Troubleshooting Old Duncan Kiln - Electric Mid&Hi Fired Ceramics2024-03-29T08:14:32Zhttps://cone6pots.ning.com/forum/topics/troubleshooting-old-duncan-kiln?commentId=2103784%3AComment%3A126062&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI don't recall what co. has D…tag:cone6pots.ning.com,2015-11-02:2103784:Comment:1260622015-11-02T00:05:01.506ZMaggie Joneshttps://cone6pots.ning.com/profile/MAGGIEJONES
<p>I don't recall what co. has Duncan now, Paragon? You can ask Arnold Howard if so, he is very helpful.</p>
<p>The infinity switch is an on off situation meaning at full power it is on 100% and at half or medium setting it is on 50% and off 50%. You can time them. Some of the switches used to be able to be calibrated but I don't recall how to do that.</p>
<p>I don't recall what co. has Duncan now, Paragon? You can ask Arnold Howard if so, he is very helpful.</p>
<p>The infinity switch is an on off situation meaning at full power it is on 100% and at half or medium setting it is on 50% and off 50%. You can time them. Some of the switches used to be able to be calibrated but I don't recall how to do that.</p> Thank you, Norm. This informa…tag:cone6pots.ning.com,2015-10-16:2103784:Comment:1255582015-10-16T13:10:52.192ZNora Wertzhttps://cone6pots.ning.com/profile/NoraWertz
<p>Thank you, Norm. This information is very reassuring. I am not ready for a bisque just yet, but I will let you know how it goes.</p>
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<p>PS. Although I have apparently forgotten tons of kiln lore, opening the door in the middle of a firing is not something I've ever wanted to do!</p>
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<p>PPS. We can leave that to those crazy Raku kidz. ;)</p>
<p>Thank you, Norm. This information is very reassuring. I am not ready for a bisque just yet, but I will let you know how it goes.</p>
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<p>PS. Although I have apparently forgotten tons of kiln lore, opening the door in the middle of a firing is not something I've ever wanted to do!</p>
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<p>PPS. We can leave that to those crazy Raku kidz. ;)</p> Regardless of what type of co…tag:cone6pots.ning.com,2015-10-15:2103784:Comment:1258542015-10-15T20:14:50.283ZNorm Stuarthttps://cone6pots.ning.com/profile/NormStuart
<p>Regardless of what type of controller a kiln has (kiln sitter, manual or digital), they all have relays which cycle the power to the coils on and off as they heat at the programmed rate.</p>
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<p>So you should hear a click of the relay(s), unless your kiln has old silent mercury switches, followed by the hum of electricity slightly vibrating the heating elements at 60 cycles per second. Then a click, perhaps softer in volume, followed by silence from the coils as the electricity to the…</p>
<p>Regardless of what type of controller a kiln has (kiln sitter, manual or digital), they all have relays which cycle the power to the coils on and off as they heat at the programmed rate.</p>
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<p>So you should hear a click of the relay(s), unless your kiln has old silent mercury switches, followed by the hum of electricity slightly vibrating the heating elements at 60 cycles per second. Then a click, perhaps softer in volume, followed by silence from the coils as the electricity to the elements is shut off. This on-off cycle continues during the entire firing.</p>
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<p>We have a very over-powered kiln and paper strips placed next to the heating elements in our kiln also char without igniting if they're good during the first 10 minutes of firing, so your kiln sounds normal to me so far.</p>
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<p>As the kiln temperature increases the heating elements will be cycled on for a longer period than they are off. And the color they glow will be red then orange then finally yellow-white along with the interior of the kiln. You'll not see a pure white glow until cone 11.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ceramicartdaily.net/PMI/KilnFiringChart.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.ceramicartdaily.net/PMI/KilnFiringChart.pdf</a></p>
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<p>A certain Justin Leavitt in New York has posted this photo of his kiln at peak bisque temperature around 1,888 F with the lid open - along with the good advice to NEVER open your kiln at this temperature unless you want to break the fired ceramics and possibly your kiln elements. Always good to learn from someone else's experiments.</p>
<p><img alt="http://justinleavittceramicart.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/red-hot-fired-work.jpg" src="http://justinleavittceramicart.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/red-hot-fired-work.jpg"/></p>
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<p><a href="http://justinleavittceramicart.com/wp/tag/clay/" target="_blank">http://justinleavittceramicart.com/wp/tag/clay/</a></p>
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