final tweaks and we're hot

A quick update for those that do not follow on facebook as to the tweaking of the kiln.

First...I took apart my door and car bed so that we could lift it up (way heavy) to get the rails in. Also, I could rebuild the door with the car in place to make sure and have a tight seal where before it was losing way too much heat around the front and also not reducing well in that area because too much air was getting sucked in during the firing.

I bought 1/2" angle iron for the rails and rolled the car up on it so that it fit well. I then welded the rails together with strap steel so that they would be parallel ( I seem to have a problem with parallel). Leif drilled holes through the strap and rotohammered into the concrete so that we could drop bolts through the straps and hold the rails in place.

I rebuilt the bed much tighter to the walls and then the door. raw fingertips because apparently I am also allergic to gloves :). and those bricks are rough. The door fits mucho bettero now. Before, I was stuffing the obvious leaks with kaowool...not so good.

During this time, the new retention tips arrived and were easily attached to the burners with a 2" coupler. This lengthened the burners substantially and is where the difficult (perceived) task came about. The plumbing (black pipe) had to be completely taken apart and revised to that the burners sat properly at the ports. We paid the plumbers 1000 dollars for the initial work and I was not in the mood to have them back so we tackled it ourselves.

Getting everything unscrewed was the toughest part. Leif and I and 2 pipe wrenches and a bucket of sweat got the job done. .then off to the hardware store for me and back to the lookout for Leif. I got my pipe and pipe dope (to seal not to smoke) and put her all back together. (not hard at all). Called the propane company ( the woman was NOT psyched that i did it myself) and had them fill the tank and test for leaks. A-OK was the word...(visualize the heidi happy dance).

I finally got the load glazed and she's off and running as I type. crap....I just realized that I am sans kiln god/goddess for this firing. better get on that...i really don't need to piss off that crowd.

enjoy.