Skutt KilnMaster Kilns Manufactured between 2000 and 2006 - Manual (Page 36)

34
Repairs
K ILN R EPAIRS
Happily, your Skutt kiln will give you few
occasions to refer to this section. The care-
ful repair person can keep a Skutt kiln
operating with no difficulty. But if you are
not mechanically inclined, it is best to call
an authorized Skutt service person, or
competent small appliance repair person
or electrician. Take this owner’s manual
along with you. To transport your kiln,
handle sections by their outer edges, and
place them on a flat surface, cushioned by
folded blankets.
Wall repairs.
The premium brick used in Skutt walls
will withstand thousands of firings with-
out crumbling. Broken element grooves
are usually the result of carelessness in
handling the kiln sections or in loading
shelves.
It’s almost impossible to cement a bro-
ken groove lip back into place without
contaminating the heating element. If the
element starts to sag out of position, hang
it on 1 1/2” element pins inclined toward
the back of the groove.
Caution: Elements become very brittle
after a few firings, so if straightening is
necessary, heat the element electrically to
visible redness, unplug the kiln from the
wall and immediately push the element
back into position with a metal imple-
ment, reheating whenever stiffening is
detected. Place your hanging pins in a
straight row and the element will serve
the rest of its normal life.
Replacement of wall bricks is simple in
Skutt kilns.
1. Order needed bricks from the parts list
available from your Skutt dealer.
Replacement of terminal bricks
involves cutting and renewing element
connectors and should normally be
postponed until it’s necessary to
replace that element.
2. If repairing a top ring, disconnect the
lid and remove all fittings from the
jacket.
3. Remove the screws that hold the con-
trol panel to the kiln. Swing the panel
open. Slide the connectors off the ter-
minal strip (they are pre-numbered for
easy identification). Unplug the ther-
mocouple tabs which are marked posi-
tive and negative. Lift the box straight
up to remove it. Place on a clean flat
surface.
4. Place the ring, damaged side up, on a
perfectly flat surface such as the kiln
lid.
5. Pull out the straight element pins at the
ends of the damaged brick.
6. Gently lift elements from troughs with
a pick or long-nose pliers and gently
lift them out into firing chamber just
far enough to allow damaged brick to
be slipped out. Remember that the ele-
ments are brittle.
7. Loosen the worm-type jacket fasteners
equally, 1/2” to 3/4”.
8. Make sure element troughs in the brick
are proper side up. Insert the new
brick. This is easiest if a helper holds
the adjoining bricks away.
9. Hold the worm-type jacket fastener
housings with pliers and tighten them
evenly until they meet resistance. Slip
elements into new grooves and pin
down.
10. Use sandpaper over a wood block to
sand the edges of new brick down
flush with its neighbors. Vacuum thor-
oughly when sanding is completed.
11. Replace hinges and hardware, and
position the kiln so you can finish
tightening the jacket just before the kiln
shuts off on your next Cone 06 or hot-
ter firing.
Floor repairs.
Glaze drips on a properly kiln washed
floor can easily be removed without dam-
age to the surface below. Remember to
remove all glaze drips before taking the
kiln to porcelain/stoneware temperatures,
where the glaze will over-fire and soak
through the kiln wash.
The floor can be patched level again
even if several square inches have been
damaged to a depth of 5/8”. Using a
sharp knife or X-Acto tool, simply under-
cut or dovetail the edges of the area to
retain a patch made by mixing dry high
fire kiln wash with just enough water to
form a very stiff putty. Compress the
putty into place, and scrape flush with the
rest of the floor. Allow to dry well before
firing.
Don’t forget that your kiln floor has two
lives. Just turn it over to use the second
side. The underside isn’t pretty but it can
be lightly sanded to remove any discol-
oration, kiln washed and put back into use
to save you money.
Lid repairs.
Because your Skutt lid is so strongly
cemented and well reinforced by its stain-
less steel band, you’ll have to work hard
to get it to develop a crack which will sift
particles on your ware. Use only the con-
toured venting prop to “post” your lid to
save the dustproof coating.
If a tall glazed piece expands enough to
fuse to the lid, do not attempt to fill the
resulting hole, but simply smooth its inte-
rior with sandpaper and blow clean. A
coating of refractory cement will prevent
the brick from crumbling and falling on
your ware. Your lid has a flip side if ever
needed. Just remove the screws holding
the hinge leaves, turn the lid over, and
reattach the leaves to new 3/32” holes
drilled in the lid’s band.