Paragon Bluebird Kiln...Does anyone have one?

[lynn's lampwork]

...and if so, what are your thoughts about it? I'm thinking of driving up to Frantz Glass to buy one, but would love to hear reviews on this kiln!

Thanks in advance!
~lynn

[jana]

I have one, bought it from Mike at the Gathering and they shipped it to me. The controllers were bad and Paragon had to send me a new one to install, but I believe they have fixed them now.

I like mine okay, but if I had it to do over, I would get a kiln that I could do fusing, when I want to advance to that stage.

[Keltik]

I have one, only thing I wish was that it was a fire brick kild instead of the fiber blanket type, works great no problems with mine.


Dave

[lldesigns]

I have 2 Paragon kilns - the Bluebird and the Caldera. Love them both! The Bluebird goes to 1200 degrees which is higher than any of the other "Annealing" kilns. The Caldera is hot enough to do fusing, slumping, and small ceramics. Their kilns are very versatile and dependable, IMO.

[tabriz]

Hey Jana,
How did you know the controllers were bad? I'm wondering if maybe mine are, too. All my beads were cracking after being "annealed" in my Blue Bird, I had to put them all in another kiln and batch anneal them.

Lee

[squid]

You would probably know if you had a problem. I believe the firing cycle quit in the middle on the ones with the problem. I'm sure someone will explain the exact problem for you. what kind of cracking are you having?

[Emily]

Try a search on "bluebird" or "Blue Bird." There was a pretty long thread about the controller issue. The batch with the bad controllers was out last summer, and it seemed like Paragon was pretty good about sending out new cards (or whatever) and it was an easy fix. When you turn the controller on, it flashes a code that shows what model it is, and you can tell it if was in the bad batch. One of the threads tells you the code to look for. (I have the same controller on my SC-2, which I bought in the same time period, so I checked to see if it got one of the bad cards. I think it didn't -- earlier batch. It's behaving well, anyway.)

[Trey Cornette]

Check out the AIM CR420 Bead Annealer
Very similar kiln except it is all brick,9 inches deep and has a quartz encased element. It also has small flip down bottom doors that allow punties and mandrels to stick out the bottm and keep the top door shut tight. All pluses in my book.

http://www.frantzartglass.com/mmFRNZNEW/Images/131220%20actual.JPG
I just ordered one one for less than $700 including shipping.
I can also get Bluebirds for $650 + shipping.
Peace,
Trey

[Bunyip]

I love my bluebird but that brick kiln is mighty tasty looking. Depending on what you want it's a nice price too, considering. The quartz elements and the other features for only $50.00 more makes it a very good value.

[Paul Ewing]

We just got one yesterday! I ordered it from Chris at Clay King http://www.clay-king.com/itempbluebird.htm Tuesday. He has it on special for $509 delivered cost. I got mine for $493 because I was originally supposed to pick it up at the factory that afternoon, but Paragon sold the kiln he had reserved for me. Luckily he had some in stock and shipped it to me that afternoon and only charged $8 for the FedEx Ground shipping because of the mess up on Paragon's fault.

I have it unpacked and setup, but I am still trying to figure out the anealing schedules because I need to put in one for my wife's soft glass beads, and another for my little boro critters.

It looks like a good kiln for people that do a lot of small items. The two 10" doors mean you can really line a lot of stuff up in it. I wish it had a bit taller doors though. It looks like they could have made it so that one side had a double hinge and could open to the full 4 1/2" to 5" chamber hight to fit a bit bigger pieces in. If I really need it, I have an analog front loading kiln that has a chamber that is 9"x8" and 7" high that I can use in a pinch. It doesn't have a bead door or anything which is one reason I got the Bluebird for my wife. I may still pick up a seperate digital controler for it in a few months if I start making taller things.

Cheers,

[Trey Cornette]

Wow! They are really selling those Blue Birds cheap!!!
That's better than my wholesale price.