Need Help Programming AIM Kiln Orton Controller

[vickgould]

I hope this is the right place to post this thread......

I bought and AIM kiln with an Orton digital Controller in January. Michigan weather and pure fear has kept me from plugging it in and using it. I'm determined to get it going (hopefully tomorrow, Tuesday). I got the program I wanted to do from this forum. I'm apparently not good at using the printed instructions because they don't make sense to me. I need something that says, "First press the Program button", "Then ....." Is there something somewhere for that?

This is what I want to do:
Batch annealing
0-970 over 3 hours, hold 30 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 880, hold 15 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 780, hold 15 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 680, hold 15 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 580, hold 15 min
then turn off.

If someone could help me, I would be most greatful!!

Vickie

www.victoriasgould.com

[squid]

Do you have the 3 button controller?

[Dennis Brady]

I hope this is the right place to post this thread......

I bought and AIM kiln with an Orton digital Controller in January. Michigan weather and pure fear has kept me from plugging it in and using it. I'm determined to get it going (hopefully tomorrow, Tuesday). I got the program I wanted to do from this forum. I'm apparently not good at using the printed instructions because they don't make sense to me. I need something that says, "First press the Program button", "Then ....." Is there something somewhere for that?

This is what I want to do:
Batch annealing
0-970 over 3 hours, hold 30 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 880, hold 15 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 780, hold 15 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 680, hold 15 min
rampdown over 1 hr to 580, hold 15 min
then turn off.

If someone could help me, I would be most greatful!!

Vickie

www.victoriasgould.com

Here's a video clip demonstrating how to program the Bartlett 3 key.
The Orton programs exactly the same way (just the buttons have different names).
http://www.glasscampus.com/tutorials/videos/programming_bartlett_3key_controller.wmv

[vickgould]

Yes, I have a 3 button. Dennis just gave me a great video -- hopefully I can figure it out. Wasn't too clear on the rampdown -- how it knows that's what I want to do.

Vickie

[vickgould]

Great video -- Thanks. Hopefully I can figure it out now. I'm still scared though because my kiln is not 12 " from the garage wall. The wooden bench it's on is not that wide. Hopefully I don't burn the house down today.
Vickie

[Dennis Brady]

Great video -- Thanks. Hopefully I can figure it out now. I'm still scared though because my kiln is not 12 " from the garage wall. The wooden bench it's on is not that wide. Hopefully I don't burn the house down today.
Vickie

The 12" spacing is a safety recommendation and is by most users considered a good idea but a bit excessive. Even at highest temperature, there is very little heat coming off a kiln unless you touch it directly. Personally, I would feel safe having it slightly closer, but for liability purposes would never recommend it. Other then moving the bench away from the wall, I suggest two possible solutions to having it closer but still maintaining high safety standards.

1. Get a piece of fire protective board (Home Depot sells it) and it screw to the wall behind the kiln.

2. Place a sheet of galvanized sheet metal half way between the kiln and the wall. This is an extremely effective and inexpensive way to reduce heat transference. Heat will travel through the kiln but when it travels through the air outside the kiln, it's reduced by about 50%. Try putting your hand just an inch away from the kiln and see what difference there is. Then, when the heat travels through the sheet metal baffle, it's again reduced by about 50%. Then, when it leaves the metal and travels through the air behind the metal, it's again reduced by about 50%. If you put your hand against a hot kiln you'll feel that it's transferring a lot of heat to your hand but, with such a metal baffle, the heat that contacts the wall behind the kiln is only about 12.5% of that originally leaving the kiln.

[squid]

You can get small pieces of Hardiboard at Home Depot/Lowes and attach a small piece of that to the wall. Easy Peasy

[vickgould]

Thanks for the info - and all the hints. Now I have another question --- If I'm making beads and putting the mandrels immediately into the kiln and I can't put my beads directly on the floor of the kiln, what do you do?

Vickie

www.victoriasgould.com

[Otter's Flame]

1. Get a piece of fire protective board (Home Depot sells it) and it screw to the wall behind the kiln.

2. Place a sheet of galvanized sheet metal half way between the kiln and the wall. This is an extremely effective and inexpensive way to reduce heat transference. Heat will travel through the kiln but when it travels through the air outside the kiln, it's reduced by about 50%. Try putting your hand just an inch away from the kiln and see what difference there is. Then, when the heat travels through the sheet metal baffle, it's again reduced by about 50%. Then, when it leaves the metal and travels through the air behind the metal, it's again reduced by about 50%. If you put your hand against a hot kiln you'll feel that it's transferring a lot of heat to your hand but, with such a metal baffle, the heat that contacts the wall behind the kiln is only about 12.5% of that originally leaving the kiln.

With all that heat loss I thought perhaps it would be snowing behind the metal baffle Dennis! lol

Off topic here sort of but I actually did an experiment to test heat transference for a solar cooker box panel. I made flat panels that consisted of a 2 flat sheets of cardboard sandwiching about 3/4 of an inch of cardboard honeycomb type matrix. This was encased by aluminum foil. I used my kiln as a heat source since it was running at the time. I was amazed at how virtually no heat transferred through the panels once the heat left the kiln, traveled through two inches of air space and then the cardboard test panel.

Of course I don't have this material near my kiln or any other high heat source but the kiln test was pretty impressive.

Otter

[Dennis Brady]

Thanks for the info - and all the hints. Now I have another question --- If I'm making beads and putting the mandrels immediately into the kiln and I can't put my beads directly on the floor of the kiln, what do you do?

Vickie

www.victoriasgould.com

If the beads have cooled below slump temperature, you CAN put them on the kiln floor. If you prefer to put them in hotter, there's a variety of supports available.

[Dennis Brady]

With all that heat loss I thought perhaps it would be snowing behind the metal baffle Dennis! lol

Off topic here sort of but I actually did an experiment to test heat transference for a solar cooker box panel. I made flat panels that consisted of a 2 flat sheets of cardboard sandwiching about 3/4 of an inch of cardboard honeycomb type matrix. This was encased by aluminum foil. I used my kiln as a heat source since it was running at the time. I was amazed at how virtually no heat transferred through the panels once the heat left the kiln, traveled through two inches of air space and then the cardboard test panel.

Of course I don't have this material near my kiln or any other high heat source but the kiln test was pretty impressive.

Otter

Any material that contains pockets of air will act as an insulator to prevent heat transference. Heat will travel through air and travel through solid materials but it loses intensity whenever it transfers between air and solid. The more transfers it has to make, the less heat travels through. That's exactly how kiln brick works. It has lots of air pockets trapped inside. The more air that's trapped in a material, the better it acts as an insulator.

I have a friend playing with using the concept of a a heat exchanger to convert the heat from a kiln into air conditioning. It works, but may not be sufficiently cost effective to justify a commercial application. The problem? Not enough heat coming from the kiln exterior.