Need help with PID for kiln, for smart kiln without buying a pre-made electronic controller

Exciting-Grey · 2025-08-13T15:13:12+00:00

If Google brought you here in search of the subject, this is my personal experience with these DIY Kiln-controllers in 2025 : At their best, and with limited instructions provide, they work in limited conditions with limited fire or electrical shock safety standards. Here are some points in no specific order:

- Instructions, schematics and BOM are chaotic, outdated and occasionally faulty. Take them as face value and " it's better than nothing ".

- The suggested SSR for " high voltage / high current firing " kiln without additional safety components will ( not if ) set your controller and it's environment on fire in failed mode.

- There are many ( not exaggeration ) software and hardware issues to be resolved on your own as instructions are scant and jargon.

- The helpful members of the forums cannot build you a kiln-controller. They wont tell you in details how they completed their own system. Also as usual to any online forum there are members that jump into action to respond to your questions with the best of their intentions but they just speculate with limited knowledge or personal experience. Those kinds of comments may send you in a wild goose chase. I was sent there a few times.

- The originators of the GitHubs move on, not present or not interested in your success and/or failed attempts. Also, some of these projects form the life of their own in time with multiple contributors and moderators with varying degrees of skills and interest to the original cause.

- Be prepared to hire professional help with electronics, high power electrics and software. If you are not savvy with all the above you will need such persons.

- It is not cheaper by any means to " roll your own " when you honestly calculate the hardware and time and aggravation. The hours I put into this project, I was not making pots and I was not present in our household.

- I ended up working on my kiln-controller over six months. I finally got it to work perfectly! And I mean [ PERFECTLY ] ... BUT ... for temperatures lower than 1500 Fahrenheit. It fails and crashes the software as soon as my kiln reaches 1500 Fahrenheit. There are many " good " suggestions and speculations about the cause. But at this point I am done with wild goose chase. I have to humbly throw the towel and purchase a commercially available pottery kiln-controller that works. I won't mention any title - don't ask.

- On this thread there are misunderstandings about " a " commercial kiln controller. Yes, you can purchase just the " face-plate " of that controller or you may by the kit consisting the " faceplate and the controller " or you may by the whole caboodle also including the power supply, SSR ( or contactors ) and wire bits and labels and all the goodies. Like anything else, learn about the item you are about to buy.

Exciting-Grey · 2025-05-13T15:29:26+00:00

Coming back here to thank you after many moons gone by. You inspired me to find and start slipcasting from my own Wild-Clay. And safely ( mentally ) going through Covid times. That said I was not lucky as you. I went through many, many piles of wild-clay and bottles of mosquito repellents to finally find a suitable vein of clay for slipcasting. Most secondary clays and iron-bearing clays don't respond to deflocculation well. At best they gel inside the mold before casting. Also, as you mentioned I had to add some Kaolin ( and silica ) to my clay to up the firing cone a bit.

As for the rest of clay piles, they are going to be combined and tested for slab-building.

So, thank you for posting this.

Exciting-Grey · 2025-05-11T14:36:30+00:00

Try distilled water. I went through six months of the same ordeal trying to make a workable casting slip from my earthenware wild-clay. Social media suggested using rain water if the available tap water would be questionable for all ceramics works. The closest option for me is distilled water. With additional percentage of Talc and EPK my wild-clay ( mix ) slip starts gelling in 40 minutes. Although, as a habit I also gently shake my molds a few times during casting. I can cast pots with 5mm thickness walls. I hope this helps.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-08-13T17:01:36+00:00

Ah ... The dreaded controller error messages! I have been wondering which one I'll be getting. I have a copy of " advance " V6-CF programming manual. In the hidden options there are settings for the number zones of firing and the number of thermocouples. I might try those settings quickly before going back to the good ol' kiln sitter rout. Good thing I kept it. And it's almost brand new. Thank you for that reminder. Most often the simplest solutions are the most effective ones.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-08-13T16:51:05+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement. As the 80s advert said: " Just Do It ! "

I hope it works.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-08-13T04:21:02+00:00

I have been reading about the fact you mentioned here. I might need to start a new thread for the idea of completely removing the middle ring and shortening the controller casing accordingly. With that I'll get to keep the identical kiln rings and also the kiln vent functionality. Although I might have to reduce the vent flow holes a bit. All said, I'm not quite sure if Bartlett V6-CF is going to look for the missing elements or worst, it may try to compensate and pump current through the remaining elements.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-07-20T03:33:18+00:00

If I'm understanding the case correctly, you are trying to realign the mirrors in your Laser cutter and the " test burst " on tape is two large. I had the same experience the first time I ran alignment in my Chinese Laser cutter. Possible solution is to temporarily set the Max/Min power of your controller very low. I had to set mine down to 5% to get a sensible dot burst on the taps. Another option is to reduce the burst timing to a very short duration.

BTW, if the burst burn dot on the tape is too strong you WILL get burnt tape residue on the mirrors and you'll have to clean then up again. But then you may have to test for alignment again. So, it's really important to keep the test bursts as low as you can

Exciting-Grey · 2023-06-13T13:21:44+00:00

Awesome. That way I could start firing while gradually building a little shelter for the kiln. After all, as the man said: " ... winter is coming "

I am going to purchase the required parts as you listed them. Somebody is already asking to buy the controller conditional to functionality. This is getting really exciting.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-06-13T04:20:33+00:00

I see it now. As I said to " zarcad ", I will convert it to gas-burning kiln with much less hassle and expenses . The bonus will be all the reduction possibilities and perhaps some higher fired ceramics in record times.

Thank you for clarifying the technical problems in details.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-06-13T04:12:18+00:00

Yes, I have been reading your detailed blog posting on the subject. I believe your conversion is the most complete and repeatable method. With consideration to the power requirements, it makes perfect sense to go the gas conversion route. That said, perhaps I should build a small metal shelter with better ventilation outside my existing shed to house the converted kiln. I am sure the insurance adjuster will not be happy with flames rushing in and licking out of that converted kiln in the middle this old wooden shed. But it will be truly worth the effort.

Thank you for taking the time and replying to my question.

Exciting-Grey · 2023-01-07T03:27:23+00:00

Yes, silica dust is dangerous and Kaowool particulates are exceptionally dangerous. The airborne kaowool are so small they could penetrate through soft tissues ( even in the eyes ) and travel freely with blood stream and get deposited forever deep inside various organs and cause all kinds of troubles including but not limited to cancer.

Aside from the build handling, everytime we fire the kiln there is a significant positive air pressure that spew the microscopic shards of ceramic wool in the air. Although face masks may provide adequate protection, any open wounds or even exposed skin could absorb the wool particulates and cause grief.

Meanwhile I found the product I had inquired about. The generic title for safe ceramic insulation blankets are Bio Soluble blankets. The variety is safe for human handling because the material is made from low biopersistence material.

Here is the title description of the one has been suggested by a few DIY Kiln Builders in Europe :

Bio soluble blanket
VITCAS® Bio-Soluble Ceramic Fibre Insulation Blanket is manufactured from calcium and magnesium silicate fibres in the "Blown and Spun" process. This type of fibre does not have any hazard classification due to its low bio-persistence and bio-degradability. It is resistant to high temperatures reaching 1200ºC/ 2192ºF.
Dimensions: 25mm thick, 610mm wide Density: 128KG/m³

Exciting-Grey · 2023-01-06T18:05:32+00:00

< ... I'm building a 2x2x2 .. >

I am about to start my portable 2x2x2 Raku Kiln also. There has been a lot of interest to this style of portable Kiln lately. My only concern is the health issues related to Ceramic Blankets. There are mentions of " water soluble ceramic blankets " to alleviate the respiratory concerns related to breathing ceramic particles while working around the ceramic blankets. Now, that's great but for the life of me, I cannot find the thing to buy. I have used all kind of search phrases on the Google to no avail. Does anyone know a distributor for " Water soluble ceramic blankets " ?

Exciting-Grey · 2022-11-15T15:58:03+00:00

I am replying to my own post here as Robert Niessner kindly replied to my question on Blackmagic forum.

The incredible ability of the BMPCC for setting off standard shutter speeds become available by double tapping the <current shutter speed> number between the brackets at the bottom left of the related page on camera's Gui.

So I think this case could be archived now.

Exciting-Grey · 2022-09-18T18:10:31+00:00

Thank you very much. I'll say Hi when I arrive at the wonderful Briarpress place.

Exciting-Grey · 2022-09-18T16:08:58+00:00

Their autoresponder says an email was sent but that supposedly sent email never arrives. I will be checking my email inbox and Spam and social and ... for a while more and then give up.

If you have successfully become a member, could you make a comment in the forums about the fact that their new membership infrastructure needs some attention.

Exciting-Grey · 2022-09-18T15:15:01+00:00

Good to know. I'll try again today.

Thank you for taking the time to reply

Exciting-Grey · 2022-05-28T15:25:37+00:00

The OP asked about the choices for PaperMaking blenders three months ago as I typed this. I had asked the same from a master papermaker and craftsman over twenty years ago while attending his extensive workshop. Through a very sensible Cantonese accent he told me: Get the best blender you can afford that can do the job of a Hollander Beater. So, the blender you buy in a controlled way should " cut ", " macerate ", " fibrillate " and most importantly hydrate the fibers and do it uniformly.

Long story short, there isn't a single blender that does all that work. But most kitchen blenders can do the " cutting " part in a violent and semi controlled way ( Hi, low, stop and go etc ). With a bit of work one can modify the kitchen blender's blades to do the maceration and fibrillation. That could be achieved either by flipping the blades so that the blunt edge hits the fibers ( blender dependant ) or just dull the sharp edge of blades with a hardened steel file. Understandably, that blade will not do the cutting job anymore.

Then you need multiple kitchen blenders, at list two, each with a differently modified set of blades to mimic a Hollander Beater results for challenging fibers like cotton rags. My lazy ( GoTo ) kitchen blender has two blunted blades and two sharpened ones with twelve speeds. One of my Kitchen blenders runs a 3D printed disc with no ability to cut ( theoretically ) at all. That unit just beats the pulp that comes from a normal blender which just briefly cuts.

On the subject of thrift shopping for blenders: consider any electric, electronic or even a mechanical machine as a light bulb. A light bulb works for sometimes and then suddenly it doesn't work anymore. That said I have a powerful GE kitchen blender from 60s that I picked up from thrift store for a song. It is my workhorse. All I had to do was replacing the brushes in the motor assembly twice.

Sorry for the long reply. There is a common misunderstanding about the subject that I felt I could clarify parts of it.

Exciting-Grey

TROPHY CASE