Thread: AIM kiln
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Old 2008-01-10, 1:54pm
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Emily Emily is offline
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I have the Aim 84BD as my primary bead annealing kiln. I think it's a fairly popular choice for people who want a kiln that isn't strictly an annealer, although as taramaq says, the interior space is limited. I'm not a fuser, so I can't say how limiting the size would be. You can't fit an 8x8 kiln shelf in the 84BD. I have a couple of 6x6 shelves, and I think there's a slightly larger shelf available that will fit. (I don't think it's 7x7 -- I think it's some intermediate size.) The smallish kiln shelves aren't as widely available as larger shelves, but you can find them if you do some Internet searching. (I do some Precious Metal Clay in my kiln, and use it to slump the edges on dichro strips before torching them -- that's why I have kiln shelves even though I don't fuse.)

I'm happy with the 84BD as an annealing kiln. I bought mine originally with an infinite switch controller and pyrometer due to budget constraints, and later bought a "field kit" digital controller. The "field kit" means that the digital controller is a stand-alone that just plugs in to the existing non-digital controller, rather than being hard-wired into the kiln. (I didn't want to ship my kiln back to Aim for a new controller, or, God forbid, try to install a new controller myself.) If you can possibly afford it, you'll want to get the programmable digital controller. I have the Fuji PXV-3, which I do not recommend (it works all right, but the manual is incomprehensible, and it doesn't store any programs -- you have to re-enter the program every time you change it). I didn't think it was being sold anymore, but Aim still has it listed on its website. There's a newer Fuji controller model, which does store different programs, and at least one model of Bartlett controller that you can get on the 84BD. I did a little Googling, and found an 84BD at MountainGlassArts with a Bartlett for $599 -- I haven't done any price comparisons, so I don't know if that's currently a good price for it or not:

http://www.mountainglassarts.com/s.n...0?it=A&id=1010

Here's a similar price on the Paragon Caldera, which is about the same size -- if I'm reading this site right, this price includes shipping:

http://www.clay-king.com/itempcald.html


EDIT: I just looked on eBay, and darned if Aim hasn't come out with a new model -- the 104BD, which looks exactly like the 84BD, except it's 10x10 inside, not 8x8.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-AIM-104BD-FU...QQcmdZViewItem

Kilnwest is a dealer for Aim. As a matter of fact, Kilnwest might BE Aim -- Aim is in Corvallis, OR, which is where Kilnwest seems to be. Although this auction is for the kiln with the infinite switch/pyrometer combination (digital pyrometer is just a thermometer, not a digital computer controller), there's no reason that you couldn't get a digital controller for this kiln. It would cost another couple of hundred dollars at least, but worth it if you can afford it.

Looks like the "might be too small problem" is taken care of.

I haven't been paying much attention since I'm not in the kiln market, but I've been seeing posts giving me the idea that Aim might have been slow in supplying kilns lately. I know people have been dissatisfied with one particular seller (not Kilnwest), but I'm not sure whether or not people were unhappy with the company itself -- of course even if they were, I guess there could be two sides to the story. Anyway, I can't say whether there is or is not a problem lately, just that you might want to look into it. (I'm a happy Aim customer, but I've had my kiln for a bunch of years now.)

EDIT AGAIN: I looked on eBay and I think I see the Vulcan test kiln you mentioned. It's really small for fusing -- you definitely won't be doing any saucers in there -- and it's not a good choice for bead annealing unless somebody makes an add-on ring with a bead door for it, and I couldn't find any indication that there was one. It's too small to fit even a short mandrel inside, so you'd be restricted to batch annealing (cooling your beads in fiber blankets or vermiculite, then annealing them all at once later.) Some beads won't survive the cooling process -- they need to go straight from the torch into the kiln. Sculptural beads that have some parts much thinner than others are notorious for cracking during cooling. Large beads and some types of glass (like Lauscha clear) also don't like fiber/vermiculite cooling. I never managed to get an encased bead to survive cooling before I got my kiln, but that might just have been bad technique on my part. Anyway, if you're investing in a kiln, you don't want to spend a bunch of money and lock yourself into batch annealing, even though you may decide to batch anneal anyway from time to time.

Jen-Ken makes some models you might want to look at (although they also have one or two so-called "annealers" without bead doors, tsk tsk.) My only complaint about Jen-Ken is that I find that the handle on their bead door, which is metal, gets really hot. It must not bother everyone, though, because they sell a lot of kilns with it, and they haven't changed it.

You mentioned the "Hot Box," which is an Evenheat product. I don't love it for an annealer because it's a top-loading kiln without a bead door. Unless they've changed the design since I last saw a new model (which is possible), even the add-on ring didn't have a bead door. The only way to stick in a mandrel was to put it in straight down from the top, which meant your hand got blasted with heat unless you stopped to put on a glove. That's not something I want to do when I'm worried about getting a hot bead into the kiln before it gets cool enough to crack, particularly if it has fiddly little bits on it like arms or legs or wings.
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Last edited by Emily; 2008-01-10 at 2:43pm.
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