Hello, first post and very newb question...so please be gentle with me ;)
I recently did a one day enameling course and was bitten by the bug!
Ive purchased an Efco180 with a digital controller/thermocouple KcR2
I haven't fired it up yet as I really don't know what Im doing and just a little scared!
I need it to get to 850c - it should take about 40mins.
Ive got the controller handbook.it says ...
1. to set a programme...ramp the rate in */hour
2. Then add the soak temp.
3. Add soak time.
4. Key in Segments
Just to confirm ...what is ramping, soaking, and segments?
Apologies in advance if it's a stupid question!
ramp is the rate at which you increase or decrease the temperature e.g. a rate of 200 degrees per hour, the soak temperature would be the temperature at which you want the item to sit for a while, the soak time would be the length of time that you want it to sit. Segments are different sections of the programme where you change the rate and target temperature.
so, depending on what your enamelled piece is made of, you might want it to go to 850 as fast as possible (AFAP) for which you might be able to tell the kiln to ramp at 999C per hour, to reach a soak of 850, to stay at that temperature for 10 minutes and then to ramp down AFAP at 999 per hour, or more slowly. It depends on what has been recommended to you in your course.
Hope this helps. I haven't enamelled for a long time and did it in a kiln where I had to watch it, when it glowed red and melted I switched it off.
Thank you very much, that has helped a lot.. The course was great but the kiln was already on. So we just waited for the correct temperature to show on the controller and put our pieces in. Setting the programme up on this controller is all new and our tutor never covered "soaking"or "ramping" ..I'm surprised that I'm actually just a little scared of the thing!
I will let you know how I get on in the morning.
I hope it goes well
Well, I fired it up and it all seemed to work. I managed to heat it up slowly and cool off on the first firing as advised in the "kiln manual" I then programmed the controller to "ramp" up to my desired "soak" time. The only problem I had was during the soak time, the temp ocassionally exceeded the desired temp by just 1 or 2. Degrees and the controller gave me an error 5 - overshooting temp, fire in kiln. I think I'll give kilncare a call on Tuesday if it does that again tomorrow when I have another go.
It's normal for the temperature to go up and down by a couple of degrees during a soak, that's how the control system works. It cuts off power when the temperature goes over the set level, and restores it when it drops below.
Overshoot is often because you've asked it to do something it can't quite manage: like heating quite quickly and stopping for a soak. Kilncare will be able to talk over the programme with you to see why it's happening.
It could just be the hot weather, my kilns are struggling at the moment!