Hi everyone,
If you’re in the UK hope you’ve been enjoying the unusually sunny weather!
Does anyone know how or if it’s possible to repair a crack in the wall of a jewellery kiln? I am still on the hunt for a second hand kiln on eBay and the one I’ve found has quite a crack in it but is within my very meagre student price range! I will attach a photo. (It is in working order and the brand is Efco)
Looks like a fiber muffle. You can fix by scraping some of the fiber from a better area and creating a paste using that and Sodium Silicate. It’s how I have fixed my Neycraft kiln (they even give you a kit of this stuff).
I have had a few of those fiber muffle kilns over a decade or so and all have developed cracks like that (on various walls and the floor). I have not ever done anything about them and they have had no influence on the success of the use of the kiln. Can’t see any harm in fixing it either, but if you don’t, it doesn’t seem to be a big deal in my experience. I use my kilns for enameling, glass fusing (sometimes at high temps for hours), and firing all kinds of metal clay (1650F for 2 hours and sometime 1830F for an hour).
A.P. Green has a product called Greenpatch which is a refractory mortar patching compound. You can get it at most Industrial Supply houses.
If you have a ceramic supplier locally, they may be able to offer some suggestions. You might be able to use kiln wash to fill it.
A ceramic supply place should have small containers of refractory cement for that task.
Ron Charlotte
Gainesville, FL
