My dad is one of those people where he'd rather mend/fix/make something than spend the money to buy it new and easy. So when I mentioned that a Bead cube is about £500, a gasp and a lecture saying "oh we could do that easily with a blahlahblahbl". He is an engineer/programmer so he likes faffing and fiddling in his garage with bits and bobs. He's currently fixing a controller for me to run a little enamelling kiln for annealing. Which if it works proper, it would be cushty. He has also been playing with the idea of making a little kiln using soldering iron whatsits.
So other than this enamelling kiln idea, has anyone (or anyone's husbands/dads/etc) found or insisted on an alternative to the "expensive" and "easy" kiln to anneal beads?
Yes, I'm married to the man who thinks that copper pipe is an acceptable substitute for curtain poles.
Quote from: Redhotsal on January 08, 2013, 11:33:00 AM
Yes, I'm married to the man who thinks that copper pipe is an acceptable substitute for curtain poles.
You mean it isn't? The Verdi Gris would look quite stylish . . . . .
Tehe Sal! I think if my Dad wasn't living next to Ikea he'd be thinking along the same lines too :P
http://www.devardiglass.com/MiniBeadAnnealer.htm
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169208
Much as I like a lot of Devardi's stuff and much as I would love to use that as an excellent rod warmer I think you'd have to be out of your mind or, want a really good challenge, to consider using that as a bead annealer. Coming from a woman who has tolerated copper curtain rails for the past eight years this is saying something.
Thanks for those links.. Quite interesting the guy that made his own. I've got a feeling that might take a few years for me :D
Can people who have got normal beady kilns give an argument *for* the "bit more expensive" and "easy" kin option?
Quote from: Beansprout on January 09, 2013, 12:04:37 PM
Can people who have got normal beady kilns give an argument *for* the "bit more expensive" and "easy" kin option?
Yes, life is too short. No matter how great your "customised" kiln will have been built, it will either go wrong or the bloke that built it will be constantly "tweaking" it and fiddling with it. There will be very little time when you have it all to yourself as he will be "modifying" it - which means it will be sitting on your dining room table for six months doing nothing. Bite the bullet and go and buy a proper bead annealing kiln. You get what you pay for.
And, depending on what you buy, you can use it for other things. Which is the argument I gave my husband and which I really will get round to one day, honest!
The devardi ones cheap, but as there's no 'real' temp controller you've got no idea what it's actually doing! Did it actually reach temp? Has it over shot resulting in a ruined kiln - loss of priceless beads ;D You've no alarm system warning of any of these. Can you actually trust the beads have been annealed. The manual cool down is what I'd call 'interesting' to fast and you could loose the whole contents through thermal shock. Are there any safety devices on this kiln? What warranty is there? What's the customer service like? (asking this as I know someone that's having 'Quality issues' with another Devardi tool.
When we upgraded to our Maxi we brought it without the controller and used the one of the Beadcube on it. We then brought a cheaper controller for the Beadcube which allows us to use it a a test fusing/ demo kiln. The new controller is ok but is no where near as easy to use as Kilncares, it has less ramp down options/programs and loads of PID functions - I come from an electrical instrumentation/programmer background this took my right back to my apprentice days!
I'd go with KilnCare anyday - waiting for my 3rd Kiln from them to arrive sometime tomorrow - this ones an Olympic though as they had it at a really good price! The next one will mean a studio move as 3 phase will be needed ;D
Unless the fella building your kiln has done it before I suspect you may end up with a kiln that is never quite what you want and might have endless disappointments as the gorgeous creations you put in the kiln come out as puddles or jigsaws.
I could be wrong, what do I know, your kiln fella may be a genius and build you a right corker. ;D
From someone who has made do with a manual ceramic kiln for a long time for fusing and a 'proper' bead kiln I would happily say the proper kiln is the headache and happy free way to go every single time. It does what it says on the tin with no problems and if you buy from Kilncare you will find they are beyond brilliant with their care, they are absolutely the best customer service I have ever encountered.
Don't forget to tell your dad that kilns don't really lose a lot of value so a patchwork enamel kiln will never have much value in the long run but a beadcube will always keep a good value.
I have a uhlig it was my first kiln when I used to enamel, its donkeys years old, has lived in all sorts of damp places, is rusty as heck and STILL runs like a dream whenever I plug it in, which is rarely now. It may not be a bead annealer but its a darn good kiln.
am I missing something or does that Devardi have NO DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
You appear to be correct, Lee ;D
"You can cover the annealer at this point with a ceramic fiber blanket if you wish. This is actually best. I put a small piece above and below the mandrels to cover the opening. Just be sure to never cover this annealer when it is in the "on" position"
Quote from: Lee - Kilncare on January 21, 2013, 11:45:36 AM
am I missing something or does that Devardi have NO DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Then, it's what you'd call "a heater" surely? ;)
Quote from: Redhotsal on January 21, 2013, 12:14:30 PM
Quote from: Lee - Kilncare on January 21, 2013, 11:45:36 AM
am I missing something or does that Devardi have NO DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Then, it's what you'd call "a heater" surely? ;)
;D ;D ;D
You know those stickers that come on the doors of new fridges etc that scale A to F with regards to how efficient the appliance appliance is.............be interesting if that had one.....it would be a Z ;D ;D
Then again it won't have one.......there is no door to stick it on ;D ;D ;D ;D
Well I admit my first 'kiln' was a cheap on off ebay that turned out to have a temperature controller that was just one of those bimetallic strips - sort of thing you'd find on an old heater :-\ I popped in a themocouple themometer I had, and was shocked to see how much it bounced up and down as it heated up, I ended up putting my own very basic power controller and kept tweeking the dial every 5 minutes to keep it on temperature.
I realised I'd bought a lemon, and wasted my money, and ended up re-annealing everything when I got a proper kiln.
However the moral of the story is, when a year or so later I unbolted the back of this mini kiln as I was going to use it for something else, found that the mains cable had partly melted through, and rest had gone very brittle and charred - I hadn't run it more that a few times, maybe 5 at the very most! :o :o :o. Like everyone else has said, you get what you pay for, and modern proper kilns are built so well they will last for years if looked after.
Beansprout, I'd like to meet your dad, he sounds like an interesting kind of guy!
I've just finished building my own kiln from scratch, and you're right, it does take years.
Although it cost less than £200 in the end, and is probably 4x the volume of a bead cube, it certainly has its downsides.
Aside from how long it took to source all the materials, my controller can only soak, not ramp, so I have to manually raise/lower the temp every 5 min for the hours that each ramp lasts.
Also if I touch the exposed element with a mandrel I could easily electrocute myself. Anyway, it's nothing I would allow anybody else to use, just from a safety standpoint.
Redhotsal is exactly right about the constant tweaking as well, if I weren't an engineer/programmer who enjoyed tinkering on the kiln as much as doing the lampworking itself, I would probably write it off as a lost cause ;).
Quote from: Redhotsal on January 08, 2013, 11:33:00 AM
Yes, I'm married to the man who thinks that copper pipe is an acceptable substitute for curtain poles.
That can't be a cheep alternative in this day and age. I reckon it would look pretty cool...
Anywho
I agree with the others, the kiln is a really good investment and will sell on at a very good price. You may be worth looking out for a second hand one on here. There is also some come back on a pre made kiln going wrong as apposed to a home made one going wrong. Do you really want to see hours of hard work as a puddle at the bottom of your kiln?
As this is a bit of kit that you will be heavily reliant on it is worth spending money on.