July Update

Last night I added a MEMORY settings feature,  this allows you to copy /store your favorite programmes in one of three BANK memories (BANK1, BANK2 and BANK3).   For completeness, you can also restore from, and copy between memory banks.

I also added a safety setting so you can set the max kiln temperature before the kiln will automatically shut-off.  this was also in the code but not accessible via the ui.

Latest Firing

(The Parian pieces below were my father-in-laws)






The piece below was mine.

June Update

The other night I fixed a bug in the delete programme part of the code;  this leaves a couple more features to add,  namely "thermocouple offset", in which you will be able to offset the temperature reading of the thermocouple by a user set amount;  this apparently is common among the commercial pottery controllers as the thermocouple is susceptible to aging effects, this in turns adds an error to the real temperature reading, so to ensure a fairly accurate reading this value is offset over time.

The other feature I need to add is the ability to "store" and "recall" your favorite programmes into "memory banks" this will allow better management of the programme sets for the user.

[update]
Last night I added "thermocouple offset" to the settings menu, and it seems to work fine. So,  I'm going to wire-up this new controller for live testing, hopefully, tonight.

Getting Ready For Testing

After a load of little changes and fixes which took me into the early hours this morning and the best part of today, I managed to tidy up and sort a few more bits;  I added 36 default programmes which consist of 36 cone programmes;  these will be the default programmes the controller will ship with straight "out-the-box", so to say.  I've removed all the features that need extra work in order to get the basics up and running in the new chip.

Happy 2018 !

Well, tomorrow is the last day of my Xmas holiday break, and over that time I have really busy;  a few weeks ago I created my first ever clay model, which is a bust of my own interpretation of Hercules, this was then made into a 4 piece plaster mould.  I took out the first stoneware slip cast piece from the mould today (the other 2 fell apart getting them out!) and have been cleaning it up.

In-between doing this, I have been working on the controller firmware;  I did manage to kill another microcontroller by accident, so, I will need to wait until the end of the month before I can replace it, and also buy another controller box to put the new version of the controller in for testing,  I don't want to use controller box I already have as it's already mounted on the wall and hooked up to my kiln using the previous firmware version.

Just a little update on the cheap Ebay thermocouple chips, apparently when I tested then using the thermocouple simulator they appear to drop-off towards the upper end of the temperatures,  I'll try and do a post with some more definitive results.

One thing I did want to look at was changing the board layout on the next version to use the Maxim MAX31855KASA+ which is lot cheaper than the AD595 at measuring temperatures;  if I do this it would make the overall cost of a board a lot cheaper, by comparison, the AD595 is £15, and the Maxim is £5;  the other idea I had was to create an internal real-time clock rather than use the DS1302 chip, as although it's nice to have a real date and time clock;  you only actually need to use a fairly rough clock for timing the firings;  I don't know exactly how accurate an internal microcontroller clock would run but it would interesting to find out as that would reduce the price and complexity even further.

Lots to do!

[update]

Right, I got some replacement parts and bought another box;  I have installed the new test board and hooked up another plugin transformer;  all appears good - I can now use this version for testing the new firmware running on the bigger microcontroller chip.

23rd April Update

Been working a bit on the controller over the last few days;  I managed to get the "create programme" feature added today.   Originally I wanted the user to only use the external PC based software to create the programmes, and then to remotely upload them using Bluetooth, but, having had some time to think about it, I realised that not all users could or would even want to do that,  so,  I have added the option to add new programmes via the keypad.

I think the vent system will need to wait for version 2 as it would need too big a change to the way the programmes are stored.

to be continued... ;-)

Thermocouple Chips

Recently purchased some AD559 CQ thermocouple  chips from Ebay, these were sold at around 4x cheaper than the standard retail price!   I don't honestly know what to make of these yet,  one of the chips looked very suspect - so that will definitely will not be used.  the picture shows the 8 purchased (back row) with the one at the front as the test control chip, which I used to make comparisons.

I think what I will do is put them into the boards and feed in some simulator temperatures and see how they compare to the real deal.

9th Sept. Update

I've done most of the code conversion now and also drafted out a couple of new bits of functionality;  one idea was to include a "costings" feature,  this would allow you to enter a cost per kWh of electricity and then it would keep a running total of estimated units used per firing based on the amperage draw of the kiln.   And one of the other ideas would be to allow the controller to automate the process of triggering a vent system.   I think once these are added and tested with the larger chip, and it proves to be "rock solid" code then I think I will be finally happy with the feature set.

I have drafted out a rough UI for the editing of the programmes;  this will probably take a bit of time to implement but hopefully, it should be fairly intuitive to do from a users perspective.

In parallel to these tasks, I will try and look at creating some supplementary documentation to accompany the controller.

More to follow..

3rd Sept. Update

Had a bit of free time to look at the controller last week and I've been looking at swapping out the 8k pic microcontroller for a 96k one;  the foot-print is the same so it should work;  to do that so far I've re-written 2000 lines of code from the previous version;   one of the sticking points for me with the old code was the lack of programme editing without the use of the PC and Bluetooth link, but with the bigger chip that shouldn't be an issue now as the plan is you will be able to do that through the 4 buttons on the front panel.

more to follow..

All Fired Up Again!

Wow! has it really been that long since my last post!   unfortunately I've been so busy with other projects I've had no time to spend on the controller, which is a shame.  But I did manage to spend a small amount of time installing some cables so I could run the kiln on full power in order to fire some more ceramic work for my father-in-law. Everything went really nice and smooth;  very pleased with the results!

I've posted a couple of pictures to show the set-up;

I managed to find a nice sized box to house the PCB. 

The upper layer of finished bisque fired pieces.

More updates coming soon.

Successful Test Fire!

This was the set-up, not very child or pet friendly!

Early yesterday morning I set it off on a suitable Bisque programme and it ran for most of the day, it finally finished around 10pm;  It worked very well and I was very pleased with it.  Some of the results can be seen here.

I had to do a few code tweaks the night before, as the actual firing code had never been properly tested since all the new code was added.

So I'll carry on trying to get the very last bits completed.

Lots of Soldering Fun!

(18th Oct.) I've just spent a few hours tonight soldering up some components to the other boards;  I've been waiting over a month for some of the parts from China - which still haven't arrived!  so, I just jumped in and soldered the stock parts I had in my component boxes.

Software Sneek-peek!

Tonight I managed to tidy up and finish some more bits on the software side;  mainly working on the installer and the Temperature Profile Editor code, and a bit of work on some graphics.

The installer will install all the necessary files to create your own temperature profiles and send them to the controller over Bluetooth.

The Temperature Profile Editor allows you to create a single multi-segmented profile really easily, then you can save it;  once you have as many as you need - you can then mix'n'match your own set and upload them to the controller via the Send from the menu options.

The UI still has a few little quirks but it should be stable enough for an alpha version.

Below shows the log viewer. It seems to load the logs fine but I still need to write a short bit of code to pull them out from the controller and then save them to file but that shouldn't take very long.

Round-up August Progress Update!

I've been mostly working on the PC software side and things seem to be going well.   I managed to get the hardware detection working; it wasn't as nicely implemented as I had wished for, but it works, and I could always update the code later.

Most of today was spent on the "upload" code;  this allows the user to send firing profiles directly to the controller;  one part had me stumped for a good while until I managed to resolve it.

The only bit of code to complete now is the code to combine or merge multiple profiles into a single programme set;  but once that's complete the software should have all the features required for practical use.



I've ordered another batch of components to populate some more boards; so when they arrive I can get my soldering iron fired-up and ready to go! ;-)

I was planning on doing a demo of the controller but things didn't go as quick as I had hoped;  so - I just left it;  but I'm still hoping to do some once the final PC software is complete.

Temperature Profile Editor

Over the weekend I worked on tidying up the temperature profile editor; this allows for multi-segmented temperature profiles to created, modified and saved etc.

At the moment I'm working on some code to auto-detect the attached Kiln Controller so profiles can be seamlessly uploaded to it via Bluetooth;  the ultimate aim is to make the creation and upload of firing schedules to the controller as simple as possible.

I've also completed the log viewer, as that was just very basic code before.  I do plan to add to this at a later stage but for a version 1,  it should work fine.

Powered on!

Well, after a long day of debugging it's finally all powered up;  the PCB board required some inter-connects on the back, this was because of some mistakes in the PCB layout.   At the moment I have it running continuously, and I plan to leave it running for at least a good few days.

Almost all soldered up.

I ended up going to my local Maplins for the 3 pots I was missing;  I don't like going there unless I really have to, as it quite expensive for parts.  

Tonight I'll carefully power it up and set it up,  and then run some diagnostic tests.  I'll have to get the header strip connector for the Bluetooth module next week.

PCB's Arrived!!!

(Pic Above, Left) The boards arrived this afternoon!! and I've already "hand" placed a few components to see if they fitted correctly; I think all is good, so far at least!
















(23rd July) At 7am this morning I soldered up one of the boards before work;  I'm missing some parts though; 1 connector for the Bluetooth module and 3 pots; so I'll need to order those when I get chance.

(Pic Below) I was fairly happy with my soldering, except that I need to get some thinner solder wire as mine is too thick,  I've found the board requires a more delicate solder feed approach in order to achieve the right amount of solder for each connection.

PCB's ordered!

This evening I ordered a dozen PCB boards; although I checked and re-checked the files before I sent them,  I can only at best - hope that everything will work out right first time;   they should take around 2-3 weeks to be delivered.  Each PCB will measure approx 4" x 4"  and once they arrive I should have enough parts to make up at least a couple of complete boards, and maybe a few partial ones.

PCB Version!

I finally bit the bullet and tried my hand at PCB layout design. It took a while to get the hang of it; but in the end I managed to get the controller PCB layout done!   I need to verify the layout before I get them actually produced,  just in case there might be foot-print errors.

One of the biggest jobs I found in doing a PCB layout is the parts have to be from a consistent source otherwise some parts might not fit the PCB foot-prints; so instead of sourcing all bits from Ebay,  i'm looking at a more stable electronics component supplier like Digikey etc;   I'll still source some parts from Ebay, but just not all.

One of the reason why I decided to do the PCB was because I've never done a proper PCB before so it was a great learning experience for me;  and it also means the controller will be available to a lot more people who perhaps don't have either the time / skill or tools to create one themselves.

(19th June 2013)
A few parts have arrived, these came from Ebay; the most critical foot-print parts are still en-route from Digikey.  these include the battery holder and the fuse holder.

In the meantime I'm looking at finalizing the PC kiln controller software and I also need to get the documentation PDF completed - more updates as I make more progress!