Enamelling Kilns and Controllers for beginner

[mark]

Hello all,

I've just done a days intro to enamelling which I really enjoyed and I'm now looking at buying the various bits I'll need to DIY.
Obviously the big cost is the kiln and controller and I have a couple of questions.

I cannot understand why the controllers are so expensive? It seems that they start at £100 for a mechanical controller (looks like a dial) and £200 for an electrical controller. Can someone explain why the high cost? and how can I get away with spending less?

All I can think of is that the controllers are more sophisticated than I need, with multiple temperatures and ramping etc - Is this really ever going to be useful with small enamel work (and possibly a little silver work)? I can see thermostatic controllers on ebay able to handle 5A for £20 which should be enough for the small hobby kilns which seem to be around 1KW power rating.

A specific question - the Uhlig U5 is described as not pre-drilled for a thermostat probe - is there a well known location to drill to install a probe? Given that there seem to be a fair number of these kilns around used?

Any other advice/warnings for the beginner welcome....


thanks

Mark

[caroleallen]

The enamel shop at Launceston are very helpful when it comes to kilns. They have quite a lot of info online but you can always ring them.

For simple enamelling on copper I used a kiln with no controls for years. You can judge the temperature by the colour of the glow.

[mark]

Thanks Carole,

Did you just open the door to allow cooling or turn it off when it reached temperature?

Does it take long to get the hang of the colour changes? I understood that you shouldn't look directly into kilns - something about the heat/light being too intense - although I suppose tinted safety specs could be used.

Does the colour change apply in the same way to silver?

Looking around the EFCO 110 seems a good price at £230 (unless someone can point me at cheaper?) but comes with a recommendation not to use without a temp regulator of some sort.

thanks

Mark

[caroleallen]

I just opened the door Mark. Enamelling on copper is much more forgiving than silver. I don't worry too much about looking into the kiln as I only use mine 2 or 3 times a week. I'll probably regret it though when I get cataracts. It needs to look quite a bright orange. You'll get used to it.

A lot of us use the Paragon kiln, which is a bit more expensive but very reliable.

[mark]

google offers paragonkilns.co.uk which must be the worst web site I've come across in a loooooong time.

[Kwant]

lol you aint kidding there those idiots with their black background and abominable interface deserve nobody's money and in fact did not get mine I went to tempsford glass to get mine as they were the best deal and very reasonable shipping. Really those people at paragonkilns.co.uk should be strung up for just making folks tear their hair out trying to find out how to use their damned site.

[MeadMoon]

I went to Kernowcraft for my Paragon SC2 and got a good deal at the time.

[Di Sandland]

My SC2 came from the awful website place - as did my tumbler. Once you've found your way around the dreadful site, the customer service is actually very good but, like a lot of folk I suspect, I avoid them if I possibly can simply because of the pain caused by that website. If nothing else, it is a lesson learned eh? How not to build a website.

[caroleallen]

My SC2 came from the awful website place - as did my tumbler. Once you've found your way around the dreadful site, the customer service is actually very good but, like a lot of folk I suspect, I avoid them if I possibly can simply because of the pain caused by that website. If nothing else, it is a lesson learned eh? How not to build a website.

Mine came from the awful place too. The first one I had was faulty and they replaced it really quickly. They were meant to collect the faulty one at the same time and send it back to America but they didn't and now I have two!

[Di Sandland]

That was a stroke of luck m'dear!

[caroleallen]

One day I need to get it fixed so I can use it.

[fay144]

I bought a second hand Uhlig kiln off ebay without a controller, and have not really had any problems. It did take a bit of getting used to - I had one or two incidents early on where my soldering ran and everything fell to bits, but then that happened in the temperature controlled kiln I used in my class too - just the risk you take, I think.

I've learned to recognise the colour/feel of "too hot" and turn it off for 5 minutes every now and again, if I'm using it for several hours, and have not had any disasters in a while (touch wood!).

I'm mainly using it for enamelling silver, and the occasional bit of metal clay. I keep an eye on the pieces in the kiln to make sure it doesn't look like it's getting too hot, and err on the side of caution when it comes to timings.

Having said all that, I did a glass fusing workshop a few months ago, and would love to play around with small pieces at home. This definitely does need a controller, and I half wish I'd waited until I could get a kiln with a controller to start with, as I couldn't really justify a new one now, and as you say, controllers are so expensive to get seperately. So I'd recommend thinking forward to the sort of things you might want to do in the future, as you don't want to have to upgrade in a years time!