Burners and gas lines going in!

So my hubby is installing burners and gas lines. He got a bunch done while I was away at the John C Campbell folk school in NC taking a class from Stephen Jepson. I came home to this:

I can't describe any of this other than to say my hubby built the burners out of stainless pipe, fittings, welding stuff... I'll get him to post a blog with descriptions of all. We did not scrimp on the safety portion so each burner has a baso valve and pilot light. For now I can only provide the pictures. The picture above is the one in front and here is a picture of the rear one by the chimney.

Here's my hubby installing it:

The burners are adjustable forward and back to adjust the distance of the burner to the kiln. Three trips to Home Depot later and it was too dark to finish and trial. :( We also need to pick up a little more angle iron to finish up the chimney support. 

IFB arch is up! and some more iron support

I opted to add a layer of 1" ceramic fiber over the hard brick arch to help seal up any leaks (and because I already have some to spare). Thank you soda fire Facebook buddies for all the advice.

Next went the IFB arch. I had to cut them down as the key shape made too straight of an arch. ;( With some finagling, I was able to cut some and use about half "as is". :) I did no fancy calculation and just eyeballed them. It is a short arch so I was able to hold them up and formed the sprung arch over the ceramic fiber without compressing it. It actually sits about 1/8" above the fiber blanket.

It took a few days of cutting and fitting but the arch is up! We ran a double layer of angle iron across the top of the door and welded into the side supports.

I used IFB to fill it in. Better explained by the pictures. This way the arch has plenty of support and it will be an easy stacking for the door. Because of the angle iron I ended up with a small gap at the front of the arch. I added a little ceramic fiber blanket covered by tin foil to fill in the sliver.

Finally a stack of hard brick to support and close it all up. Everything seems tight and well supported but I won't know how I did until the kiln is running. :)

Hubby also built a support for the burners with holes to adjust the placement.

Look at the pics and you can see where all the ironwork was welded. Some supports were just to be extra cautious and reinforce and others were to correct my sub-standard brickwork. :)The top angle work is temporary and will be trimmed off. The chimney needs another 4 feet added and the ironwork on the chimney needs to be welded on.
But...the brickwork (except the chimney) is finished!!! I kept all my fingers too!!! (That tile saw is quite the hazard!) Lol! Sooo excited!

Arch support is out! (and it didn't fall)

I opted to remove the arch support this morning and make sure the arch wouldn't collapse before I went on to adding the IFB layer. I'm happy to report it held up with little shifting. A few bricks slipped down 1/8"-ish but the rest barely moved. Some gaps from uneven cuts but I don't think it is too bad. I guess time will tell.

I know it's not perfect but out of all the things I have done on the kiln, I am proud of this part! lol, I'll even be more proud if it holds together when I fire up the kiln. I really had to cut bricks and make odd sizes fit together. Like all of the kiln, not ideal but I think a good use of what was available to me. I plan on adding a layer of ceramic fiber over (as there are a few gaps) and then top it with a layer of IFB. Getting closer to finishing. Now I need my hubby to hop on here and give you guys the rundown on how he built the burners. Also he needs to post info on the pilot lights and safety stuff (which is the one part we spared no expense and bought new).

more arch...

A new blade and I'm off cutting arch bricks again. You can see how much the old blade was worn down when compared to the new one. 1/4" worn away. When it was wearing thin, it would catch on the bricks. I know I've said it before, but cutting all those bricks is not for the faint of heart and I can't emphasize enough the need to be super careful to keep you fingers safe around that blade!

Back to work with a much smoother cutting blade. More cutting, fitting, and more cutting...

 and more cutting...

and more cutting...

and more fitting...

Almost there but the sun set. The bricks are sitting snug and even. Going back tomorrow to do even more cutting...

Skew back bricks and arch work

So it was Easter and I had family visiting who had no interest in helping me build my kiln (no surprise there!). I also have a show in 3 weeks so my kiln building was once again on hold but getting back to it today. My wonderful hubby built my arch support out of scrap wood and scrap cardboard using the paper templates I drew up earlier.

                                     

Temporary wooden supports went up to hold the arch support in place. The rear wall continued up and the arch pieces started.

The skew back gave me some grief as my saw was too small to fit the brick for an angles cut like that. Some finagling (and help from Russ again,) and they are all set. I had to cut them into half brick before adding the correct angle.

My saw blade officially bit the dust so off to home depot for a new blade.

Iron support continues

First of all, that beer sitting on the kiln is mine not my welding hubby's. (I get to relax and watch as he welds away.) Four corners went up. We extended them higher than they need to be and will trim them down later.

We used 2" new angle iron. Next we put up side support to accept the weight and pressure of the sprung arch. Russ found used but solid c-channel (3", I think).

Pretty sure this structure will hold up just fine. Engineer husband tend to over-engineer everything. ;) A temporary bar was added at the top of the ironwork on both sides to "box" in the structure that will be removed later, after supports are added lower (Due to my haphazard planning, I didn't know exactly where those final supports should line up.)

Worked until sundown so time to quit. Now I can get moving on installing the sprung arch. Woohoo!!! Getting closer!

Silicon Carbide shelves

I picked up some silicon carbide shelves a couple weeks ago that were advertised on Potter's Attic facebook site and happen to be located just a couple hour drive away. $200 for 8 shelves in the size I need and about another 6-8 shelves worth of pieces.

I attacked the shelves with a diamond cup on an angle grinder. Yes, I wore respirator, gloves, and eye protection. Good thing I did too as I was covered in dust and grime by the time I was done. I also wore the cup down to nothing. :) But look how much prettier they look!

I also trimmed up the broken shelves with the wet tile saw which cut a beautiful straight line. (Didn't take any pics of those though.) Need to research the shelves. All I know is that they were used in a gas kiln for 10 years over 20 years ago. They have some convenient info imprinted on the ends that should help.