What do you think of your MAXI, MAXINE if you're lucky to have one!

silverlemon · October 17, 2008, 10:55:49 AM

The title says it all. Dickie says I should get one......my cunning plan worked to take him to Lee's stand at the Festival of Glass.....but joking aside......what do you think ladies?
Do you have any niggles or is it everything you ever dreamed of (including the colour)......eager minds want to know.
Can you get tons of beads in, do they stick and leave tiny pok marks if they touch (like mine does), does the rubino go fuzzy where it touches the kiln floor (again like mine, what a pain as you have to keep rubino off the floor), can you stack the beads up at one end, how many beads will it take? What about BIG mandrels? do they fall out with the weight.....

So many questions!

any answers gratefully received as my finger is poised to order one.

Hotglass28 · October 17, 2008, 12:54:09 PM

My only grumble. And I know I should know better as I know its only a annealer, but the one thing which put me off is that it does not go temp high for fusing.

I am a fuser and I have my large kiln for that purpose but sometimes I need only small pieces done at one go (usually commissions) and thats why I am buying the cube from them.

Also, I see my self only doing a few beads a day (maybe 20?) not loads of them so the small one is ideal for me to get going.

The pink does look yummy, I wonder if the cube could be painted it?

Denise

Caroline · October 17, 2008, 01:03:14 PM

ah Sarah,

your rubino will be fine. When i tested the kiln there was a piece of metal at the back of the kiln with lots of holes in, you put the end of the mandrel in there and your beads dosen't touch the kiln floor!! I did mention to Lee about making the holes bigger for larger mandrels so you'll have to ask him but the kiln will take a lot of beads, i had a whole afternoons work in it and it was still only 1/4 full, not sure on the exact number of beads it will take.

You could also ask Claire and Sal (or maybe they will see this) as they also tested it, i think Sal had it longer than me and Claire so she might be a better person to ask but i want one once i've got the money

*rowanberry* · October 17, 2008, 01:19:30 PM

Hiya Sarah, I tested the kiln and made Lee iron out any niggles I had about it and now I think its fab:D

The kiln will hold LOOOOOOOOOOADS, and I doubt they will touch whilst in it in with the mesh being used at the back. The kiln has a low floor so they tend not to touch the floor anyway as the kiln relies on the mesh at the back and the ledge on the door to hold the beads - and not the floor. But I suggested some people may like a level floor and want things to rest on the floor now and again (ie off mandrel), so there is a removable floor which takes it up to ledge level (ie a level floor, not a lowered one). There is a removable metal rest that will counterbalance the mandrels if need be so they shouldn't flip out.

As for very large/unusual mandrels, this is one thing I made Lee design for. There is a "third" of the kiln where you can take the back mesh out and replace it with a half mesh so you can rest heart mandrels, cab mandrels- the metal ledge outside should counterbalance them.

I also made him make it go to 650c so it could do PMC

he got bullied a lot by me, that man.

The last one I saw was the one that was taken to Stourbridge, I dunno if anyting has changed since. My opinion is this a fab kiln for people who make a lot of beads, do bead fairs etc. Its def one that would be good for the pros and has been designed knowing what beadmakers want from a kiln.

I hope that helps?

Josephine · October 17, 2008, 02:39:57 PM

I have one and I'm really pleased with it.

I use the holes at the back to put my mandrels in so that the beads don't touch eachother or the bottom of the kiln. Then if I am working really flat out I tend to pull them out of the rack and pile them up them on the base of the kiln once they have been in there for a while to make it easier to put the new beads in the rack. To be honest I think you could just keep adding them to the rack if you want to but I just find it easier like that. I've had about 80 beads in at one time and there is still lots of room. Piling them up like I do you could fit hundreds in there.

On the first one or two cycles you did have to be a bit careful as the fringe along the bottom of the doors is still a bit stiff at that stage and if you aren't careful it sweeps the mandrels back out when you open the door. Not a problem by the third day though.

Can't think of anything bad to say about it. The controller is nice and easy to use, good programming instructions. It ramps up quickly and hold the temperature well when you are adding beads. The kiln is well built and as Claire says there is enough flexiblility there that you can change it to the way you want it.

I think between Claire and Sal, Lee had no choice but to make a good job of it.

Sulis (Hazel) · October 17, 2008, 04:09:42 PM

Thank (insert appropriate deity here)! Mine is due any second at home - I just wish I was there to collect her instead of my Mum! Can't wait.

Lee - Kilncare · October 18, 2008, 01:12:14 AM

well, just back from a day of seeing agents and dropping off a couple of MAXInes. Can you believe how long it has taken me to "nip" over to Woking and get home since I left yours Sul!!!!

11.45 and siting in solid traffic on the M6

Nice to see good reports so far.

Right then, one by one as they come in.... The top temperature....well, ideally we wanted to make this a kiln capable of fusing BUT it would have compromised it's beading capabilities, things such as the mandrel opening would have effected the fusing and in making it good for fusing, it would have restricted mandrel access etc.
Also, to make this kiln 100% safe we either had to door switch the doors so that the elements turned off when the doors were opened (this would have pushed the price well above the £1000 mark and still had questionable reliability) or use the elements we have used, which in turn limited the top temperature to 650c ish.
Once we realised this would be just a bead / flameworking kiln we had only one objective....to make it the best in the world. So rather than make an O.K. all rounder, we aimed for a full monty beader. We felt it would fit our corporate image much better to produce a specialised, top draw item which was specific to it's claims.

The seal "brush"...well, I searched the whole planet over for a high temperature "brush" type cloth and came up with nothing.
At the design stage I wanted to use a draught excluder method of closing off the mandrel opening at the bottom of the doors. You see, even though a couple of mm of brush won't hold back a great amount of heat, it will greatly reduce air movement and convection, which in turn reduces heat loss.
The high temperature cloth company that we get other items from came up with the idea that, if we used one of their 800c glass fibre cloths and it was cut like a Vileda (spelling?), over a short period, the horizontal strands would drop out and the Vileda would become a multiple of strands...a brush. So in reality, it will deteriorate to improve.
The ones we brought back from the IFG were turning into lovely soft brushes that moulded around each mandrel and they were only used for 1 week.

On a lighter note, as has been said, Sal, Di, Claire and Caroline were a tough bunch to please and I would love to take the credit for my pure genius....in reality, all I did was take on board their ideas and grumbles and sorted em. You won't believe how hard it is, taking something around for opinions, that you think is sooooo right, can be when you find out that it is actually sooooo wrong

. But without their honesty and some of it was pretty brutal, this kiln would have been a mere shadow of what it has turned out to be.

My one claim to genius however in this is the KCR1 controller. Now this one is all mine. The whole ethos behind the controller was simplicity and capability and I think both boxes have been ticked big time.

RIGHT THEN MAXI AND MAXIne USERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I would really appreciate if you would let me know, either via pm , email, or on here in public view...

a) your initial, immediate thoughts when you got and first used the kiln

and

b)after a month or so of use, what you like and what you don't.

now I'm gonna finish me beer and get off to bed

Sulis (Hazel) · October 18, 2008, 10:39:04 AM

Blimey Lee, I was wondering if you'd suffer the Friday night road madness - seems you did - just glad to got to your beer in the end

I'll get a chance to fire up my MAXIne hopefully late this afternoon, but I need to find a good firing programme first. So my next question is....

Is there a pre programmed annealing programme in the controller, or does anyone have a good one I can pinch to start off please?

$:-\$

Josephine · October 18, 2008, 12:32:22 PM

Ramp Full
Temp 520
Hold however long you think you will work plus an hour. I have mine at 13 hours and if I finish early I skip to the next segment an hour or so after the last bead has gone in.
Ramp 78
Temp 371
Hold 10
End

This was from an earlier post on here that someone did, can't remember who.

Sulis (Hazel) · October 18, 2008, 12:35:32 PM

Oooooh FAB! Thanks Josephine.

I did a trawl through the archives but couldn't work out which suggested schedule would be suitable for this kiln, as this is the first kiln controller I've owned. I'm a kiln-controller-virgin!

Lee, I'll let you know first thoughts by Monday evening

silverlemon · October 18, 2008, 09:37:45 PM

I love the way this thread is going, and excellent you've joined in Lee.

It was good to meet you at Stourbridge, and you can see I haven't stopped thinking about your new kiln much since. I'm really starting to get fed up with my bargain box now and am keen to make a change.
I've nagged Dickie to improve his controller he made for me but he can't be bothered (

) especially when he thinks yours looks good.

Bring it on

Ok so roughly how much is delivery and how long would I have to wait for one? or would I get door to door Lee stylie delivery too?

andrew · October 19, 2008, 12:25:48 AM

We have a Maxi and it's a great kiln, loads of space, easy to use, does not get too hot on the outside, although have had a couple of beads hit the deck when the door is opened, thin mandrels are particularly at risk, but I rarely use mandrels as I am an off mandrel kind of guy. But I did learn that quick reactions can lead to a burnt thumb, never try to catch your mandrel when it's falling through the air on it's way to bounce on the floor.

How do you skip the segment, I spent ages trying to skip the segment, and in the end had to change the timer to hold for 00:00.

Cheers

Andrew

Lush! · October 19, 2008, 09:34:13 AM

Quote from: silverlemon on October 18, 2008, 09:37:45 PM

or would I get door to door Lee stylie delivery too?

Hmmm, my house is on the way .... I haven't stopped thinking about this kiln either so I'm following your thread with interest Sarah - actually I went to the website yesterday and would have pressed the BUY BUY BUY button, but I couldn't find it!

Sulis (Hazel) · October 19, 2008, 10:17:00 PM

Lee - Just a quick and cheap suggestion for you. You may have already considered this, but how about including an example firing schedule on a sheet of paper in the instructions? I know that everyone makes different beads and has different firing schedules, but just thinking that some people like me may never have used a controller before so may not know where to start. Perhaps just a general one for smallish beads and carry a disclaimer to state that this may not work for all and should be considered only as a starting point

So far I am LOVING my new MAXIne, although not managed to fill her up with that many beads yet as I've had too many family commitments this weekend. So far ... Controller is fabulous, I love the incredibly efficient insulation, the flexibility of the interior set up and the overall build quality which I think is very nice indeed. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a high spec specialist bead annealing kiln, in my humble opinion!

Josephine, many thanks for the firing schedule, I have programmed this in and fired once and it looks like this will work for me very nicely to start with!

Quote from: andrew on October 19, 2008, 12:25:48 AM

How do you skip the segment, I spent ages trying to skip the segment, and in the end had to change the timer to hold for 00:00.

Andrew, to advance the programme, press and hold the up key for about 4 seconds until you hear a beep. Took me a while before I re-read the instructions and found this!

Sulis (Hazel) · October 19, 2008, 10:19:59 PM

Quote from: Lush! on October 19, 2008, 09:34:13 AM
Quote from: silverlemon on October 18, 2008, 09:37:45 PM

or would I get door to door Lee stylie delivery too?

Hmmm, my house is on the way .... I haven't stopped thinking about this kiln either so I'm following your thread with interest Sarah - actually I went to the website yesterday and would have pressed the BUY BUY BUY button, but I couldn't find it!

I meant to say Julie and Sarah, I'm sure you'd love this kiln. After seeing your stalls at Hatfield recently and seen the variety and number of beads that you must have to anneal (especially compared to my measly efforts!!) I reckon you'd find this a real godsend.