First, launch the INSIGHT application.
Let's begin a new recipe by selecting New from the File Menu and typing in a recipe name.
Click the first line in the recipe window & pick Edit Recipe Line from the Edit menu. INSIGHT presents the Edit Recipe Line dialog. Fill in the name and amount. Click Done.
INSIGHT searches its Materials Definition Table file (MDT) for the name Potash Feldspar and indicates its success by filling in the first line of your recipe.
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We now have a recipe. It has a name, and it contains just one material. |
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INSIGHT can calculate the formula for this "one material recipe". We'll choose Unity Calculation in the Calc menu. |
The formula window displays the formula for potash feldspar. Three figures compare the number of each type of oxide molecule in the fired glass. If you have any experience with material formulas (or you've noticed the formula window title) you'll recognize this as the flux unity formula for potash feldspar. Notice the asterisk in front of the K2O? This is how INSIGHT indicates which oxides are currently defined as unity. Unity formulas do not change for different batch recipe totals.
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Now we'll choose Non-unity Calculation from the Calc menu. |
The weight changed, the formula changed, and the asterisk that preceded K2O in the unity formula is gone. Non-unity formulas are a direct translation from a recipe. Weight units of oxides supplied by materials are converted to molecule numbers. The more weight in the recipe, the bigger the numbers in the formula will be. INSIGHT keeps the formulas, names, weights, etc., of all materials it knows in an in-memory database called the Materials Definition Table (MDT). The Materials Definition Dialog acts as a window into this database, and can be positioned to edit any record. You call it using Edit Materials in the Edit menu. However, there is a quicker way to summon this tool for a particular material in a recipe.
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We'll take a look at the "definition" of our material by holding down the command key and double-clicking the Potash Feldspar line in the recipe. |
This is the user defined and named definition for Potash Feldspar in the materials database. Now you know where the unity formula we first calculated came from. INSIGHT doesn't force unity in its MDT, but it is still good practice to enter formulas this way. INSIGHT maintains live links between recipe materials and their definitions. If you change either, it recalculates the formula. Generic potash feldspar is a "textbook" material. Unfortunately, real world feldspars do not have such "clean" and well rounded formulas.
INSIGHT can hold two recipes, so we'll switch to the other recipe area. There are three ways to do this, let's use the obvious one.
Choose Switch Active Recipe in the Utility menu. Click on the next empty recipe line.
You'll notice that INSIGHT moves the solid underlines in the recipe window, and the recipe window title has changed.
As with the first recipe, we'll choose New from the file menu and enter the recipe name and then double-click on the second recipe line, and enter "CUS" (that's all INSIGHT needs to distinguish Custer Feldspar from other materials in the list). Next, we'll enter the amount and click the Done button as before.
We now have two recipes in the recipe window and both of their formulas in the formula window.
Are these really the same materials? Unfortunately yes! The actual formula of real world materials often differs considerably from the ideal theoretical formula found in text books. Even shipment formulas from materials suppliers vary quite a bit. The higher quality a material is, the less the change, but, there is always some deviation. Working with this fact, understanding it, is part of the art of making intelligent and balanced use of formula data available to us.
Notice there is just one column of material names. INSIGHT automatically maintains a cooperative two-recipe cohabitation. Let's try something else.
Drag the second recipe line over the first and they will change places with each other:
INSIGHT follows the arrow with an outline of the line cursor, and when you let go of the mouse button, it moves the line to that point. You can use this technique to drag blank lines up into the recipe.
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Now, we'll take a look at INSIGHT's formula for our example material, Custer Feldspar. Do you remember how? Command-double-click on the recipe line. Notice the problem in this Edit Materials window fragment. Although the formula numbers match those in the recipe window, the formula weight from the recipe window is different. |
It is not a lot different, but it is different. The difference is because of Loss on Ignition (LOI), or, weight lost on firing. You see, many materials contain H2O, carbon etc., which goes up the chimney of the kiln during firing. Custer Feldspar loses just a little weight on firing, namely, .16% (some materials loose 40% or more! e.g. whiting). Remember, we are calculating the formula for materials that come out of the kiln, not ones that go in. In order to compensate for weight lost, INSIGHT lets you record the weight, including what will be lost in firing. For Custer Feldspar, you need to put 617.1 parts by weight into the kiln, to get 616.1 out of the kiln, because .16% by weight is lost during firing. We are splitting hairs here, I agree. But as stated, many materials loose lots of weight when fired (e.g. kaolin 13%). It is therefore very helpful to be able to say to INSIGHT: "This material contains the oxides I have outlined, but it also contains some other things that will be lost on firing, so please compensate by increasing the formula weight by X%."
We could go on and on here, but you are probably getting the point. There is much more to show you, including the oxides definitions window, file loading and saving, how INSIGHT handles materials it doesn't know, reports, and more. This has been the Macintosh version. The MSDOS version is very similar except its dual formulas are handled differently, and its dialogs consist of a series of prompts.
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