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My kiln building projects are probable my most challenging task I've taken on to date. As you can tell on the other pages in my site I have an infinity for ceramics and having the ability to do it at home makes it a must do project. So, I decided to track down some old electric kilns and convert them to gas/ propane. My search started on the Internet at craigslist.org where I finally found the two pictured at left.

I purchased the two kilns for $200 and I was on my way! Both kiln were in working condition but electrical costs are way too much and that's not what I bought them for so I had my work cut out for me. Thanks to the postings of Simon Leach and others through You Tube I found myself saying hey I can do that!

1) The first thing I had to do was gut them, which by the way was somewhat difficult considering the elements are placed inside a channel and then held in with pins. The easiest way to get the filaments out is to take off the front panels and disconnect them from the filaments. Once this is completed take the pins holding the filaments in and pull them out with a pair of needle nose pliers. Then grab the element with the pliers and gently pull on the filament wiggling it at the same time. It should slip out fairly easily.

Be sure you wear a mask while doing any kind of ceramic work where dust from materials are possible of being inhaled, some materials are very toxic. After removing the filaments and the electronics you'll need to plug all the non-essential wholes with some type of mortar. I will be using Thermal Ceramics K-Bond mortar. It's basically just like any other mortar but is formulated to hold at high firing temps. Once I plug the holes with the mortar and set the bricks on the interior and install the chimney I will have to fire the kiln to set the mortar.  I went through though before I started this phase a decided what exactly I was going to do or accomplish. From the picture below you can see some of my other talents at work, yes i was a CADD operator at one time and still manage to get it in whenever I can. It seemed to make this project a little easier to comprehend when I could see what I wanted to do.

This made counting up materials and making my ordering list quiet precise. It also allows me to pinch pennies and keep cost to a minimum. So with my blueprint in hand and an exact count of what I needed I've started to buy things as I could afford them. My next objective was to find a place where I could buy exactly what I needed at a fair price and being in the southern California valley my best bet was right over the grapevine into Los Angeles county. This is where I found Laguna Clay, which I later learned was a major provider of all types of ceramic products to just about everywhere in so cal and the Midwest! So, I was off to pick up my supplies. Oh, before I forget they have whats called a roll call pick up service if you plan on picking up your stuff, order over the Internet and then you just back in and they load it! They also deliver but clay is kind of heavy so... I'll leave that up to your pocket book. As you can see from the pictures below I have everything that they could provide me with which was just about everything on my list. Here's what I got -

 
♦ 4 - 10" x 20" x 1" Cordierite Kiln Shelves (Cone 10)
♦ 2 - 12" x 24" x 1" Cordierite Kiln Shelves (Cone 10)
♦ 1 - Bucket Thermal Ceramic K-55 Bond Mortar
♦ 16 - 8" Kiln Shelf Stands
♦ 4 Boxes B-Mix 5 Moist Clay
♦ 36 - 2" x 4" x 9" Bricks Soft K-23
♦ 1 Dozen tri-point stilts
 

As you can tell I edited the site and have added the foundation section below, we must keep moving forward or you get tagged a stuck in the mud!

Laying a Level Foundation - As you can see in the pictures posted in the small gallery below I have laid a sturdy, perfectly level foundation for my kiln to sit on. But, in order to do that I had to do some searching on the Internet to find the best way to achieve this. After looking for a while I found self leveling cement which is used to make already poured foundations level on the top! I watched a few videos and decided I could do that and as you can see it was simple and a success. The first step was to build a frame so the concrete would run to far. This concrete has no agragate in it just the base concrete mixture so it runs into all the imperfections to fill them in. After building the frame I took an extra precaution and attached drop cloth plastic to the bottom and wrapped it up and around the frame then stapled it in place. This prevented the concrete from seeping under the frame where it's not level to the concrete. Then I mixed the concrete as per the instructions on the package in a 5 gallon bucket with my glaze mixing attachment. It made it very easy to reach the consistancy you need. I thne poured the concrete into the frame and stepped back to watch. It was as easy as that and as you can see from the pictures It came out perfectly level.

I've also added pictures of the test fitting in the gallery - (see video on youtube)

Building Chimney - I've completed the chimney on my kiln and have only one thing left to do, fire it up! In the pictures below and above you can see how I test fitted everything first then I got confortable with what I wanted to accomplish and went to town. This is something I had never done before so I was in virgin territory. The video I posted on youtube is a little short but I tried to show how to spread the mortar and stack the bricks. I know it looks a little messy but I wanted to make sure I had all the cracks sealed. The mortar used is specially made for fire brick and liquifies then solidifies in the first firing. All I have left to do is seal the small holes that allowed the fillament wire to go through the kiln wall and purchase the 100lb propane tank and propane!

I've added video also for the actual building - (see video on youtube), for now I'm in a holding pattern till I get the above mentioned tank and propane so until then have a great day!