Keep the kiln lid or door closed when the kiln is not in use.
3
Contents
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Safety Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Safety first. Quick habits for trou-
ble-free firing.
Chapter 1 Basic Pointers . . . . . . . 5
A quick read of this chapter will
save you time later.
Time and Temperature Displays . . . . 5
Operation Begins from
the IDLE Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Thermocouple Inspection . . . . . . . . . 5
How to Scroll Numbers Rapidly . . . . 5
Program Review & Repeat Firing . . . 5
Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The LID Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Power Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
CPLT Message: Firing Completed . . 6
Hot and Cold Weather;
Storage Sheds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Thunder Storms and Power Surges . 7
Canceling a New Program . . . . . . . . 7
Two Firing Modes:
Cone-Fire and Ramp-Hold . . . . . . . . 7
Preventing an Overfire . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
How to Disable the Audible Alarm . . 7
Chapter 2 Cone-Fire . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Learn quick ceramic firing.
Pyrometric Cones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Firing Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How to Interpret the Bending
of a Pyrometric Cone. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How to Correct for
Under- or Over-Fired Cones . . . . . . . 9
Cone-Fire Programming
Instructions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Firing Speed [SPD] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Hold at Cone Temperature [HOLD] 10
Slow Cooling [COOL] . . . . . . . . . . . 11
How to Customize Cone-Fire . . . . . 11
For Kilns with the AOP Outlet . . . . . 11
Chapter 3 Ramp-Hold . . . . . . . . . 12
Read this section for non-ceramic
firings and customized ceramic
firings.
Theory of Ramp-Hold Operation . . . 12
How to Store Programs . . . . . . . . . . 12
Ramp-Hold Rate: 3 Types
Rate as Degrees Per Hour . . . . . . 13
Rate as Degrees Per Minute. . . . . 14
Rate as Time Needed to Reach
the Target Temperature . . . . . . . . 14
Ramp-Hold Programming
Instructions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Hold (HD ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Temperature Overshoot . . . . . . . . . 14
AOP: Turn on a Fan or Alarm . . . . . 14
Programming a Cooling Segment . 14
A Ramp-Hold Practice Program . . . 15
Chapter 4 Customize Your
Controller with Options . . . . . . . 15
Become a power user. The infor-
mation is here if you ever need it.
How to Edit a Program
During a Firing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Skip to the Next Segment . . . . . . 16
Change Hold Time . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Change Target Temperature . . . . 16
Cone-Fire Options
OFST
/ Cone Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Interpreting Cone Bending to
Set a Cone Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
When Cone Temperature
Is Off More Than 20°F/11°C . . . . . 17
COOL
/ Slow Cooling for Glazes . . 17
General Options
DELA
/ Delay the Firing for Later . . 17
TC
/ Choose Thermocouple Type . 18
ALAR
/ Temperature Alarm. . . . . . . 18
Setting the Alarm From IDLE . . . . 18
Setting the Alarm During a Firing . 18
DIAG
(Diagnostics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Check the Amperage
Test the Relays and AOP1 Outlet
F/C
/ Select °F or °C
Temperature Display . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
°F/°C Temperature
Conversion Formulas
LIM
/ Set a Maximum
Temperature for Your Kiln . . . . . . . . 19
COST
/ View the Electrical
Cost of a Firing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
TCOS
/ Thermocouple Offset . . . . . 20
TEDE
/ Temperature Deviation . . . . 20
HTDE
/ Adjust High
Temperature Deviation . . . . . . . . . . 21
LOCK
/ Program Lock . . . . . . . . . . 21
How to Activate the Lock Option . 21
How to Lock Individual Programs 22
AOP1
/ Auxiliary Output . . . . . . . . . 22
ELEC
/ Electronics Temperature . . 22
RATE
/ Select Preferred
Type of Ramp-Hold Rate . . . . . . . . . 22
CENT
/ Enter Cost Per Kilowatt-Hour
from Your Electric Bill
(for Firing Cost) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
KW
/ Kilowatts of Your Kiln
(Needed to Calculate Firing Cost). . 23
SFTY
/ Maximum Temperature . . . . 24
SOFT
/ Software Version. . . . . . . . . 24
CFG
/ Configuration Code . . . . . . . 24
RST
/ Reset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 5 Error Messages . . . . . 25
Error messages are like the heart
rate monitor on a digital watch.
They let you know when some-
thing is wrong.
Non-Interrupting Error Messages
FTC
/ Failed to Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
FTH
/ Failed to Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
LTDE
/ Low Temperature Deviation 25
PF
/ Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Terminating Error Messages
- - - -
/ No Thermocouple . . . . . . . . 25
BADP
/ Bad Programming . . . . . . . 25
ETH
/ Electronics Too Hot . . . . . . . 25
FAIL
/ Thermocouple Failure . . . . . 25
FE 1
/ Failed to Read/Write
To Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
FE 4
/ Unstable Analog-to-Digital Con-
version; Errors Detecting
Thermocouple Signal . . . . . . . . . . . 26
FTL
/ Firing Too Long . . . . . . . . . . . 26
HTDE
/ High Temperature
Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
LAG
/ Thermocouple Lag . . . . . . . . 26
LID
/ Safety Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
OTL
/ Over Temperature Limit . . . . 27
PF1
/ Power Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
PF 2
/ Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
PF 3
/ Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
TC 2
/ Thermocouple Failure . . . . . 27
TCR
/ Thermocouple Leads
Reversed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Basic Power Failure Principles . . . . 27
Using Ceramic Witness Cones
After an Extended
Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Display Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Preset Cone-Fire Programs . . . . 30
Orton Cone Temperature Chart . 31
Ramp-Hold Firing Records . . . . 33
Make copies. Keep a log book of
your firings. Build a knowledge
base.
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Ramp-Hold
Shorthand Instructions . . . . . . . 35
Cone-Fire
Shorthand Instructions . . . . . . . 36
