3
Contents

Basic Pointers . . . . . . . . . . 4

Which Instructions
Apply to Your Controller . . . . . . . . . . 4
Room Temperature and Humidity. . . 4
Thunder Storms and Power Surges . 4
Display Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
How to Get IdLE to Display. . . . . . . . 5
Firing Completion Message . . . . . . . 5
Repeat Firings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Thermocouple Inspection. . . . . . . . . 5
The “LId” Display. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Correcting Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1 / Cone Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 / Add Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 / Delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4 / Ramp Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5 / Present Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6 / Program Review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7 / Alarm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
9 / Cone Numbers & Skip Segment . 7
Enter/Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Options Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Stop/Back Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Cone-Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Standard Schedules
Low Fire Cones 022 - 011. . . . . . . .9
Middle Fire Cones 010 - 01 . . . . . . 9
High Fire Cones 1 - 10 . . . . . . . . . . 9
Speed (SPd) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Pre-Heat (PRHT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Hold (HOLd) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Cone-Fire Programming . . . . . . . . . 10
Slow Cooling (COOL) . . . . . . . . . . . 11
When the Kiln Shuts Off Too Soon. 11
For Kilns with AOP Outlet . . . . . . . . 11

Ramp-Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Definition of a Segment. . . . . . . . . . 12
Ramp-Hold Programming. . . . . . . . 13
User Programs (USER). . . . . . . . . . 13
Firing a Stored User Program. . . . . 14
Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Hold (HOLd) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
AOP Fan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Segments for Controlled Cooling . . 14
Sample Firing Schedules . . . . . . . . 14
Cone-Fire Program Fired in
Ramp-Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Sculptured Stoneware Bisque
Firing Schedule, Cone 04. . . . . . . 14
Glass Fusing Firing Schedule . . . 15
Glass Slumping Firing Schedule . 15
Starting a Firing in a Hot Kiln. . . . . . 15
When the Kiln Shuts Off Too Soon. 15

Multiple Zone Kilns . . . . . 16

An Overview of Multiple
Zone Firing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Viewing Zone Temperatures. . . . . . 16
Two Zone Kilns: Adjust Heat in
Center Section (CAdJ). . . . . . . . . . . 16
Thermocouple Failure
In a Multiple Zone Kiln. . . . . . . . . . . 16
Power Output Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Testing Multiple Zone Elements . . . 16

Options: Cone-Fire. . . . . . 17

Cone-Fire Speed (Spd). . . . . . . . . . 17
Cone Offset (OFST). . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Interpreting Cone Bending. . . . . . 18
When Cone Temperature
Is Off More Than 20°F/11°C . . . . . 18
Fan (FAN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Options: General . . . . . . . 18

Thermocouple Offset (TCOS). . . . . 18
Thermocouple Offset for
Ceramic Firings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Calibrating Thermocouple Offset
With a Digital Pyrometer. . . . . . . . 19
Setting Thermocouple Offset. . . . 19
Multiple Zone
Thermocouple Offset . . . . . . . . . . 19
Selecting °F or °C (CHG-) . . . . . . . . 19
°F/°C Temperature
Conversion Formula. . . . . . . . . . . 19
Thermocouple Type (TC) . . . . . . . . 19
AOP Outlet (AOP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Computer ID (ID). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Temperature Deviation (TEDE). . . . 20
Maximum Temperature (SFTY). . . . 20
Electronics Temperture (ELEC). . . .20
Program Lock (LOCK). . . . . . . . . . . 20
Configuration Code (CFG) . . . . . . . 21
Software Version (SOFT). . . . . . . . . 21
Element Test (TEST). . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Reset (RST) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Options: Multiple Zone . . 21

Zone Temperature
Difference (DIFF). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Two Zone Kilns: Adjust Heat in
Center Section (CAdJ). . . . . . . . . . . 21
Zone Temperatures (T123). . . . . . . 21

Error Messages . . . . . . . . 22

FTC / Failed to Cool. . . . . . . . . . . . .22
FTH / Failed to Heat. . . . . . . . . . . . .22
LTdE / Low Temperature
Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
PF / Power Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
BAdP / Bad Programming. . . . . . . . 22
ETH / Electronics Too Hot. . . . . . . . 22
FAIL / Thermocouple Failure. . . . . . 22
FTL / Firing Too Long . . . . . . . . . . . 22
HTdE / High Temperature
Deviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
PF 2 / Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
PF 3 / Power Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
How the Sentry
Handles Power Failures. . . . . . . . . .23
Using Ceramic Witness Cones
After an Extended Power Failure . 23
PLOG Error Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
TCdE / Uneven Multiple
Zone Temperatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
TCR / Thermocouple
Leads Reversed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Appendix A

Display Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Appendix B

Standard Cone-Fire Schedules. . . . 26

Appendix C

Upgrading the DTC 100, 600, 800 &
1000 to the Sentry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Appendix D

Orton Pyrometric Cone
Temperature Equivalents . . . . . . . . 30

Appendix E

Ramp-Hold Shorthand . . . . . . . . . . 31

Appendix F

Cone-Fire Shorthand. . . . . . . . . . . . 32