Ultra Lite Kiln

[amber0307]

Does anyone have an Ultra lite mini kiln?  I'm thinking of buying one as the budget won't stretch yet to a CAldera and am keen to do some fused glass jewellery and PMC.  Do you know if this kiln would be suitable for small scale glass fusing such as coasters and jewellery?

I'm guessing you can't anneal lampwork beads in it........do correct me if im wrong!  Do you think it is worth the £162 investment?  Otherwise looks like I will be waiting until next summer for a kiln of any kind......

[furrybert]

I have never used an ultralite because I didn't see it before I bought my slightly larger kiln.  I was quite miffed because it would have suited my needs at the time very well!

As far as I know it can be used for glass fusing.  There's some info at this website: http://www.kitiki.co.uk/kiln.htm

I think the main problem you will find with this kiln is that it is on-off and therefore you can't set a specific temperature or ramp up/down.  So annealing beads would probably be very difficult indeed.  Although you can adjust the temperature in a way by shifting the lid on the kiln a bit.  You'd need a pyrometer to know exactly what effect you're having though.

The ultralite should be fine for everything you need except annealing, so it might well be a good purchase so that you can get started doing the PMC and fused glass.  I know it drove me mad saving up for my kiln!


They (kitiki) also sell what they call a mini-kiln which is a small front opening kiln with adjustable temperature up to 1000C.  This is the one I bought and I'm very pleased with it.  It comes with the ramp function turned off but this can be enabled and comes with instructions how to do it.  The only problem with annealing beads in this kiln is the firing chamber is too small to accept mandrels.  There is a little viewing hole in the door so you could stick the mandrel out of there, or do what I do and bulk anneal once you have the beads off the mandrels.  There is some danger of cracking beads when doing this of course.  And there seems to be some universal law that it will always be the ones you liked the best.  Not that I'm bitter ;-)
Anyway, I mention the mini kiln because it is cheaper than a caldera and has stood me in good stead for PMC, glass fusing and annealing beads. There is a limit to the size of the work you can fire in it, but the chamber is bigger than an ultralite I think.  So if you decide to save up for something bigger than the ultralite, this might be an alternative worth considering.
Hope this helps!

Nicola

[Robin]

hi

both are on www.electrickilns.co.uk.

the ultralite is great for metal clays and keum bo. it heats to about 840C. it doesn't have a programmer but, at 250W, you could use an in-line standard lamp dimmer (with a slider usually). a digital pyrometer would let you experimemt accurately. you can position the lid to adjust the max temp (experiment?). we use several during our art clay courses. re size: it's about as big as a breakfast coffee cup. you can see what's happening.

the mini-kiln heats to 1000C. set the ramp rate and it goes to the set temp and stays there. or you can get it to ramp down. we use one in our art clay/enamelling courses. the programmer does not have four eight-segment programmes like the paragon kilns. re size: you could just about get a bag of sugar inside. there's a peephole in the door.

buy a digital timer (9.95) to remind you that time's up as neither kiln turns itself off.

thx

rob

[amber0307]

hi

both are on www.electrickilns.co.uk.

the ultralite is great for metal clays and keum bo. it heats to about 840C. it doesn't have a programmer but, at 250W, you could use an in-line standard lamp dimmer (with a slider usually). a digital pyrometer would let you experimemt accurately. you can position the lid to adjust the max temp (experiment?). we use several during our art clay courses. re size: it's about as big as a breakfast coffee cup. you can see what's happening.

the mini-kiln heats to 1000C. set the ramp rate and it goes to the set temp and stays there. or you can get it to ramp down. we use one in our art clay/enamelling courses. the programmer does not have four eight-segment programmes like the paragon kilns. re size: you could just about get a bag of sugar inside. there's a peephole in the door.



Thanks Rob that's really helpful - one of the things I am interested in making in addition to small fused glass jewellery is coasters.  Is the ultra-lite large enough to make a standard sized coaster in?

Thanks,
Paula

buy a digital timer (9.95) to remind you that time's up as neither kiln turns itself off.

thx

rob

[Fired Silver]

Hi Paula

sorry to chip in!!  I'm sure Rob will be back soon.

I've got an Ultralite and I love it!!!  However, I've also got a glass kiln too and I use that for any glass project as I know that it's ramping up and down just how I want it to.

I teach metal clay classes and use my ultralite there for firing and I use it at home to fire pretty much eveything I make with metal clay, and I use it for my enamelling work.  It's tiny so you wouldn't get a coaster into it - I often have it on my kitchen worktop next to the cooker firing away while I'm cooking tea!!

Rebecca

[Robin]

hi

all the product info is on www.ultralitekiln.co.uk. i suspect that a coaster might not fire evenly if it's almost the diameter of the kiln. but, as the only 'creative' thing i made with it (from art clay) looked like an oven glove, i'm not the best person to ask about REALLY using your kiln.

thx

rob

[SilverClay]

And it wasn't even a nice oven glove. Not that I would tell anyone. 

I just wanted to chip in here, as spot on topic, I just had a go with the UltraLites and glass a couple of days ago, and I was so pleased with the results.

Someone had contacted me saying they had a problem. She could only manage to tack fuse in it, and her enamels took forever, which worried me. Until now, I've only used the Ultra Lite for Keum Boo (luuurve it) and metal clay, not glass, as I tend to use my Paragon SC2 for that. Habit, I guess. So when I got this comment/complaint I got a bit worried.

So I set up three of my UltraLites  ( you can never have too many kilns!), put some glass in, put the lid on and turned them on. They took about 35 minutes to heat up to the right temp. I then turned on my timer for 5 minutes (the one I wear around my neck to stop myself happily setting off to the shops or making myself to comfortable in front of the telly. *Note to self - MUST NOT fire or fuse for 8 hours...*), checked the cabs after that and felt they needed a bit longer so gave them another 10 minutes - and then, there they were, one perfect little round cab in each kiln. I turned the kilns off, kept the lid on and let them cool slowly in the kiln.

And they look great, smooth, round, and cute. As only glass can.

I can't see any cracks, and have been juggling them around a bit to test them. The ONE thing I want to do is to get some polarising filters to check for stress in the glass. As all my annealing up until now have been done with digital controllers showing the temperature I'd like to be on the safe side and check.

There are loads of people in the US fusing in the UltraLite, but I haven't seen anyone do a polarising test yet, so thought I'd have a go. If necessary, I guess you could close the little venthole at the front with some fiber blanket after turning off the kiln, that would probably help to retain the temp a little longer.

Sorry, I'm rambling.

I wouldn't do coasters in it, but larger sized jewellery pieces should be ok. Say 5-6cm square? Maybe I'll try one to see how it goes. Might not be until end of July though, as I'm stupidly busy before going to Indiana on Sunday for the PMC conference. Guess who is excited! 

Petra

PS - forgot to say, the reason she had a problem was because she was trying to fuse on the firing shelf. In the UltraLite you just put the glass (with shelf paper) straight onto the heating ceramic element. Same with enamels. Pleased that I solved that mystery! DS.

[Fired Silver]

I posted this before I had your email this morning Petra 

Have been enamelling this afternoon directly on the element and it's FANTASTIC!!!  Much, much quicker!!

I'd be interested to know what happens if you do a polarising test and that's a good idea about plugging the hole!

Rebecca

PS - do you have time to be here, get on with some work 

[SilverClay]

LOL - because I'm supposed to be in the studio making about 50 metal clay charms for the charm swap at the conference... And I can't decide on the design. 

My heart wants to make something really nice (show off!  ), but my head knows it is impossible with the little time I have left! So I'm procrastinating. As that is usually so very helpful and means I end up running around screaming like a headless chicken at the last minute!

Oh, and then I have to do some washing... And then packing... And prepare some stuff for work... And find my tickets...! Help!

So glad it worked better for you too! I was so impressed with my little kilns, they did a brilliant job. As soon as it was done correctly. Sorry about possibly (probably) have caused some of that confusion to start with by the way (with my advice about the shelf...).

Petra

[Robin]

hi

you could make lots of tiny silver oven gloves. they make unusual charms ... i've certainly never seen one like mine.

r

[Vicki]

are you guys chatting on line when your in the same house

[SilverClay]

Big house you know. 

We barely see each other during the day, me and Lisa are upstairs in the office, and Rob is downstairs - we only use the intercom. LOL!

[Vicki]

  I must get me one of those intercom thingeys, house isn't as big as yours, but we've been married longer, thats my excuse 

[Robin]

you can also buy little two-way radio handsets that look much like a regular mobile - so no call charges. some work up to a km.

you could say you were at work, but actually be having coffee and a danish ...

rob

[SilverClay]

  Is THAT what you do all day long?!