Would this kiln work for annealing and garaging?

[30FootForest]

Hi,
New to lampwork. Looking for my first kiln on a limited budget.

I've been offered this kiln - as is - for free. Current owners says "it needs a new cord and some TLC"

If I could get it working, would it work for annealing and garaging beads and small torchwork sculpturals?

No "bead door" for mandrels, but it looks like it is a garage door style, so I could partially close the door to leave a gap at the bottom.

Pics here:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDUwWDYwMA==/z/B~gAAOSwabhUVudq/$_20.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDUwWDYwMA==/z/mfEAAOSw1XdUVudu/$_20.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/vC4AAOSwosFUVudz/$_20.JPG

I've been searching for a decent used kiln (or a really good sale) for quite some time and have found nothing. Until I know I will be doing this type of art for a while, it is hard to invest $800+ for a digital controlled kiln!

[Three Muses Glass]

There will be a lot of babysitting involved to anneal properly, but it can be done. You can't really beat the price. lol

[allicat]

Don't know about the kiln you've been offered, but Clay-King has a Bluebird Jr for a little over $600, including shipping.

[bshelle]

Howdy! Get it! If you're handy, you can build your own controller. Here are some instructions to start:

http://www.steveghilliard.com/my-fir...ln-controller/

[jaci]

Go for it! It's not hard to anneal with this kind of controller. You just have to play arround with it the first few times. If you get it just right a lot of times it only takes adjusting the knob 3-4 times in about 2-3h. Although it's easy to get distracted and go turn it down ever few hours... Talk about a safe annealing schedule!
Lol.

My kiln and controller was great. I knew just where to set it so it would cool about 75degrees an hour. And upon testing I found that the way the kiln was designed as soon as it hit 700 I could turn it off and it. Would cool slow enough with the insulation it had. You will probably need some fiber blanket to insulate the opening where your mandrels will stick out. (But it's cheep, and you can buy it by the foot). Your challenge will be more figuring out where to set it to hold at 950ish. I was notorious for turning kind on starting a bead and looking over to a 1800 degree kiln lol!!

Anyways.. This is a very easily workable kiln. Good find!

[30FootForest]

Thanks everyone!
I'm going to go for it.

Any instructions on what I need to do to "babysit" the kiln?
As I said, I'm a N00B! I know it is important, I know what it's for, I don't know how to do it!

[jaci]

You have to turn it down about 50 degrees every half hour. But with a kiln like this and depending on how well insulated it is, it may cool slower than than that, it's ok. But not faster. So the knob you torun is not like an oven knob it's a power controller, so for instance mine sat right at 960 if I had it set just below the #2, but only after I warmed it up on like #5 for 10 min or so. But if I just set it to the holding temp # it would never get there... Well maybe tomorrow.. So it's just playing with how much power you need to give it to hold such a temp. The way down is a similar situation. I know if I turned mine 1/4 a number it would drop say 100 degres in a bit over an hour, and then hold at that temp til I moved the knob down again. They are all a little different. But same concepts

Hence.. Babysit.. vs set and forget. It's a bit like cooking a meal in the oven vs a crock pot. One you have to check.. The other is just done when it's done.

[ESC]

A digital controller would be pretty cheap. It would give you the exact temp but you would still have to do teh manual raising and lowering of temp at appropriate times to anneal. Trying to remember where I got mine for the ceramic kiln I started out with.

[flameonglass]

Originally Posted by ESC

A digital controller would be pretty cheap. It would give you the exact temp but you would still have to do teh manual raising and lowering of temp at appropriate times to anneal. Trying to remember where I got mine for the ceramic kiln I started out with.

You have to do this with a manual controller but a digital one does it for you. You just have to program it.

[ESC]

Theoretically yes, but when I was first starting out, there were digital controllers that were not programmable. Yes, they had a digital display of the actual temperature in the kiln, but you had to manually move the temp up or down. So, still babysitting, but no guessing what temp it was in the interior.

[snoopdog6502]

thats a set point controller, just a digital read out.

[ESC]

Yes.