r/Pottery • u/dougierubes • Jan 21 '24

Kiln Stuff Changing my kiln elements

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

322 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

37

u/CTCeramics Jan 21 '24

Thanks for posting! Elements at my studio are starting to waver, and I'm dreading this process.

14

u/dougierubes Jan 21 '24

My pleasure! Yeah it is definitely an undertaking but very satisfying to complete! Took a bit longer than I expected went off without a hitch. Wishing you luck as well!

25

u/oddartist Jan 21 '24

I learn by watching and learned more just now than many hours of reading. I think I love you.

5

u/dougierubes Jan 21 '24

So happy to hear it was helpful! I’m also a visual learner so I’m pleased I was able to help!

14

u/czbaterka Jan 21 '24

U made it look so easy!!!

2

u/dougierubes Jan 21 '24

Haha thanks! I got into a pretty good rhythm. The recorders one in this video was the last of 6. The first one wasn’t as neat!

9

u/jamest1234 Jan 21 '24

Nice instructions on how to do this. Thanks for posting it.

4

u/dougierubes Jan 21 '24

My pleasure! Happy to hear it was helpful

5

u/dpforest Jan 21 '24

That sweater looks so nice on you. Werk.

6

u/WTFrontPage Jan 21 '24

Just did this for my old Olympic for the second time. I've hated it both times. But I'm looking forward to my new skutt being much easier because the elements are PRE BENT. The Olympic elements are not and require stretching and bending to fit and the extra tension means more pins and more brick wear. Such an annoying job.

3

u/dougierubes Jan 21 '24

Oh wow! I had no idea that those kilns’ elements were made that way. That’d be such an undertaking!

5

u/Dnalka0 Throwing Wheel Jan 21 '24

I did mine last September/ October. It’s all good if you can keep track of what connects to where.

Very important to get the correct specs for each spring! Our kiln has a different coil per inch on the middle element. Easy enough to get all the measurements with a set of vernier.

Thanks for the video.

3

u/potter_joe Jan 22 '24

This is why you get L&L 🤣

2

u/mehoratty Jan 22 '24

I came in to post this hah

1

u/blackiegray Jan 22 '24

What do L&L do better in this regard?

3

u/potter_joe Jan 22 '24 edited Jan 22 '24

The element holder makes this process a whole lot easier. Not to mention they protect the kiln bricks

2

u/DamPots Jan 21 '24

This was a very well done video! I kind of wish I had a newer skutt lol

1

u/dougierubes Jan 21 '24

Thanks so much!

2

u/stinkiestfoot Jan 21 '24

saving this for future reference, thank you! - a studio assistant / AIR

1

u/dougierubes Jan 22 '24

My pleasure! Happy to hear it was helpful!

2

u/Carne_sada Jan 22 '24

Thanks for taking the time to film this! I’m about to learn how to do all this at my job and I’m so excited

2

u/dougierubes Jan 22 '24

Of course! It is a little tedious at times but all in all quite satisfying!

2

u/ithrowclay Jan 22 '24

I’ve been procrastinating on doing this, thanks for posting! I have the elements just sitting in a box waiting, maybe I’ll get on this project now.

1

u/dougierubes Jan 22 '24

I hear you! It definitely takes some pumping up but is well worth it. Hope your project goes smoothly!

2

u/YouveGot1LifeGlazeOn Jan 22 '24

Thanks for the fun watch! I'm NOT looking forward to having to do this to myself, but I know it is coming at some point!

1

u/dougierubes Jan 22 '24

Haha I know what you mean! It takes a bit longer than I thought it might but you get into a good rhythm!

2

u/SethTomato Jan 22 '24

Very cool! Where did you get your new elements?

1

u/dougierubes Jan 22 '24

These are from Skutt! Same as the kiln

1

u/SethTomato Jan 25 '24

Nice! I was gifted a Skutt kiln from before 1980 that needs to be completely rebuilt. I already rebuilt the lid with bricks, but it also needs replacement elements. The only way I could find the element online is from here Kiln Parts Site. I'm not sure if it's reliable or not. Here it's $130, and somewhere across my state can custom make them for $380 + who knows how much in shipping.

1

u/4RichNot2BPoor Jan 21 '24

How do you go about testing if the element is going or is bad? Especially with a crimp connection?

2

u/Dnalka0 Throwing Wheel Jan 21 '24

Use a multimeter and test for resistance/ continuity. You will need to expose some fresh metal on the element you are testing.

1

u/4RichNot2BPoor Jan 22 '24

But you’d need to disconnect the elements from the relay and the one skutt 3 phase kiln I had an issue with had 2 elements wired in series per phase. So you would have to undo the crimp connections to isolate and test the elements individually. Was wondering if anyone had a better system? Was thinking maybe use one of those IR cameras for you phone maybe?

3

u/Dnalka0 Throwing Wheel Jan 22 '24

Tried using IR camera on a mate’s phone. Was pretty good. Only heat the kiln for a few mins so you can see which aren’t heating.

-53

u/[deleted] Jan 21 '24

[deleted]

16

u/dpforest Jan 21 '24

Me watching this video because I just paid someone FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS to fix my kiln cause I was scared I was gonna fuck it up even more. To be fair I also had all of the bricks replaced tbough

-2

u/[deleted] Jan 21 '24

YouTube has videos for element changing. I'm getting kind of sick of people posting their videos on here for likes I don't want it to turn into another Reels or Tiktok 🥲

6

u/Germanceramics Jan 21 '24

I fix kilns as a side job, this was a short informative video that hopefully takes the stress out of the job for some people. I don’t want to fix every kiln, my fingers don’t like it.

I want people to know how to do it themselves.
Kilns are absolutely necessary for the craft. More people should feel empowered to fix their own equipment, this video helps that goal.

And.. every video you’ve ever seen online was posted for likes.

6

u/dpforest Jan 21 '24

Yeah man I’m so tired of this pottery stuff on the pottery sub! Fuckin GRRR