Am I batch annealing too cool????

[Betty the Chook]

I have read everywhere on here that you all seem to anneal at 520 degrees. I was told to hold at 500 for an hour and then ramp down slowly. Is this hot enough? I am scared to overcook and distort my beads, but am concerned that they won't be properly annealed. I have been wearing some and am quite violent with them with no breakages yet. It's so confusing.........

[sarah t]

you wont distort the beads ...the temperature is not hot enough to melt the glass ....there are several schedules depending on your kiln type in other threads ....try a search

[Hamilton Taylor]

520 is near the top end of the range for Effetre, etc. I think 500 is a little too cool.
I garage at 510, and anneal at 516, and have no problems that weren't there in the first place!

Sean

[glassworks]

what sean said, if you have solid beads then i would suggest a hold at 520, griet makes loads and loads of hollows and she holds a few degrees below that and places her beads on rack..

500 is below the annealing temp, it may be just that smidge too cool...

[Betty the Chook]

OK. I have bravely (?) done a batch at 510 and all was good. Next time I will go to 520, gulp. (Or if I am a little scared perhaps 516)
Thanks

[princess pink]

but i was told to anneal a bit cooler for silver glass as it kept losing its shine. i anneal them at 493  & hold for 2 hours...is that ok

[Steampunkglass]

but i was told to anneal a bit cooler for silver glass as it kept losing its shine. i anneal them at 493  & hold for 2 hours...is that ok

that does sound too cool as well, I've not used 104 silver glass that much, but I've only ever annealed them at 520. I can't see the few extra degrees to take it up to 520 will be a problem. I am sure some of the regular 104 glass folks here will probably agree with me? 

If you are really unsure than get two bits of polorising filter (I got a couple of bits from Sal a while back, she might still have some for sale?) and put a bead between the two. If it's not annealed properly it will show up the stress lines - although it's no help for opaque beads!

I know it's not quite the same glass, but I'm annealing boro with silver on the surface at 567, and it comes out nice and bright still.

[princess pink]

It's only triton I have a problem with. It loses it's reduction if I anneal amy higher than 493. It's a much longer cycle, hold on 493 for 2 hours then ramp slowly down to 180 and hold again and then again to 0. But it takes about 11 hours in total, compared to about 7 in my 520 schedule.

Any tips??

[silverlemon]

The annealing temp for Effetre is actually not one temperature but a range. I had a link to a site by Kim Osibin but it doesn't work anymore......
I'm waffling but I'll pop back tomorrow when I'm not falling asleep to give some proper info.

I should quickly add that I find all this talk about temperatures rather amusing because it really depends on how hot your kiln runs, as you may be programming 520 deg C but really getting 510 through your kiln where you actually put your beads.

I'd advise anyone who is annealing to get a pyrometer and link it to a hand held meter that you can easily get in Homebase or B&Q and do some temperature measurements to check how your kiln is running, then you can safely set your temperatures.

I'll find the data on Effetre tomorrow.

By the way you can anneal at a lower temperature than 520 (I know this needs quantifying) but you hold it for longer.
Night all....snooooze