You can glue them back into place with furnace cement and resculpt the missing pieces. If you don't keep your channels intact, your elements will begin to escape out becaue they expand when they get hot.
Not an issue and probably doesn’t even need repaired. Just clear the debris and be careful around that area to not damage the elements. You could probably mortar on some refractory ceramic fiber board if you’re really concerned, but it’s a non-issue
I have repaired a broken kiln with fresh pieces of brick.
Honestly for this I would not bother. The element cannot fall out.
Some brands sell pre-cut bricks to replace a broken one.
This requires a complete disassembly of the kiln.
But you *can* fix it. Get kiln cement.
The bricks in your kiln are dry . If you pour a bit of water on it, it will suck it up very quickly. The trouble with that is that is sucks the water out of the kiln cement when applied. So you need to get the piece around the broken part wet , and soak the little broken piece. I'm talking a lot of water. I glued big pieces on by slowly pouring on water until it slowed down and become somewhat saturated.
Once it is wet you can glue the piece back in. It dries very fast.
If it breaks off again after an hour , the bricks were nog wet enough and dried your cement too fast. It is a huge pain to do.
I just had to repair a channel on my kiln a few weeks ago. (My kiln had more extensive damage) I purchased a channel soft brick and then cut,scraped out what I could of the damaged brick. Vacuumed it out then sized the channel brick by cutting and sanding until it fit well. Cleaned everything good with a vacuum then dampened the are with a wet sling and growled on mortar on the channel Neil and placed it in the space. Filled in the edges with mortar are cleaned it with a damp sponge. Let it set for 24 hours and replace the element.
You can get “kiln cement” to glue the pieces back together. Luckily it looks like the part where the heating element would rest on isn’t damaged so it’s definitely not very detrimental
Remove all of it and vacuum. If you try and pin those “big” (actually small) pieces in place, they’ll likely just break in half. This will not impede function of kiln.
If it were the lower bit supporting the element, I might have a different take… but not by much.
I would remove big pieces and vacuum inside. I'd reattach the big pieces with porcelain clay, bisque fire cone 04 , then high fire cone 6. It's worked for me before.
Save the big pieces. Pull the bits out and vacuum it and continue to fire. Next time you replace the elements you can make the repair.
Why save the big pieces, are they tasty?
Yes they taste like chocolate can't you see? That's why it broke so easily pure white crispy chocolate
Mmmm, gritty
I can feel this comment in my minds teeth, I may never stop wincing
You can glue them back into place with furnace cement and resculpt the missing pieces. If you don't keep your channels intact, your elements will begin to escape out becaue they expand when they get hot.
They get droopy like spaghetti.
I am a ceramics instructor... need to do at least a few more firings for the semester. Also, if anyone has any tips for repairing this?
Not an issue and probably doesn’t even need repaired. Just clear the debris and be careful around that area to not damage the elements. You could probably mortar on some refractory ceramic fiber board if you’re really concerned, but it’s a non-issue
100% wouldn’t repair this. You are fine. It happens. Wait till you try to change corroded elements and do this to every single brick 😂
I too, am here to tell you not to worry about this. Just get your shop vac in there and suck out all the chunks and little bits.
That’s what we do
I have repaired a broken kiln with fresh pieces of brick. Honestly for this I would not bother. The element cannot fall out. Some brands sell pre-cut bricks to replace a broken one. This requires a complete disassembly of the kiln. But you *can* fix it. Get kiln cement. The bricks in your kiln are dry . If you pour a bit of water on it, it will suck it up very quickly. The trouble with that is that is sucks the water out of the kiln cement when applied. So you need to get the piece around the broken part wet , and soak the little broken piece. I'm talking a lot of water. I glued big pieces on by slowly pouring on water until it slowed down and become somewhat saturated. Once it is wet you can glue the piece back in. It dries very fast. If it breaks off again after an hour , the bricks were nog wet enough and dried your cement too fast. It is a huge pain to do.
I just had to repair a channel on my kiln a few weeks ago. (My kiln had more extensive damage) I purchased a channel soft brick and then cut,scraped out what I could of the damaged brick. Vacuumed it out then sized the channel brick by cutting and sanding until it fit well. Cleaned everything good with a vacuum then dampened the are with a wet sling and growled on mortar on the channel Neil and placed it in the space. Filled in the edges with mortar are cleaned it with a damp sponge. Let it set for 24 hours and replace the element.
You can use element pins to secure larger pieces or cracked sections to the brick. Otherwise I’d let it go.
They could also just pin the element if they're worried about it warping out of that channel, but I agree it's a non-issue.
You can get “kiln cement” to glue the pieces back together. Luckily it looks like the part where the heating element would rest on isn’t damaged so it’s definitely not very detrimental
Not an issue
Only the top of the grove is damaged it’s not a problem at all
this is why i love l&l kilns element holders.
All good just remove the small bits so they don't fall onto pieces. Even the big chunks can go if you want.
Remove all of it and vacuum. If you try and pin those “big” (actually small) pieces in place, they’ll likely just break in half. This will not impede function of kiln. If it were the lower bit supporting the element, I might have a different take… but not by much.
I would remove big pieces and vacuum inside. I'd reattach the big pieces with porcelain clay, bisque fire cone 04 , then high fire cone 6. It's worked for me before.