Building Knife kiln - well insulated...

How did you wire up the end of the elament pig tails to the SSR. I'm thinking insulated 12ga wire for mine but don't know if that will be enough being that I will be pulling 20 amps at 240. So I might go with 10ga just to be safe. But how did you join the elament to the wire led. Did you use a termail block or a butt splice?
 
A ceramic terminal block is preferred. Terminal blocks with posts and nuts are far better than ones with screws. The bigger the post, the better. For a HT oven, I would recommend a 1/4" post. Use heavy gauge high temperature wire, and in the area near the coils, place fiberglass sleeves over the wires. The wires will carry heat back a fair distance.

I'll give you a trick we used to use for making high current connections. Oxidation is always your enemy. At high temperatures, it is even worse. So, using solid wire and making a loop to fit the terminal block, we would then lightly file a flat on the top and bottom of the loop. This increased the surface contact area as well as assured a clean joint. Torque the nut/washer down as tight as the rating allows.
 
Thank you Stacy I was wondering about that. When looking at the blocks it seams like the only ones I can find are the kind that the wire goes in and a set screw clamps down on it. This at least in my limited experience seams like asking for problems. Any idea where to get the termail blocks with the post? Thank you
 
Neat stuff indeed. Hope to build a simple one, using old propane tank, first. Then upgrade to something like this. Thanks for sharing!

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JTknives said:
Thank you Stacy I was wondering about that. When looking at the blocks it seams like the only ones I can find are the kind that the wire goes in and a set screw clamps down on it. This at least in my limited experience seams like asking for problems. Any idea where to get the terminal blocks with the post? Thank you
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JT what did you end up using for your connections? I need a few electrical supplies yet to finish my own kiln.

Also if you don't mind where did you source your high temp. wire from? I'm looking for 10 gauge. The prices seem to fluctuate and buying small quantities seems to be an issue I have found.

Thanks
Brian
 
Get it on eBay. 10' of #10 gauge, 392 degree wire, is about $7. You can find the ceramic block there for about $5.
 
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