Painting on glass

I the floor area of that kiln that big? Got to allow a little room around the shelf for air flow under the shelf too, avoid thermal shock. Why do you have to have a top fire for glass painting? I know of several people that fire paint in old ceramic kilns and do just fine, but the floor area may be a problem there too, but they sure are cheaper and easier to find.

If all you want to do is paint on glass or fuse flat glass without slumping then a topfired one is more efficient than a ceramic one. However most people working with glass use their kiln for more than one 'discipline' and accept the fact they may be heating up more cubic area for longer to have the advantage of more height when slumping, potmelting, casting etc.

Thermal shock is not a big deal in glass painting. They have used gas fired flash kiln for decades, and you can fire a painted piece of glass to 1250 and back in 30 minutes. As for the question. Yes, a top fired kiln is fine, it gives even heating over the entire surface of the glass with no hot or cool spots to worry about. You can fire on the floor of the kiln with no shelve. The only time a shelve would be important is when firing silver stain down. You don't want to contaminate the kiln floor. As for size, once you own a kiln you will find other uses for it. I would suggest to get the biggest one you can afford. Some day you'll need it.

1250 and back in 30 minutes? What size is this glass?

All sizes that typically make up a leaded window. Under 10"x10"

I have heard but never seen a gas fired flash kiln, there used to be one in the old Detroit Stained Glass Works, I hear, but I don't know what ever happened to it,or how to operate one.

I would like to know more about them, for instance, do they have a fan of internal air movement, so the act like an annealing tunnel lehr? How do they work? Especially that fast.

Check out

Click on kilns, Speeed burn III

The old one that I saw was at Rambush.It was about 2'x4'. Curved top, sides open about 6" from shelve to side of top. It had about 8 gas jets of either side of the shelve. Shelve was on a track and would slide out the end. Turn on the gas, watch the paint till it got glossy, Turn off kiln. ALL DONE.

I don't how or why it worked. It just did.

Sounds like the one from Detroit, a guy had it for sale in his driveway, wonder if he still has it?? The operation was that simple? open bottom? gas jets shoot across the top of the glass about 3-4 in above the glass surface? I remember looking in one end and thinking "How the heck?" but seems he had it pretty high for what it looked like in my ignorance. Think I will make a phone call tomorrow.

Kilns are expensive, but I take the opposite approach from most people... rather than say "get the largest one you can afford", I say "get the smallest one that will do the job". If you need a bigger kiln later, you can buy one later, and then you'll have a very useful, energy-efficient small kiln as well as a big mother for big projects. 'Course right now I wish I had a *really* small kiln for really small projects.

Yes that sounds like a Speedburn Vic. A terrific kiln for fast turnaround of painted pieces and very easy to use. You do need good ventilation of fumes and fresh air intake though.

Thanks for everyones replys! After posting I found a shop that will be having a class on screen printing on glass and signed up for it. Hopefully after taking the class I can put all the good info to work for me.

Thanks Dan

I have an email into Fusion HQ for more info about their next generation Hoaf. Hoaf apparently has an replacement for the Speedburn II termed by Pfann

as the 'Flexburn II'. Not sure what Gill is calling the Speedburn III. The gloss literature I have on the Speedburns list Speedburn II and 1V and larger models, but I don't see a Speedburn III.

A&S Glass Specialties in Huntington Beach CA. also list themselves as distributors of the Hoaf Speedburn. Their rep was friendly and sent me some lit. But their website doesn't work, and they return their phone messages cell phone, so it makes me wonder whether their post-sale customer service will hold-up.

I'm just not able to come up with 4K$ for a 16x16 Painting kiln. I saw them in action in the two painting courses I took last year. They're the best tool for the job. 45 min turnaround for painting, for a few pennies of propane. You can kep it in your garage, and don't need 220V electric. On the other hand I could buy a Skutt clamshell electric for 2K and turn painting aournd in two hours (my guess ), but I'd need to wire it and keep it in one place. I'm also waiting for Jen Ken to complete an electric painting and glass tile kiln they've been developing. But they've been developing it for years. Its alright. I don't have the money right now anyway. My painting turns around in about five hours if I push it. (octagonal side-fired electric)