[Jewelry making - Article 00074] - [Orchid] Ultralite kiln, electricity, melting silver

[jyang949]

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    My Ultralite kiln needs a new heating element already! One of the
    electric cords fell out. 

    Instead of solder (which would melt off as soon as the kiln was
    fired up), the electrical connections had been secured in a ceramic
    plug. My guess is that low-fire clay was packed around the wires,
    then the kiln was turned on to fire the clay. 

    Anyway, both ceramic plugs had fallen out of their holes, so the
    wires were free to move around, eventually breaking. 

    The wires were also free to touch the shell of the kiln--which could
    explain the electric shocks I sometimes (but not always) felt. 

    I tried to cobble the wires together by melting some silver around
    the broken connection. That way, I'd have the use of the kiln while
    waiting for the replacement parts. It didn't work, however: The
    silver just balled up and would not flow around the wires. Wouldn't
    stick to them, either. I tried Battern's, Prip's, and 99 fluxes. How
    do you get silver to flow instead of becoming a blob? 

Janet


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