Actual Kiln Temp??figure out how?looong
Hmm, issues, issues, issues...
I have no, zippo, kiln experience. Just to let you know.
I finally got my kiln going, I thought. I did 4 batch anneals to get all my vermiculite-cooled beads done over the course of a week. I have an AIM 84bd with a fuji controller.
Last week I changed the set point to 940 to be able to garage beads, and promptly blew the breaker when I turned it on. Twice.
I figured out what to run on the circuit to keep from blowing it (actually what NOT to run) and tried again with the set point at 650, thinking maybe it wouldn't have to pull so hard to come up to temp. Then I raised the set point to 940.
It's just not hot. I mean, not-as-hot-as-my-oven-when-I-make-cookies not hot.
I called AIM, they said to check the temp (er?) gauge, the twisted wires sticking in the kiln, make sure they aren't touching each other or the metal collar. They aren't.
I give it up and shut it down.
Next time I turn the thing on, the set point is still at 940, but the controller is doing wild things, like saying after 5 minutes it's up to 1257 degrees. Uh, not. Opening the bead door, it's not even a tad warm. I called AIM again and they said to run some program that teaches the controller to be more efficient. Alrighty, then. Program runs (they told me how to start it), I wait 2 hours while it does it's little thing, and shut it off.
AIM explains to me that the little kilns shoot high and need to settle down, sort of like those annoying drivers that stand on the gas until they get up to speed, and then coast until they start going slower, and then stomp on it again to come up to speed. I accept this. I also deduce from my grade school science that heat rises, and the top of the kiln is hotter than the bottom where the bead door is, and the elements are up there, so yeah, it *could* be hotter, but 1257 degrees 8" away from not-cookie-baking-hot?
I start up the kiln yesterday, set to 940. I let it have 45 minutes to warm up and get serious. I make a glorious bundle of mediocre beads, waiting until the uber-glow is gone, and stick them in the bead door, like when I stick them in the crock pot. Mandrels sticking out of door, I find, are not even sort of warm, hmm. I run the program to anneal, >950 in 10 mins, hold 30 mins,>800 in 2 hours, hold 10 mins, >650 in 1 hour, off.
I wake up to 12 split frickin' beads. They really were ugly, but HEY.
My kiln is not right, right?
I ramped it up this morning to 940 with a rod of my new least favorite 432 moretti red. I have upped it 50 degrees every 20 minutes, and am now at 1250, and I can still stick my fingers in the door and it's just not hot. The rod is not deforming, not even a little bit. I just dinked it with my long reach pliers, and it tinked, hard as I put it in there. Bullseye is supposed to sag at 1250, I'm wanting moretti to be a tad lower. I am not crazy, this is not hot.
So:
1) I do not trust that my 1st four batches of beads are well and truly annealed, right?
2) Should I expect that a kiln with a fuji controller be able to be plugged in and heat up without the controller lying, or is it normal to have to futz with them to get them calibrated?
3) My mandrels should be hot sticking out the door, right? Should I feel more heat than I do when I have my oven broiler on (500) when I use the bead door?
4) I call AIM Tuesday and ask for a call tag? or what do I ask them for?
5) Did I put the beads up at the right temp, or too cool? (just assuming the kiln would have been hot enough)
6) Can anyone recommend a new annealing schedule if you don't like the one I used?
thanks for the help-
Sarah
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