Electric Mid&Hi Fired Ceramics
Potters & Sculptors - Making Rock from Mud
Kiln Cap
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Comment by Norm Stuart on March 27, 2019 at 10:41pm
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We continue to replace parts of our kiln which are not stainless steel. You think it's all been replaced and then we discover new rusted away screws and pieces.
The only purpose of the cap is to provide an umbrella over the electronics and 220 volt connections, since we're insensible enough to keep our kiln outdoors. Being located in the desert of Los Angeles only mitigates that problem partly.
On a positive note, the outdoors led to our controller failing after only 6 years due to corrosion, so we were able to upgrade to the new touch-panel Genesis Controller with WiFi for only $300.
The diamond grinding wheel we place on the potters wheel only has a very thin micro-fiber car washing towel between the bat and the diamond wheel to adhere it in place so it doesn't slip. Once the plush cloth towel is wet, it might as well be epoxy and the wet plush towel and dripping water greatly reduces grinding noise.That flimsy set-up remarkably works as well as any professional lapidary wheel.
The other tool we bought to cut glass for warm-glass firing, but it great for fired ceramic is a wet tile saw which is oddly useful cutting kiln furniture and other things you don't think you'll be doing. At the time it cost only $142. I expect import tariffs has upped that.
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Low cost flat lapping disc can be used on you potters wheel if you, drill bat pin holes in it, and provide a trickle of water to cool it. At amazon.com, 120 grit for aggressive material removal. Click the image to purchase
Members have had great things to say about John Britt's new book, Mid-Range Glazes. Click the image to buy from Amazon.com
Purchase Glazes Cone 6 by Michael Bailey, The Potters Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Cooper, or Making Marks by Robin Hopper, all available at amazon.com. Mastering Cone 6 Glazes by John Hesselberth & Ron Roy is now out of print.
Harbor Freight is a great place to find unbeatable prices for better HVLP spray guns with stainless steel parts and serviceable economy models, as well as detail guns, all tested by our members for spraying glazes, as well as compressors to power the guns. As yet no one has tested and commented on the remarkably inexpensive air brushes at harbor freight.
The critter siphon gun is a spray alternative that is well liked by some of our members, and is available at amazon.
Amazon is also a competitive source for photo light tents for shooting professional quality pictures of your work. They also have the EZ Cube brand favored by several of our members. You might also want to purchase the book Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles . . .
If you are up to creating videos of your work or techniques you might want to invest in a flip video camera
Following are a few scales useful for potters. Ohaus Triple Pro Mechanical Triple Beam Balance, 2610g x 0.1g, with Tare $169.00
And finally a low cost clone of the OHaus. The Adam Equipment TBB2610T Triple Beam Mechanical Balance With Tare Beam $99.62
ebay is a great alternative for many tools and the equipment used in the ceramics studio - kilns, wheels, extruders, slab rollers are often listed there both new and used.
Tips for Members
If you just want to spout off, it is best accomplished as a blog posting. If you want to get more guidance and ideas from other members, ask a question as a new discussion topic. In the upper right corner of the lists for both types of posting, you will find an "+Add " button. Clicking it will open an editor where you create your posting. 4/16/2014
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