Homemade Kiln

I took some pictures for you guys as I made my new kiln- I just didn't have the money to buy a new one- my intent was to design something I could take apart and replace the element as I needed to. The entire cost of this project was about $150 US. You can find elements online - I had a guy I know wind me one at a ceramic supply place to my specs. The element is 1/4 inch wide. I used my little Ryobi router to make the cuts. The fire bricks are the soft kind and are super cheap. You'll need seven to complete the same project. I also used 1 inch kao-wool for the door. The temperature is controlled with a variable resistor I high-jacked from another kiln. I also drilled a hole in the top and put a pyrometer probe through there to monitor the temp.
Let me know if you have any questions. There is a disclaimer that you are using pretty high amperage to make a kiln and there is a chance of electric shock- so be careful and don' t do this if you are not confident you know what you are doing- I got this little kiln up to 2000 degrees F so it is good for all kinds of experimentation.

Ill post more pics tonight

Now for the door!

The finished product!

That is really neat, thanks for sharing!

Nice work.

very nice work.

I made a kiln very similar, i had a problem that when you reach 2000F the coils expanded a lot and popped out the trenches dug for them and shorted out or got stuck in the trenches and some parts got compressed then burnt out. the potential solution is a thicker coil that is shorter.

There are a couple of fixes for that Pray. You can file down the lower part of the cuts to give it a lip, then the coils will wedge into the trenches. The other thing I did is use steel pins that you push into the fire brick to hold the element in place. Mine so far has been good. Also, my element is pretty compressed so there is not a lot of tension in the coils. If you separate the coils apart too much it becomes like a spring and will deflect with the tension. Just some ideas.

And, No, that is not my living room- I have scrap carpet in my garage you can see my broken RD9 in the background- if anyone wants to buy it let me know- it actually does work but the PID is not working and won't let the kiln stay hot for very long. In my opinion it was way too much money for what you get.

E-thor wrote:

There are a couple of fixes for that Pray. You can file down the lower part of the cuts to give it a lip, then the coils will wedge into the trenches. The other thing I did is use steel pins that you push into the fire brick to hold the element in place. Mine so far has been good. Also, my element is pretty compressed so there is not a lot of tension in the coils. If you separate the coils apart too much it becomes like a spring and will deflect with the tension. Just some ideas.

Very good ideas. Definately must do these (lip, pins) .. In hindsight, i might have separated the coils too much.

After a year of trying to get my kiln to work I went ahead and bought a professional kiln that was used / refurbished, and it is for 1kg crucibles but i adapt it with a steel flange to fit the small crucibles i use.

thanks