Moving the Kiln

In the new building, Palmer-Martin Hall, the clay studio will be mostly equipped with new stuff: new wheels, new kilns, a new clay mixer, but the gas kiln is fairly new itself--at least, it was brand new when we started planning Palmer-Martin Hall 10 years ago. So the gas kiln will be the same in the new building. 

The kiln in the old studio, after the tracks were removed. Notice the carts are in the  way even now.

I was in the studio this week, waiting for someone, while facilities folks were moving the kiln. Moving it is quite an operation, since the kiln is so big. All the furniture in the studio has to be moved back out of the way and then the middle section of the door frame has to be removed.

The kiln slowly leaving the Palmer Hall and its home for the last 6 years.

 This is a car kiln with the bottom section and front wall on rollers that come out on a track. This part of the kiln was rolled out separately and parked for a time in by some benches outside Palmer Hall, while the rest of the kiln was navigated out the doorway.

The kiln car enjoying some time in the sun.

The kiln then had to be raised up onto the truck with a fork lift (and fork lift extenders) before it could be driven across campus to the new building.

The kiln getting loaded for its short ride.

I missed seeing the kiln brought into the new building, but I did get to visit today to discuss its orientation. I am looking forward to opening the kiln door without first moving several carts out of the way. By the look of the new kiln room, one could feasibly be loading all three kilns at once without knocking into one another. This was basically impossible in the old studio.

The kiln, its new friends, (and detritus) in the new building.