Microwave Kilns

I seem to remember some years back - maybe 10 or more - that I saw a promotion at a conference for a method to fire pottery in a microwave oven. It turned out to be a refractory container coated inside with some metallic substance which could attain a chamber temperature of 1000 + degrees C when placed in a microwave oven on high. Only trouble was that the container for a domestic microwave was tiny and almost useless - you would need an industrial strength and sized microwave to provide enough power to heat a decent sized chamber, which would probably cost more than a kiln anyway.

I suspect the idea died a deserving death.

Dave

In addition to that, what my friend have experimented there is very little if any control of the temperature. She said it had to make a pair of earrings identical.

One possible use might be PMC clay. With that price for material, miniature size is a blessing.

-lauri

They really worked great for small stuff. Where can you get to 1200 degrees in a few minutes? The reason they were pulled off the market was potenial contamination lawsuits from using it in a microwave that was also used for food.

They're selling them here in the UK so I guess we're not so worried about contamination ;o)

Sleazier lawyers over here I'm thinking?

Is that some kind of pun ? or oxymoron ??

Ive melted doing a casting in a microwave. The trick is in the annealling. It does melt a handfull of glass in a brick/frax mold/enclosure. Used no metal.