How do I fire with fewer sections on my five section kiln?
- Remove the lid. Open it first to remove the spring-loaded connections to the front of the lid. Use two people to lower it. When you remove the hinge rod, try to remember the order of the washers and tubes about the lid and counter-balance. A digital camera may with help this. Set the lid off to the side leaning against a wall.
- Unscrew the yellow thermocouple wires from the thermocouples. Unplug all the section power cords from the control tower.
- Lift off the top two kiln sections and set them aside. Keep the one with the thermocouple accessible- this is section #1.
- Remove the screws connecting the top two arms of the counter-balance from what is now the top section of the kiln. Leave the bottom two arms connected to the bottom kiln section. You may need someone to stand there and help support the entire counter-balance.
- Take the next two kiln sections off the kiln, leaving just the bottom kiln section. Again, keep the section with the thermocouple accessible- section #3
- Put the original top-most kiln section (Section #1) on top of the bottom kiln section. Now there are two kiln sections in the stack.
- Put section #3 on top of section #1, making a three-section kiln, and screw in all the counter-balance screws to the top section.
- At the back of the counter-balance, the pair of spring-loaded poles and the pair of hinge support poles are held in place by hose clamps. Loosen the hole clamps and lower all four poles 18". Tighten the spring-load poles but leave the corner hinge support poles a little loose.
- Put the lid back on and re-attach the hinge rod to the lid and corner hinge supports. Leave the collars at the ends of the hinge rod with some room so the rod can move 1/2" or so from left to right.
- This is for the hinge height adjustment. Raise the corner hinge support poles one at a time until the back of the lid just starts to come off the top kiln section. Place a business card between the lid and the top kiln section and lower the hinge support pole down until the lid touches the business card. Now tighten the hose clamps onto the hinge support pole. Do the same to the other hinge support pole. Remove the business cards. When the lid is lowered the front of the lid should just barely touch the top kiln section first- evenly on both sides.
- Raise the lid and re-attach the spring-loaded cables to the front of the lid. Be sure the cables are in their wheels at the tops of the spring-loaded poles and are not twisted where they connect to the lid. Check it again as you close the lid.
- Re-connect the yellow thermocouple wires to the thermocouples. The red wire goes to "-" and the yellow goes to "+" on the TC connection blocks. There is a little plus and minus sign on the ceramic oval on each thermocouple. Wires should be good and snug, but not super tight. There are labels on the end of each wire. #1 is for the top section, #2 the middle section, #3 the bottom.
- The kiln section power cords are numbered right behind their plug-heads. The top section is labeled #3, the middle is labeled #1, and the bottom section is labeled #5. Plug the top section's cord into the top outlet (#1) on the control tower. Plug the middle section into outlet #3 on the tower. Plug the bottom section into outlet #5 on the tower. Leave outlets 2 and 4 empty
- That is it. It is ready to use.
December 21, 2024
