Building an Electric Kiln

This set of pages diarizes the construction of my kiln. I fire to cone 6 oxidation and use an electric kiln to do so. My previous kiln is a very old cone 1 Olympic, it is also very small, around 3 cubic feet. It definitely needs to be replaced, for efficiency reasons. It can barely reach cone 6.

Hobby type electric kilns like this are not complicated pieces of equipment. There seems to be a pervasive attitude that you should not build electric kilns. People believe one should buy electric, and build fuel. I don't think this makes a lot of sense. (Though in an institutional setting you may prefer buying simply for liability reasons.) There are three good reasons to build your own kiln, cost, quality and knowledge. The third reason motivates, I want to have confidence in knowing how it works to help me in repairs. Cost and quality are kind of the same reason, you can build a much better kiln for half the cost than you can buy. Why shouldn't you build one? The only good reason I can think of is liability.

So, follow the links below to follow my progress building a 5.6 c.f. 37.5 amp polygonal top-loading electric kiln.

Designing The Kiln
Cutting The Mitered Bricks
Grinding the Cold Face
Roughing Out The Floor
Grooving the Hot Side
Electrical Update
The Floor Saga
Setting Up The Base
Assembly In The Studio
Ceiling and Riveting
The Electrical Box
Elements
Pyrometer and Peephole
The Ceiling Slab
Connection
Trimming The Ceiling
Rounding The Lid
The Hinge
Element Oxidizing
First Firing