Stupid Kiln Question

[lyzzydee]

I have batch annealed all of my beads and I am now on the point of doing real live beads hot off the press.
So in the interests of practice I took one of my mandrels with a permanant bead and popped in in the bead door. I was expecting the beads tosort of hover in the middle of the kiln (by magic obviously)because they don't they sit on the bottom once you close the bead door. So is that right?? won't I just get a load of flat sided beads??

See I told you it was a stupid question!!!!

[Kalorlo]

You can put a mandrel rest or similar inside the kiln so that the beads don't touch the floor - I'm using the kiln prop thingy that came with mine. It's just a cuboid ceramic block that I put at the back so that the mandrel ends can rest on it, but you can buy stainless steel ones to fit various kilns that have multiple rows of holes to poke the mandrel ends in.

But your beads shouldn't get flat spots, provided you let the surface solidify before letting them touch the floor. A rest just makes it easier.

[TracyJayne]

I have a beadcube and it came with an oblong block which you rest the other end of the mandrel on (the magic, lol) and therefore no flat sided beads!

Now, if only the magic block was indeed magic, the beads would come out looking vaguely like they looked in my head before they went in the kiln, rather than the generally a little disappointing ones that come out at the moment 

[Blue Box Studio]

I got a metal thingy to go in my kiln from either Tuffnels or might have been Warm Glass [they are up the road so bought the kiln there and might have got at the same time].  It's sort of U shaped with a lower front and higher back so I have 2 levels to rest mandrels on.  Bad description, need coffee!  Whatever, it wasn't expensive and works well.

[turnedlight]

I don't use a rest inside the kiln, I put the bead in, hold it for a few secs til I see the last of the glow go, and then lay it down. In the beginning I sometimes got marks but I very rarely do now. I suppose I could get a rack but have never felt the need. I guess it would be good though, to stop the possibility of the mandrel sliding out which is more possible with a heavy 5mm mandrel.

[MadelineBunyan]

I now use a kiln rest made out of chunky stainless steel mesh,

but what I used for a while was a strip of fibre blanket across the front of the kiln which helped to keep the smaller beads off the 'floor'

[stuwaudby]

Be careful with a bead cube, the heating element is coiled around the cavity, meaning that when heating the surface can get much hotter than the air temperature measured by the thermo couple.

I sometimes get the problem of the bead being introduced sticking to a bead already in the kiln. I tend to introduce new beads to one side, clear of anything else and then move them over to the other as I need space for a new one.

You should also have a think about what holding/garage temperature you use, I have dropped mine to 450 to mitigate the sticking problem.

[lyzzydee]

Thank you I think I'll try and get some sort of rack business to elevate them off the floor i did think that I could use the little ceramic block thigs with a mandrel across them to make a shelf effect. I have yet to program the kiln for a bake in session!!!!

[lyzzydee]

Another thought, what about putting that pad of white stuff that came with the kiln on the floor of the oven???

[GaysieMay]

The white stuff is probably fibre blanket that Madeline talked about.  It's like fibre glass - try not to touch it too much as it can make you itchy. 

[Madam Steph]

Thats a small square of fibreboard. Another thing that was broken when I opened it