Comment

Comment by Norm Stuart on November 3, 2013 at 10:06pm

Bartlett returned the motherboard board with Type-S thermocouple, but without Type-S lead wire.

We used longer screws on the mounting block, placing the thermocouple through a 1" thick kiln post, like those shown below between the exterior kiln wall and the mounting block, to achieve the correct 3/4 inch to 1" exposure inside the kiln. The standard Type-S thermocouple is longer than the Type-K.

Lead wire for Type-S apparently has to be shielded as Type-S uses only 0-18.6 milliVolt, while Type-K uses 0-54.8 milliVolt which is less sensitive to EMF noise. 2,232 F (^6) is 12.22 mV with a Type-S vs 49.65 mV with Type-K.

http://us.flukecal.com/Thermocouple-Temperature-Calculator

EMF noise from the power relays has led to ERR-1 on ^6 firings using Type-K lead wire.

Correct Type-S lead wire is $4 a foot from L&L Kilns.

http://hotkilns.com/thermocouple-lead-wire-type-s

Comment by Norm Stuart on August 26, 2013 at 4:59pm

All of the control features not on the faceplate are activated by rotating through a menu with the

"F or C Select" button.

CHG°- Change between °F and °C
ErCd – Turn Error Codes on or off
tCoS – Set Thermocouple offset
dELA – Set Delay start
bd t – Displays Board temperature
rSEt – Resets board to default settings
PrHt – Set Preheat segment
Id – set controller ID number
16-S – Combines user 5 and user 6 programs to achieve a 16 segment program.
CnoS – Set cone offset.

The holds, delays, pre-heats, etc are all entered in the form of 00:00 Hours:Minutes.

We've reprogrammed User 6 ramp with our slow-cool at 50F per hour between 1,800 and 1,500 F.

To activate the slow-cool we have to "F or C" to 16-S and hit enter, to decouple User 5 and 6 from their normal 16 step program capability, then hit the Ramp button and enter.

User 1 is a glass slumping program

User 2 is a glass tack fuse program
User 3 is a glass full fuse program
User 4 is a glass bead-annealing program
User 5 is a lost-wax burnout program
User 6 is a slow cooling cycle that can be added to the end of a cone 6

Choosing the rSEt button, and typing in 443, gives you NOTC - a hidden menu which displays the total number of firings, reconfigures the kiln for an Type-S Thermocouple, also this also requires moving a jumper on the CPU board, makes other configuration changes and recalls prior Error Codes.

I used the CnoS Cone Offset button once to re-program our cone 5 to a cone 5.5, but we've since reset it.

Firing the Cress is not more complicated than microwaving a frozen entree.

Comment by Jeff Poulter on August 26, 2013 at 2:08pm

5 speeds, no waiting!  On Skutt you get Fast, Medium & Slow & on L&L you get Fast & Slow Glaze & Fast & Slow Bisque & on Orton you get their standard programs & you either speed them up or slow them down by percentages.  Never seen a Cress close up & personal before!  jhp

Comment by Norm Stuart on August 26, 2013 at 2:05pm

This is the faceplate on an unmodified Bartlett V6-CF.

Comment by Norm Stuart on August 26, 2013 at 2:02pm

This is a Bartlett V6-CF controller with a faceplate customized for the Cress E-23 kiln.

It's on its way back to Bartlett for a software update and to be fitted with a Type-S thermocouple. Each of 6 User programs will have 16 steps rather than the current 8, and User 5 and 6 can be combined into a single 32 step program.

But I have found the "Cone Fire" option is very reliable. We'll see if we notice a difference with the Type-S platinum/platinum-rhodium thermocouple.

It's just like using a microwave oven - I'd never go back to a kiln-sitter.

Were it not for the software update, the change from Type-K to Type-S thermocouple could be done simply by moving a jumper on the CPU board from one pin to both.