New Prometheus-Pro 7 Kiln - Couple of Questions!

Redhotsal · October 27, 2010, 11:00:18 AM

Fruddy,

You want to try and keep the beads from touching anything when you first put them in the kiln. You'll garage at around 520C but your beads will be hotter than this when they go in the kiln - so they may dent if they sit on the floor and I suppose they might even stick to the tile - which I'm assuming is a refractory tile. That means it's heat proof but sloppy glass will stick to it. You might want to get some batt wash (aka kiln shelf wash) http://www.potterycrafts.co.uk/Products/00030010/P3380.5. Ignore the photo next it it - that's a lump of clay - batt wash is a white powder which you mix with water. Looks like plaster. You paint it onto your kiln shelves to stop glazes and glass from sticking. You can actually use it as a bead realease but it's not very strong and breaks easily.

Best thing to do is probably build yourself some sort of rack to sit at the back of the kiln so that you can poke the free end of the mandrel into/onto the rack. A steel plate with holes drilled in is ideal. If you're technically challenged call Lee at Kiln Care - they'll build you something to fit and know/care about lampworking. You could stand your tile up and drill holes into it for the same effect. Dont' breathe in the dust.

After the bead has been in the kiln for a while you can stack them up or rest them on the floor - but you'll need to allow a good twenty minutes for it to cool to the kiln temp sufficiently first.

Sadly, many suppliers are just happy to sell you a kiln - they're not bothered about what you do with it. The Prometheus is not a "dedicated" bead annealer - it was designed to do something else aswell - the peep hole is for use at higher temperatures - i.e. when the work is actually glowing (as glass does when it is fusing) so for bead making the peep hole is not much use. To this end very few suppliers will supply the kiln with the stuff you actually NEED for bead making - like a rack for the mandrels.

Yes you poke the business end of the bead through into the kiln and the free end of the mandrel pokes out of the door. Close it as tightly as you can. I don't care what anybody says about this, running a kiln will a massive hole in the side will surely knacker the kiln over time and besides will cost you a mint in electricity as the kiln is always struggling to get to temperature.

When I first started my bead door wasn't closed enough and any beads that were too close to the door didn't anneal. I checked them with polarisers. So I had to make sure the door fitted better. This meant taking the "mandrel tray" off mine. It was always a nightmare when opening the door after that as the beads would often tumble out. I don't get this problem with the kiln I have now, but thenn it was designed by a bead maker, not a fuser/enameller/ceramicist.

Fruddy · October 27, 2010, 01:58:25 PM

thanks all for your really really helpful advice and tips and taking the time to type it all out for me. Really appreciate it.

Going to have a go with a simple programme tonight and run it empty, fingers crossed!!!

♥♥Tan♥♥ · October 27, 2010, 03:01:52 PM

Fruddy do you mind retitling this thread questions about the Prometheus kiln or something to that effect, because this kiln is so new I am guessing that a lot of people will need the info you are finding now and renaming the thread will make it easier to find

poledra1958 · October 27, 2010, 03:04:08 PM

Quote from: Fruddy on October 27, 2010, 01:58:25 PM
thanks all for your really really helpful advice and tips and taking the time to type it all out for me. Really appreciate it.

Going to have a go with a simple programme tonight and run it empty, fingers crossed!!!

Let us know how it goes, specially the programming info as TAN said it will be a good reference for the future.

Jenny

Trudi · October 27, 2010, 03:19:20 PM

Quote from: Tan on October 27, 2010, 03:01:52 PM

Fruddy do you mind retitling this thread questions about the Prometheus kiln or something to that effect, because this kiln is so new I am guessing that a lot of people will need the info you are finding now and renaming the thread will make it easier to find

And when we have the info it could be added to wiki

Fruddy · October 28, 2010, 12:38:27 PM

Quote from: Tan on October 27, 2010, 03:01:52 PM

Fruddy do you mind retitling this thread questions about the Prometheus kiln or something to that effect, because this kiln is so new I am guessing that a lot of people will need the info you are finding now and renaming the thread will make it easier to find

Done!

♥♥Tan♥♥ · October 28, 2010, 04:40:12 PM

Thankyou missus

SilverGems89 · October 28, 2010, 05:53:18 PM

have you had a go at progamming it and running it yet Rachel?

♥♥Tan♥♥ · October 28, 2010, 06:18:17 PM

I bet she is worshipping it as we type

Fruddy · October 29, 2010, 12:57:49 PM

Quote from: SilverGems89 on October 28, 2010, 05:53:18 PM
have you had a go at progamming it and running it yet Rachel?

Not yet Gems - tomorrow is the day! I have not been getting home from work until gone half six nearly every night this week, by which time I am tired and not able to cope with working out what I am doing, so I am going to concentrate on it first thing in the morning, run it empty and then put a batch of my fuglies (of which there are many!) into it, if it misbehaves or I've cocked it up and it turns them into soup then hopefully it won't matter too much!