I Don't Like Mondays

As mentioned in the previous post, today was the day I would be finishing the cloisonne pendant. I turned on my kiln then went upstairs to make coffee while the kiln heated up. About an hour later, I went back downstairs to do the firing and my kiln was off. The switch still read “on” but it wasn’t working. Neither was the light above it or my pickle pot. Basically, everything that was plugged into my industrial-grade power strip was out. The breaker hadn’t been flipped so I did some troubleshooting and nothing worked. I called Steve who suggested I clean out the strip with canned air. Still nothing. It was finally determined the strip had blown. I got out my other good power strip and plugged the kiln into it. Thankfully, it worked which meant the problem was the strip and not the kiln (that would have sent me over the edge.) While the kiln was reheating, I thought I’d sand down the front of the bezel using my nice belt sander. I plugged it in and…nothing. A little hum, but no movement. I was really getting irritated by now. Turns out the belt had frayed and the threads had wound around the gear making it impossible for the belt to move. I removed those and the thing started running again.

Bottom line: the cloisonne pendant is done, the other special order is done, my sister’s gift is done and my dad’s gift is done. I think I’ll take a break from power tools for the rest of the day.