Neycraft 115v kiln problem

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello Folks,

I am getting back into working with PMC and using my kiln. I’ve had
the kiln for many years, but have not used it a whole lot. I most
recently, about 4-6 months ago, used it to fire a standard PMC ring
and had no problems. Now that I have gotten back to working with PMC,
I’ve done three projects and for some reason all three have melted.

First try: I had two pieces (using pretty old standard PMC)
designed, formed, sanded, etc. and due to not having used the kiln
for this purpose in a long time, I didn’t put them on the kiln tile.
I placed both on a wire rack/tray that I’ve used in the past for
copper enameling. I made sure the kiln held the same temp before
putting them in and 2 ours later I opened the door to find two
puddles of silver.

Second try: I remade one of the pieces (using newer standard PMC).
This time I made sure I placed it on a kiln shelf that sat on spacers
inside the kiln (like I did for the ring). However, I took one of the
spacers and placed it on the kiln tile and placed the piece on that
so as not to have the bale on the backside slump. Because of what
happened the first time, I opened the kiln after an hour and again
there was a puddle of silver.

What am I doing wrong? I’ve followed the correct temperature given
in the charts (1650 for two hours) so that isn’t the problem.

Any ideas of what is wrong? Would placing it on top of the spacer
make the difference? Do those spacers get hotter than the kiln tile?
That’s the only thing I can think of that might be the problem. If
it’s the kiln itself, how would I be able to tell if it’s defective?
If defective, where would I find a place to repair it? I tried
looking on-line, but didn’t find the “J.M. Ney Co.”, which is the
name on the kiln. It’s a model 2000, 115v and still looks practically
like new.

Hoping for some answers.

Mary
mbydesign

2

What am I doing wrong? I’ve followed the correct temperature givenin
the charts (1650 for two hours) so that isn’t the problem. It sounds
as if your pyrometer is not reading right. There are some small blue
and pink temperature check tablets available from Rio G. that melt at
specified temps and you can check your pyrometer calibration with
those before attempting to fire again.

Donna in VA

3

Mary, my guess is that your kiln pyrometer is not registering the
correct temperature and that it is overheating. One of my kilns, a
Satellite burn-out kiln which I also use for enameling small pieces
when I don’t want to heat up my big Vcella, did the same thing

I put some cloisonne enamel pieces in the Satellite, at the same
temperature I usually fire them (around 1450 degrees). Fired them
the usual 1 or 2 minutes (same time as always), opened the kiln and
they were badly burned–fine silver wires had just melted into the
enamel. Kiln was white hot.

Did some testing with nothing in it. Set it for 1200, and it still
got white hot.

Finally called the repair man and had to have a new thermocouple and
pyrometer installed.

I believe you can test the temperature with some of the cones that
potters use.

Alma

4

I’m having kiln troubles too. It sounds like a bad thermocouple. I
found one at Otto Frei under ‘NeyCraft’:
http://www.ottofrei.com/store/home.php?cat=1921

Good luck!
Kim