[NVDirtworks]

I recently upgraded my 18 yr old Cress FX23 with an Orton Autofire 3000. I did a few test firings to get familiar with it and ran a cone ^06 glaze load. I leaded the kiln and the shelf where the thermocouple inserts into the kiln was pretty close to it (had about 1/4" clearance) to the shelf and good space around it where I didn't load my pots. I checked the kiln several times while it fired I started the kiln and bought it up on a standard firing with a 30 min warm up to cone 06. It ran for about 7+ hours and erred out with an FTL Firing too long kiln temp stalled firing stopped. Really?!?? Just to note I have replaced the elements which have about 20 firings to date. Where did I go wrong here? My glazes appear to have not reached maturity they are all Matt in appearance.

If I run the load again will the load reach maturity for the glazes to turn to glass or am I out of luck??

Opinions please?!

Holly - NV Dirtworks

[Marcia Selsor]

I would keep the shelves 1.5 inches away from the thermocouple. Shelves are mass and absorb heat. 1/4" sounds way too close in my opinion.
With that done, the temperature reading may better reflect what is going on nearer the pots. Also make sure you use witness cones to see how close the thermocouple reading is to the cones. The thermaocouple can sometimes be less than accurate. If you understand the reading is 25-50 degrees off, ou can set it to accommodate the true temperature.

Marcia