Another Kiln

We bought a used kiln today, from a nice couple, Pat and Marian. They are getting married in the spring, and are working to establish an endangered butterfly sanctuary.

The kiln is a Sno Industries P22, which has an interior that measures 18 inches across and 22 inches deep. The interior cross section is an octagon, with two and a half inch thick kiln brick. It has an analog pyrometer, and a kiln sitter with timer. The kiln was advertised as needing some work, since one of the rotary switches is broken, and the interior tube of the cone sitter is heavily chipped where the blades hold the pyrometric cone, and the blades are missing.

We plan to pull the kiln sitter and heating elements out, and convert it into a raku kiln. We'll have a base of cinderblock on sand, on top of which I'll build a firebox out of soft kiln brick. I'll cut out the bottom of the kiln, and vent hole in the lid, and then place the kiln on the firebox.

The kiln sitter is a later model than the one on Figaro, and it has a safety timer as well as the cone latch. The new model has a larger footprint than the old, but I'm thinking of retrofitting the other kiln with it. I shold be able to use the tube and latch components from Figaro's old sitter, and then use the facing and switches from the newer sitter.