My kiln is 56 Amps. I read the meter one evening, loaded two large 1/4" float glass pieces to be slumped, and then read the meter in the morning. Electrical usage for my entire house and kiln during that period was less than $3.
I should be picking up a 4'x8' Denver Bell Kiln soon. The price is too good to pass up.
That sounds very good. Electricity must be fairly cheap over there - presumably it's running off 3-phase....
The place we're moving from in the UK is wired for 3-phase - only one phase has a meter connected, though I rather suspect the that previous owner used to play tricks with the other two phases.....
What a beast ! Presumably it fires like a smaller kiln - but slower ? I guess if you are firing a piece of glass that big you'd need to take it a bit gently anyway.....
Tell me - on a larger kiln (as in 14" - larger than my baby paragon) would you expect to get a more even heating inside the kiln.
I ask because I'm always loading the little shelf with rows of pendant pieces - only to find that the stuff at the back has fused perfectly - but the stuff near the front-opening door needs to go round again.
I've been doing some kiln-carving - and a square piece of glass that's been slumped is noticeably trapezoidal after slumping - wider at the front where it's cooler and narrower at the back where it's hotter.
If things were more uniform in a larger kiln then I could maybe sell off the little SC2 to part-fund the new one.....? what do you think ?
I'll go to bed tonight & dream of 8ft x 4ft kilns - sad eh ??
Thanks Adrian ======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply
Ummmhuh. Off yer meds again, ain't cha?
I think you've been counting your kiln sales like you figure electrical costs....forgetting to divide by a thousand again.
You are peddling Covington sanders. Explain to me why anyone would buy from a middleman when they can buy direct from the mfg. at a similar cost. Why would anyone in their right mind want to do business with a lunatic crackpot who is the laughing stock of the stained glass world instead of dealing directly with the manufacturer and getting some truthful answers? Only answer I can come up with is that they are dumber than you are. Hopefully, that gene pool will soon get a well-deserved splash of Clorox.
I've been to the Kansas City Stockyards on sale day. Even they don't have as much bullshit to scoop as we do after you start spewing all over a thread.
I'd gladly pay the extra $30 on a sander just to avoid having to deal with a lunatic like you.
Adrian
Way back in 1959 we were building small melting furnaces at the then BGIRA in Sheffield out of dexion slotted angle and 2800IFB. Because we were after 1450C, we used Morgan Crusilite silicon carbide single-ended elements in an array of 12, suspended from the top. This allowed them to be changed from various combinations of series/parallel to another as they aged and the resistance increased. For your temperatures simpler radiant heating tubes would be better.
For control we used old Honeywell slide-wire controllers, and a relay to switch a resistance in and out of the circuit, with an autotransformer (Variac) to adjust the voltage applied. Nowadays you can get simple Eurotherm electronic controllers for a very low cost.
The one thing that could cause problems is having a muffle casing if you want it. We slip-cast and fired our own in a gas-fired furnace.
You can do a lot with a box of bricks and some bits of kit.
I agree with that, Adrian! The learning curve feels like the letter "O" right now. I have a raging battle going on between the left and right hemispheres of my brain every time I go to fuse. The creative side sighs and pouts and pokes to just get on with it! But the analytic side insists that I must, at least, have a fair working knowledge of the equipment and the science of glass and all its wonderful nature. Although I am certain that a wonderful marriage will ultimately occur between the two sides...right now they are more interested in wrestling than doing the tango with one another! Plus I insist on using glass that has not been tested so I can be surprised by the results...I live to make things hard for myself! lol
My feelings as well. I LOVE this newsgroup...even with all the varying dissent...or is it BECAUSE of the varying dissent??? Even though folks go off the specific topic often, they are still giving up an immense amount of information and I feel like I am getting quite the education. And then when they post links...ahhhh, the beauty of glass!
I have a Jen-Ken kiln - 11 x 4 1/2 internal dimension, octagon, one side element, 120v, 1700 degrees. Because it is my first (sort of infers that there are more on the horizon, no?) I confess to cheaping out and not getting exactly what I wanted for fear that it would end up an ornament in my already stuffed crafting studio. So it is smaller than what I actually wanted and has a pyrometer and infinite switch as opposed to a digital controller. On the whole I am glad that I am having to learn how to control the kiln myself rather than just programming it. Still, there is the occasion when I wish I didn't have to be quite so diligent (and anxious) going through the various stages and adjustments of the fusing process.
Egads! That stuff is so incredibly expensive...I am waiting until I achieve Goddess status in creating and successfully fusing before mixing in my tiny stash of gold, um, I mean dichroic glass! Until then I have to satisfy myself with admiring those pieces that others (such as yourself) have created and invested.
Smiles! Lori
Oh yes - been there - done that !
My limited experience suggests that non-tested cathedral glass is much more forgiving than on-tested 'streaky' stuff.
I did run a few test strips - using spectrum clear as a substrate and fusing little bits of 'everything' in my glass stock shelves onto it.
Viewed through a pair of crossed polars you could see the stresses - which allowed you to make reasonable guesses as to what would fuse with what - also viewed under ordinary light yu could see what had de-vitrified and what hadn't...
True ! Also I can read the newsgroup with a 'proper' off-line reader (free agent from forte) so I don't have to use a web-based interface.
OK - I'm using a little (digitally controlled) Paragon SC-2 - and thinking of upgrading to a larger kiln (see other thread). I get the feeling that it's not such a bad thing to have a manually-controlled kiln - at least you get a 'feel' for the process....
The other side of it is that, with a digitally-controlled kiln, you do get repeatabilty - so you can do as I'm doing at the moment and load the kiln with little pieces of glass for the 'feathers' on a stained-glass dreamcatcher - and just leave 'em to 'cook' - knowing that they'll turn out more or less like the last batch...
Here's a tip. Try buying 'dichro scrap' - search on ebay. You can get 1/2 lb or even 1lb if you're feeling flush - and if you chose your supplier carefully then you get a good mix of 'stuff' to play with. Gives you a feel for the material - some sellers will also sell you a named 'sample set' - which can be a great way to see what the stuff in the catalogues really looks like.
On a purely commercial note - you can make a pendant and a pair of earrings from a 1" square 'sample' piece - and then sell the 'set' for many times what you paid for the glass - but that's getting all nasty and commercial
I've recently been playing with 'kiln carving' - and it seems that bog-standard 'casting plaster' will survive kiln temperatures on a one-off basis - you can place a piece of glass over a plaster mound and it'll slump and thin til you get a quite interesting effect. Works well with coloured glass - as you get a light colour on the high points of the mould..... fun!
Another form of kiln fun can be had by cutting a sheet of (any) glass into thin strips, and then laying them out in two layers at 90 degrees like a woven thing. Tack-Fused flat makes a nice coaster - tack-fuse it and then slump it and you get an unusual tray - one of those 'how's it done' things - gets people talking at shows....
It's great fun ! - and sometimes even the 'accidents' are beautiful !
Regards Adrian Suffolk UK ======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply
At home, it's single phase and `$.08 per KWH. Our studio is 3 phase but only the compressor motors use 3 phase. The 4x8 will be hooked up that way.
Just as fast as a small kiln, but of course the larger the glass the slower we go.
Sounds like a front loader. Elements on sides and back. Try firing slower to allow the door area to keep up with the back.
I think you will be happier with a top loading kiln.
OK. By comparison my electricity costs $0.2 per KWH - hmmm !
Understood
It's the little SC2 - link here
OK - I'll give it a try.
I was thinking the same. The front-loader seemed like a good idea at the time, and it's been a good education (bought it last October) - but I think it's time to move onwards (and upwards !)
Thanks for your comments - very helpful
Regards Adrian Suffolk UK
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have you looked at used pottery kilns? they are cheap, top loading, can be fitted with a controller, and have larger than what you are using inside dimensions. They offer the depth for multiple shelves but i prefer removing all the sections to fire only one as the others do not get even heat. I have
2 Skutts, both ancient with newer elements that are absolutely great! Until i have the time (now that i have the room) to build me that grandaddy 2' x 4 ' these have run me in good stead. I paid about 300$ US for each. "Adrian Brentnall" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
Still waiting for my 900 degree tip...
We Canucks have been working with
Hate to lump all "Canucks" into the same tub, but .......
That's because what the rest of the world does efficiently with less waste, the "Canucks", or at least this one, needs extra help with. Don't think that is anything to brag about. But then consider the source, folks.......
Darn, and I said I was going to ignore this pompous ass.... tough to do...
I tried everyone, and they tell me they don't exist. Don't you have ONE extra one for me? Send it to the address on my website below with a bill. Thanks!
I don't think you're paying attention to what I said. They will gladly sell to me. They tell me those tips DO NOT exist. I have Hexagons. I want the 900 Weller tip.
Only had a quick 'play' with it this afternoon - but I can confirm that it's much more predictable than the Weller 80W (non-tc) I was using before - quite a remarkable amount of heat available. Nice light little iron - great stuff. Worked out about half the price of buying the 240V version of the iron over here - including shipping US - UK.
But can't imagine why anybody would want a hotter tip for soldering....
..and anyway - what's the point of producing a video about how to use irons with high-temperature soldering tips when there are only a dozen of these things available (not even for sale!) in the known universe...? Weller / Cooper stopped making the 900 tips - wonder what that tells us ?
Very strange....
..especially from the man who told us all to 'adapt or die'....
Lamp oil, or nutty slack for steam engines - anybody ??
Adrian Suffolk UK ======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply
Let me get this straight. You have told this forum repeatedly that Weller 900 tips were available and NOW you tell us that all you have to do is buy 1200 of them. Give us a break. Next time you have a gem of information, mention it first, not last. Otherwise you are the troll under the bridge.
The light JUST went on!!
He must indeed be the biggest fish in his little pond, in his tiny corner of Canada. If there were anyone in his area offering supplies he would be gone, and if no one responded to the troll, he would be gone from here too.
Translation: Brady is the only idiot on the planet that ever bought any of them.
Translation: Most users aren't stupid enough to waste time learning a useless skill.
Nah, I was an idiot too... bought one around '96 or so. It was a small chisel, maybe 3/16" of an inch and a complete waste of money. Some advertising genius at Weller decided they could hook a few fish by doing a higher temperature tip. I bit, but 100 watts of heat is 100 watts of heat. You can't solder any faster with a 900 degree tip than a 600 degree tip given the same number of watts.
I probably threw it away... but who knows, it may still be in a box "out there" somewhere, but after the dozen or so moves in the ensuing years, I don't have a clue which box that might be. If I did, I'd dig it out and send it to... who was it that wanted it again?
If it's quick soldering you want than why not melt bar solder in a pot, flux the joints, and pour it on the panel? OK so it's flat lines, but with black patina no one will know the difference, as evidenced by the Chinese products. Better yet.... lead came, than you only need to solder the joints. I can't imagine soldering significantly faster with more heat than 100 watts supplies. If the trade off is a heavy Hexacon iron that saves me a few minutes, I'd still rather use a lightweight iron. Furthermore if your cutting sucks than all the heat in the world will only make it drip through faster. What I tell all my students is, "Take your time, and do it more accurately, not faster."
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