Mirror Test
Thistest will help you de-
terminehow much Pre-Heat
to use. Occasionally during
Pre-Heat,hold a mirror near
thetop peephole. (Be careful
to avoid burns.) The mirror
must be at room tempera-
ture, not hot, so hold it near
thepeephole for only several
seconds.
If the mirror fogs, mois-
tureis still escaping from the
ware.When the mirror no longer fogs, you can exit Pre-Heat
and begin the firing.
To interrupt Pre-Heat and begin firing to the cone in
Cone-Fire,press 9(Skip Segment). SKIP ,alternating with
1,will appear. Press ENTER. Segment 1 of the firing will
now begin. (See Cone-Fire firing schedules, page 9.)
Note: Ifyou are using a vent fan, such as the Orton
KilnVent,turn the fan on during Pre-Heat. The fan
will help to remove moisture. (AOP Fan users: see
the Fan option, page 18.)
How to Use Pre-Heat When Kiln is Above
200°F/93°C at Beginning of Firing
If you begin firing with Pre-Heat in a kiln that is already
hotter than Pre-Heat temperature, the kiln will skip
Pre-Heatand begin firing to the cone. There are two ways to
use Pre-Heat in this situation:
IWaituntil the kiln cools below 200°F before starting the
firing. This is the preferred method.
ILoad the kiln and start the firing, but include enough
time in Delay for the kiln to cool below 200°F before
Pre-Heat begins.
Hold (HOLd)
Cone-FireHold heat-soaks the ware at the cone tempera-
tureat the end of the firing. Without Hold, the kiln shuts off
after it reaches the cone temperature. Hold maintains the
conetemperature for the period you specify. Hold helps even
out the temperature throughout the kiln. It also helps the
heat to penetrate completely into the clay. (Rapid firing is
like cooking: the turkey will be done on the outside but not
onthe inside.) Hold helps glaze absorb china paint. It helps
toheal glaze defects such as bubbles. A little hold time can
yield dramatic results.
CAUTION: Toomuch hold time can overfire your
ware and burn out colors.
Oneway to add Hold time without over-firing is to fire to
onecone cooler than needed. Then add enough hold time to
bend the next hotter cone. Hold time needed to bend the
next cone will vary. As a rule of thumb, 45 - 60 minutes of
hold = one cone of heat work.
Example:to fire to cone 05, program Cone-Fire for 06
and add 45-60 minutes of hold time.
10
Cone-Fire Programming
Use these instructions for your first firings. Later
you may prefer “Cone-Fire Shorthand Pro-
gramming,” page 32.
As the Sentry prompts for cone, speed, pre-heat,
hold,and slow cooling, values entered for the last firing
will appear. To use these values again, pressENTER.
To fire without Delay or Alarm: Follow steps 1
through 7 below. Then from IdLE pressSTART.To
use Delay or Alarm, see also page 6.
1Apply power to the kiln. 8888 then IdLE
will appear. (Press ENTER if IdLE does not
appear.)
2Press1.CONE will appear. Enter cone num-
ber.(If the 1key does not respond, your con-
troller uses Ramp-Hold only.)
3PressENTER.SPd will appear. Enter speed:
FAST (1),MEDIUM (2), SLOW (3). (Me-
dium speed will display as Std.)
4Press ENTER.PRHT will appear. To use
Pre-Heat, enter time. Otherwise enter 0.
5PressENTER.HOLd will appear. To soak the
ware at the end of firing, enter a hold time.
Otherwise enter 0.
6Press ENTER.COOL will appear. To use
Slow Cooling, enter cooling rate as degrees
per hour. (180°F/82°C is maximum rate.
Press0to turn Slow Cooling off.)
7PressENTER.IdLE will appear.
8 To set Alarm: Press 7.ALAR will appear. En-
teralarm temperature. (Press 0to turn alarm
off.) Then pressENTER.
9 To set Delay: Press 3.dELA will appear. En-
ter delay time. Press ENTER. (Delay zeroes
out after each firing.)
10 To start program, press ENTER once.
STRT will appear, then temperature. If
Delay was programmed, DELA willappear,
then time remaining until start. To stop the
program during firing, pressSTOP.
Whenprogram fires to completion, CPLT will ap-
pear.Press ENTER.IdLE will appear. To shut off the
alarm when it sounds during a firing, pressENTER.
Vent the kiln until moisture no lon-
ger fogs a mirror.