Hi guys!
I've just bought a Paragon SC2 kiln from the lovely Shirley Giles, and I'm itching to start using it! Anybody got a program that's good for annealing? There isn't one in the manual :(
Many thanks!
Jo :D
there is a whole lot of stuff on varrious other threads ...try a search ...im sure you will find what you are looking for ........i have not got one or i would post more helpful advice ;D
Here is a reply I gave to a similar thread a while back - I use the same kiln, so I hope it helps,
You have 2 choices of how to use the kiln:
1) make all your beads, let them cool in a fibre blanket or vermiculite, then put them all into the kiln at once to anneal them from cold. This is called batch annealing. The beads can stay on the mandrels, or else take them off and stack them up on the floor of the kiln or in a metal dish or thread them onto one or two short mandrels and prop the mandrels up on stilts inside the kiln. You need to programme the kiln to heat up slowly (150 degrees per hour) until you get to 520 degrees. Then "hold" the temperature for 30 minutes to an hour (the larger your beads the longer you should hold them at this temperature). Then cool the kiln down slowly (80 degrees per hour) until you reach 370 degrees. After that you can get the kiln to switch off (type 0000).
2) put the beads on their mandrels into the kiln as soon as you have made them. This is called garaging. You programme the kiln to heat up to 500 degrees at full speed. Then you "hold" the temperature for however long you will spend (I use 7 hours, just in case of a long session!). Then heat at full speed up to 520 degrees, hold for 30 min - 1 hour and cool down slowly to 370 degrees as above. Start the kiln programme when you start making the beads and when you have finished you can "fast forward" to the annealing bit of the programme by pressing the up arrow until SStP appears on the display. Then press Start and the kiln will jump to the next stage (heating up to 520)
I think this is the thread that I followed to set up my program in my SC2
http://www.frit-happens.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7414.0
That's super - thanks. That's a lot of information, and it's definitely cleared up some questions I had!
Thank youuuu :)
Hi Jo
I just got home, so am a bit tired, but will try to email you some info tomorrow or Tuesday.
That thread on the link in the previous post is a very good place to start though :)
I followed this one and there's so much other info in the whole thread!
http://www.frit-happens.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=859.0
Tanya :)