FAQS

Which Kilns are Sectional?

1. All L&L top-loading kilns are sectional. Front-Loading kilns are not sectional.

Why do we use sectional construction?

1. Sectional construction makes it easy to move, set up and disassemble the kilns for maintenance.

Differences in Sectional Construction

1. On Jupiter and Davinci kilns, the sections are completely separate from the control panel. Each section has its own plug that plugs into a special receptacle in the control panel. This makes it easy to disconnect the control panel and send it to the factory for expert service if ever necessary.
2. On Easy-Fire, School-Master, Quad-Pro, and Liberty-Belle kilns the panel attaches to all sections but is designed to be easily removable.

Expanding and Reducing Capacity

1. Because of this unusual ease of assembling and disassembling our Jupiter and Davinci kilns some people over the years have used this feature to expand or contract firing capacity as needed.
2. This can be useful for firing small loads while still maintaining a larger firing capacity.
3. It can also be useful for loading the kiln. This can still be done but there are some considerations to be aware of.

Jupiter Kilns

1. The old-style standard hinge used on the J18 and J18X is attached to the top section only. The hinge pin easily removes by removing a clip-on cotter pin. It is quite easy with this style hinge to take the top off and then remove one or two sections. The sections are not held together with latches but rely on gravity to keep them together.
2. The “Easy-Lift, Easy-Load” spring-loaded counterbalanced hinge is standard on the larger 10-sided and 12-sided kilns. This is a great hinge design but it is not as easy to take apart.
3. One of the nice features of this hinge is that it connects the upper three sections (or two sections and the bottom) together into one unified assembly. Again – a nice feature - and the reason the lid can sit so far back when loading the kiln - but one that does not lend itself to being pulled apart.
4. The control panels on four and five-section kilns are also attached to two sections.

The "Pull-Apart" Option for Jupiter Kilns

1. Our Pull-Apart option offers a solution to customers who definitely want to assemble and disassemble their kilns frequently. It offers the freedom to move the sections over their work.
2. To get around the above issues we offer a variation in our Jupiter line, which is meant just for those people who definitely want to assemble and disassemble their kilns often.
3. This option consists of not putting a hinge on the kiln at all, having four handles on the top, and mounting the control panel on a floor stand as we do on the DaVinci control panels. The sections are not tied together. We provide 45” long cords on all the sections. There is no charge for this option.
4.  See here for more information on Pull-Apart Kilns.

DaVinci Kilns

1. The DaVinci kilns all come with the standard spring-loaded counterbalance system.
2. This system actually supports the door independent from the kiln sections with the exception that two stabilizing arms are attached to either the second section or the third section. All the sections above these stabilizing arms can be easily removed from the kiln without disassembling the door system. This is primarily useful for loading.
3. However, if you do want to adjust the size of the kiln all that is required in addition to removing a section or two is to loosen up the clamps holding the door assembly to the counterbalance assembly and adjust it up or down.
4. You can order a DaVinci with the stabilizing arms attached to the second section (this is the way it has to come for the two-section kilns). This would allow you to remove the third section. However, only two sections can be above the section with the stabilizing arms. Therefore a DaVinci kiln with stabilizing arms on the second section can only be a maximum of four sections high (36” high).

Control Considerations

1. The DynaTrol or Genesis is easily programmable to allow for one, two, or three-zone operation.
2. So if you had a three-section kiln like the JD230-3 and wanted to fire the kiln as a JD23-3 with two sections you would simply plug the two sections into two of the receptacles on the panel and program the control for two-zone operation.
3. For larger kilns like the JD230-3 or JD2927-3, if you anticipate making the kiln larger, you should special order a larger control panel (five or six zones). For instance, if you want to buy a JD2927-3 now but may want to expand this to a JD2936-3 in the future you should buy a larger panel with five circuits. You can see the price differential in our parts list. The differential between the two panels is added to the price of the new kiln. For instance, if you are buying a JD2927-3 with a JD2945-3 five-circuit panel you would subtract the price of the JD2927-3 three-circuit panel from the price of the JD2945-3 five-circuit panel and add this difference to the price of the kiln.
4. The same principle applies to DaVinci panels. However, on DaVinci kilns the size of the control box is physically sized for either five or six circuits (the six circuit boxes are for five-section kilns with powered bottoms). This means that you could have the factory add a circuit to your current box in the future without making any investment now. This gets a bit more complicated if you are getting or planning to get a powered bottom with an automatic kiln. This is because the wiring for the powered bottom is slightly different on automatic kilns (i.e. where it gets its control output from) and you would not plug a regular section into the powered bottom circuit or vise-versa.
5. Consult the factory if you have specific questions.