DISCUSS: Kiln Purchase

General
1

Over on Slack there has been an ongoing discussion about the need to buy a new kiln for the hot crafts area.

Our current kiln is not working. It will cost about $1,500 and not-a-small-amount of labor to fix. It makes more sense to just purchase a new kiln.

Next comes the question of which new kiln? Of the kilns that were considered in the slack discussion prices range from ~2,700-6,000. Different features, pros and cons, and the HIVE’s needs were discussed and we landed on an Olympic Kiln that was ordered and built for someone else and we may get a deal on: “For the DM MAS1823HE (it’s an MAS1823HE with solid electrical box with dual media element added) with solid state relays, lid safety switch and a shelf kit for that kiln would be $3555 + about $300 in shipping.”

It would basically be a combination of this: 1823HE, MAS1823HE, Electric | Olympic Kilns
and this: DM1823HE - Electric, Gas, and Glass Firing Kilns | Olympic Kilns
and include a the Genesis touch screen controller https://www.olympickilns.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-FEATURES_OF_GENESIS_V6CF_RTC1000_3KCF_ELECTRONIC_CONTROLLERS.pdf

I would like to post a vote to purchase this kiln on Tuesday, Jan 24 so discussion will close on Tuesday since there has already been extensive detailed discussion on Slack. Please explicitly state if you believe we need more time in the discussion phase for this purchase. I would like to provide an opportunity for all community members to provide relevant input and ask important questions. What do you think?

1 Like
2

Thanks for all your help in getting the ceramics part of hot crafts fully operational! This really is a thing that will take us from having the idea of ceramics at the hive, to actually doing ceramics at the hive!

3

It sounds like a lot of money, but would be worthwhile to have another functional creative outlet to make HIVE13 an even better place!

4

Is the current kiln completely non-functional? If a new one is purchased, would it be feasible to try selling the old one (even if not fully functional)?

5

At this time the old one cannot reach temperature–last time it was fired it only made it to about cone 012/011

I’m not sure about selling it…

6

The old one needs new elements as well as a few other small repairs. The main motivation here is a kiln better suited to our needs rather than because the old one is beyond repair.

I was hoping to take the old one back and use it as a base for other personal projects (the one we have was mine, I donated it when we moved, before we really had a vision for what hot crafts would be or what we would want/need)

7

If folks would rather we sell it, rather than me taking it back, that’s fine. I see similar manual kilns listed on craigslist for $300-500 regularly.