
I am still trying to chisel pieces of glaze and pottery off of my
shelves. Anyways, to add to my misery I noticed, post firing, that
the fire bricks on the bottom of my kiln have cracked. How could this
have happened and what should I do about it? I did put kiln wash on
the bottom per recommendation of the instruction manual---could that
have contributed? I also put two shelves on posts down there so I
wasn't loading directly on the bottom---also per recommendation of the
instruction manual. However the cracks are nowhere near the post
locations. Will I be able to fire with the bricks like that? Is this
normal? HELP PLEASE!
LMac


  #4  
Old August 12th 03, 04:43 PM
Bri
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Default

I've been told that the cracks don't matter and if you want you can use
the kiln mortar to patch them up.


Doug Porter wrote:

A couple weeks ago I finished my first glaze firing in my brand new
Olympic Kiln----WHAT A DISASTER!!!!
I am still trying to chisel pieces of glaze and pottery off of my
shelves. Anyways, to add to my misery I noticed, post firing, that
the fire bricks on the bottom of my kiln have cracked. How could this
have happened and what should I do about it? I did put kiln wash on
the bottom per recommendation of the instruction manual---could that
have contributed? I also put two shelves on posts down there so I
wasn't loading directly on the bottom---also per recommendation of the
instruction manual. However the cracks are nowhere near the post
locations. Will I be able to fire with the bricks like that? Is this
normal? HELP PLEASE!
LMac

  #5  
Old August 12th 03, 09:21 PM
MKent41616
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Default

well our school just purchased a new kiln last year from olympic. The kiln has
been wonderful and has already seen a number of fireings. (about 12) I haven't
observed any cracks to be honest but i haven't looked. for me its just getting
used to fireing by the controller and learnign to program the little bugger. I
want to test using cones but my school says if i use em i pay for em outa my
own pocket. This is also the person who was seriously considerign olympics
printed recomendation to use asbestose fiber boards as a fire wall.

interestignt hing asbestose after reading up i found not all asbestose is bad
just the long fiberd asbestose from australia. Seems there are lots of
poisonous things outa that continent. including most of the animals.


"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for
lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
  #6  
Old August 13th 03, 12:18 AM
Steve Mills
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Default

Almost all top loading cylindrical Kilns have cracks in the base. When
you consider the edges of the base are pinned down by the sides, and the
middle expands and contracts with each firing I'd be amazed if they
didn't crack. We bought an Olympic 4 cube in 1979, by the time we moved
workshops in '84 it had done over 1000 firings. We stopped counting
then. It has been fired 3 to 4 times a week ever since. Over the years
we've replaced several sets of elements and about 6 bricks. the floor is
cracked to hell and as solid as it ever was. Despite looking very beat-
up it still fires brilliantly.

I have no connection with the company; just a satisfied customer.

Steve
Bath
UK


In article , Bri "Share,D,Computer"@boein
g.com writes
I've been told that the cracks don't matter and if you want you can use
the kiln mortar to patch them up.


Doug Porter wrote:

A couple weeks ago I finished my first glaze firing in my brand new
Olympic Kiln----WHAT A DISASTER!!!!
I am still trying to chisel pieces of glaze and pottery off of my
shelves. Anyways, to add to my misery I noticed, post firing, that
the fire bricks on the bottom of my kiln have cracked. How could this
have happened and what should I do about it? I did put kiln wash on
the bottom per recommendation of the instruction manual---could that
have contributed? I also put two shelves on posts down there so I
wasn't loading directly on the bottom---also per recommendation of the
instruction manual. However the cracks are nowhere near the post
locations. Will I be able to fire with the bricks like that? Is this
normal? HELP PLEASE!
LMac


--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
  #8  
Old August 13th 03, 01:03 AM
Lindsay MacArthur
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Posts: n/a
Default

One should never forget that Australia is home to some of the most
venemous snakes and spiders on the planet....not to mention other
animals such at crocodiles, sharks, Portuguese*
Man-Of War and who could forget the box jellyfish......
So politicians have quite a bit to contend with down under.
LMac

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 21:11:18 GMT, "David Coggins"
wrote:


"MKent41616" wrote in message
...
----- Original Message -----

interestignt hing asbestose after reading up i found not all asbestose is

bad
just the long fiberd asbestose from australia. Seems there are lots of
poisonous things outa that continent. including most of the animals.


G'Day - I haven't met too many poisonous animals here in Oz (unless you
include politicians!) There are plenty of poisonous insects and reptiles
(politicians again?) but all the animals here are fairly benign. Killer
Koalas maybe??

Dave


  #9  
Old August 13th 03, 09:34 AM
David Coggins
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Lindsay MacArthur" wrote in message
news
One should never forget that Australia is home to some of the most
venemous snakes and spiders on the planet....not to mention other
animals such at crocodiles, sharks, Portuguese
Man-Of War and who could forget the box jellyfish......
So politicians have quite a bit to contend with down under.
LMac


Hi Lindsay

Spiders are insects
Snakes and crocodiles are reptiles
Sharks are fish
Portuguese man-o-war and box jellyfish are classified as fish

I re-iterate - there are NO poisonous ANIMALS in Oz - except maybe my wife
:-)))) She has been a potter for 32 years, and is sure to have ingested a
few poisons along the way!!

Dave


  #10  
Old August 13th 03, 01:19 PM
Doug Porter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Dave
Not to ruin any jokes or harp on the subject but...
I believe if you look in your dictionary you will find that "animals"
are defined as multicellular organisms, other than plants, and that
"insects", "reptiles", and "fish" are all classifications of animals
(or Animalia). So, while there may be no poisonous or venomous
mammals (Mammalia) in Australia--excluding your wife and politicians
(which may or may not be vertibrate mammals)-- there are certainly
poisonous and venomous animals in Australia.
Lindsay

On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 08:34:35 GMT, "David Coggins"
wrote:


"Lindsay MacArthur" wrote in message
news
One should never forget that Australia is home to some of the most
venemous snakes and spiders on the planet....not to mention other
animals such at crocodiles, sharks, Portuguese
Man-Of War and who could forget the box jellyfish......
So politicians have quite a bit to contend with down under.
LMac


Hi Lindsay

Spiders are insects
Snakes and crocodiles are reptiles
Sharks are fish
Portuguese man-o-war and box jellyfish are classified as fish

I re-iterate - there are NO poisonous ANIMALS in Oz - except maybe my wife
:-)))) She has been a potter for 32 years, and is sure to have ingested a
few poisons along the way!!

Dave


 




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