AF66 kiln with pyrometer or computer
 

I have a friend with a gift certificate to Arrow Springs who is looking to buy a kiln. She will primarily use it for annealing lampwork beads but has expressed interest in the occasional small slump project.

For her budget it looks like the AF66 is ideal.

I'm not familiar with pyrometers but I assume you set the temperature and a kitchen timer repeatedly until you get through your kiln schedule.

Would the AF66 and a PYRO-DF work for her or does she really need the computer ASC/5-515?

Would a different combination work better for her?

Janet

Pyrometers are fine for about the first 12 times you use them.

Then they be come a very spoiled child that demands your attention and it never ever grows up.

Go with the computer control. She will never have to plan her day around baby sitting a kiln that will annoy her with tweaking the temperature down 50 degrees aver half hour for three straight hours.

The ability to tell the computer what to do and then come back in 7 hours after it has done exactly what you told it to do is like hiring someone else to baby sit, honest.

And then there are other things you can do like fusing and slumping and maybe precious metal clay that can best be done with a 'smart kiln'.

Before I got my Glass Hive my kiln was made for multipurpose use & had a pyrometer. It worked fine, but it was a pain in the - well it was a pain. Big learning curve to kept it at correct temp.

W/a programmable it's turn it on, let it get to temp, do your stuff then let it take care of all the annealing fiddling. Very small learning curve.

dj

Can any one comment on the suitability of the combination of the AF66 and the ASC/5-515? Does this combination work well? Is it easy to setup and use? Is it appropriate for bead annealing? Is there anything we should watch for when ordering it?

You can build a digital controller for an analog kiln for less than $35 bucks on amazon.