Paragon Fusion 8

madpup · October 04, 2009, 07:17:52 PM

I'v spotted this on ebay, it's the 13 amp version,
i have emailed the owner and put a bid in of £500,
does this sound like a good deal?

Krysia@No98 · October 05, 2009, 12:56:24 PM

have you managed to find out how much a new one costs?

The kiln I have just bought brand new cost 570 and that comes with a warranty

madpup · October 05, 2009, 06:45:23 PM

Krysia could you please let me know where you got yours,
i would rather pay the extra £70 for the warranty and deilvery,
regards

mark

Krysia@No98 · October 06, 2009, 07:29:48 AM

Should have mentioned it was a different Kiln.

I got mine from Sean at Off-Mandrel (http://off-mandrel.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=80_85) If you join his web site you get 5% off. But Martin at Tuffnell glass does Paragons (http://www.tuffnellglass.com/contents/en-uk/d33.html) and then there is Lee at Kilncare (http://www.kilncare.co.uk/kilns_glass.html) does UK made kilns - not paragons. Then warm glass too http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/Shop/CategoryProducts.aspx?CategoryId=92 (prices exclude VAT)

But if you ring up and chat to any of these guys they can give you loads of help and they are all lovely and don't (seem

to ) mind repeated calls!!!

Does that help - or have I got your hopes up unnecessarily? $:-\$

madpup · October 06, 2009, 11:00:01 AM

No such thing as bad help,

Thanks Krysia, i'll give them a look over in my quest for a cheap kiln,
regards
Mark

Krysia@No98 · October 06, 2009, 01:12:25 PM

I understand, buying a kiln feels a little like entering a mine field

I am very relieved to have finally navigated it!!

have a read of

http://www.frit-happens.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=15676.0
(this was the thread that convinced me which and from who)

there was another thread, but I can't find it

Flippopotamus · October 06, 2009, 04:48:15 PM

Hi Mark,
I bought one of these recently on ebay for £520. Tempsford Stained Glass sell it for £765-ish with delivery, but also offer a £50 voucher, so really it's £715. I mentally set my maximum price for secondhand at £500 but went a bit over 'cos there were some bits & pieces & a mould included.

It's a great kiln, but it's a lot more expensive to run than my old SC2 - about 16 units for a full fuse firing. But it means I can make big plates, which I'm in to at the mo'. It really is for large fusing - I think it would be over the top for bead annealing.

Good luck with your decision!
Flip

Zeldazog · October 06, 2009, 05:08:00 PM

I was just going to say that it was rather expensive to run compared to my Skutt Hot Start Pro - but it is about 4" bigger in diameter and I remember it has top AND side elements, doesn't it?

I monitored my Skutt (like a Fusion 7) and it took five units for a full fuse.

Flippopotamus · October 08, 2009, 12:41:57 PM

Strangely enough, last night I ran a full fuse with a shorter bubble-squeeze than before but otherwise the same schedule, and only 11 units were used (and that was with the dishwasher on too, so perhaps just 9 or 10 for the fusing). That's more encouraging than the whopping 16 units I measured before!

All the moulds I have would fit in a Hot Start Pro - maybe I should downsize..... Yes it does have side elements as well - I'm not sure of the full benefits of these. It seems counterproductive to fill my house with low energy lightbulbs and then blow away any energy savings with my energy hungry kiln!

Flip

Zeldazog · October 08, 2009, 07:43:47 PM

Quote from: Flippopotamus on October 08, 2009, 12:41:57 PMYes it does have side elements as well - I'm not sure of the full benefits of these.
Flip

Well, I presume that they're A) to fire faster and B) because its a bigger kiln needs more heat to reach temperature.

Just a though, how deep is it? Perhaps it's so you can stack a shelf, get two layers in? Couldn't do that with my top firing only, even if it was deep enough, as there wouldn't be enough heat to circulate to the bottom shelf, but with those side elements, there might be?

Other than that, I don't think it gets any hotter than my Hotstart does top temperture, I don't know if it can get there faster, but not sure that's a huge benefit for glass anyway!

I do ramp up fairly conservatively (as in for big stuff) even when the pendants are in there cos I can't be bothered to keep changing the ramp rate. Even so, at the point past the bubble soak, when the kiln is set to a fast rate, it does climb alarmingly fast. A few times, I have gone out for an hour or so, when it hasn't reached the first soak, thinking "I will flash vent that when I get back", only to find it's already got there and is on its way back down to annealing stage. So, it appears to be powerful enough!

I actually tested mine on a plug in meter, so it only measured the amount the kiln used, nothing else in the house. Full fuse firing, with a long bubble soak - I was that surprised at how little units it used, I tried it on two or three more firings, and it gave me the same results each time, around five units.