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.