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URL: FireRight.com - Resources to fire kilns
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http://www.fireright.com/knowledgebase.html
This page has links to PDF files on kiln sitters (e.g. the Dawson LT-3).
Related Information
Old-style hobby kilns with a sitter are usable if you become "the controller"!
Yes. This kiln has a Dawson LT-3 kiln sitter (new ones have electronic controllers). It is a mechanical device with a safety timer and triggered latch on the external housing. A ceramic tube extends into the chamber where a pyrometric cone sits on supports with a rod on the top center. As the cone softens and bends the rod drops with it and eventually releases the shut-off latch. The utility of this depends on careful placement of the cone, sitter adjustment and keeping the rods and supports in good condition. Although not shown, these kilns had a pyrometer and one or more thermocouples (temperature gauge and heat sensing probes). Is a kiln like this useable today? Yes - if you become "the controller"! Learning to use a kiln like this involves monitoring cones on each shelf (self-supporting cones are recommended). By "babysitting" the switch settings (low, medium, high) during firings and creating paper logs (and graphs) to track the kiln's temperature against time over multiple firings you can evolve a schedule of switch-setting, from low-to-medium-to-high. It is possible to get the desired climb, even heat distribution, achieve the final temperature accurately and even implement drop-and-hold and slow cool firings. Vigilance of changes in the firing speed can be balanced by adjustments to the switch-change times.
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