Salt Bath 709 / 718 / 818
Installation and Operating Manual
North American Model
June 2019
Page
26
of
36
Solid State
The salt bath kilns are standard equipped with our Quiet Drive Solid State relay system. The salt bath process can be a lengthy process with a whole lot of on-and-off
action controlling the heating elements. Hard-contact, mechanical relays tend to fail early under these circumstances, and always at the wrong time. The solid state
relays have no moving parts and are expected to last the life of the kiln.
Solid state also offers the benefit of tighter temperature control as they can be switched on and off very, very quickly. Hard-contact relays, on the other hand, tend to
be limited to one on-off cycle every ten seconds or so. It’s a major improvement in performance and reliability.
Lastly, our solid state relays will only turn on and off when the AC voltage is at 0V. While this is designed to help keep the solid state relay running cool it offers a
specific benefit to heating element life. Heating elements love to be turned on and off at 0V and they show that love by offering greater life!
Replaceable Drip Shields
Pulling work-pieces from the molten salt inevitably will bring along some molten salts with it, called dragout. Our salt bath kilns are equipped with replaceable drip
shields designed to protect both the firebrick lid, control panel and TAP control.
Swing View
The TAP temperature control is fitted within our Swing-View control enclosure. The Swing-View allows for swiveling between a comfortable programming and use
angle to a vertical position well suited for viewing at a distance across the shop.
We recommend placing the TAP control at the vertical position when running the salt bath. This puts the TAP and its touchscreen, safely under the control panel drip
shield.
Lid Design
The design of the salt bath kilns requires a hole be placed in the lid to allow access to the salt pot. We offer lids with a variety of hole diameters for this purpose.
We do offer a lid with “no hole”. We expect individuals to fabricate their own salt pots (please see end of manual for specs). In these cases the “no hole” lid allows
the user to create the hole to fit their salt pot. The lid’s firebrick material is easily cut and shaped with simple tools like hacksaw blades and sandpaper. If you do cut
your lid to fit your pot wear respiratory protection and clean up with a HEPA filtered vacuum.
3” Brick
Our salt bath kilns are built using premium Thermal-Ceramics K-23, 3” firebrick. This particular brick is a thicker version of the standard and offers excellent thermal
properties. We use this firebrick in all of our “high-fire” designs including our KO Series of heat treat ovens. Thermal-Ceramics firebrick is made in the USA from some
very special Georgia ground. It’s the best firebrick available.
Chamber and Floor Easily Replaced
We’ve designed the chamber of the salt bath kilns to be easily disassembled. As much as we never want to see it happen damage to your chamber can occur,
particularly with a salt pot that has “sprung a leak”. Each section of the chamber and floor is secured to each other through the use of stainless plates.
