If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
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 |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
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
|
|||
|
|||
"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
|
|||
|
|||
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 |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|