Kiln Stupid Question - Please Help!

[born2snooze]

Anybody have lots of knowledge about Jen Ken Kiln? Please help. I just started lampworking about 2 weeks ago. And so far I havent touch my kiln yet. Its a deluxe Jen Ken, for fusing and annealing.

I'm intimidated by the kiln, because I never ever use something like this, I just started lampworking. I have no clue where to start, and what to do first, the owner manual is not specific for the kind of kiln I have. I think they make the manual for their product in general.

Do anybody have the patience to reply on this, and talk to me like I'm a retarded, or 6 years old?

I dont even know which brick goes inside, and which are for the risers. I have some ideas, but not too sure about it. Also, what to do first, after I figure out the brick, etc.

I just started to think about this kiln today, my niece was playing with my beads that I only cool in between the fiber sheets. She strung them, and then drop them all by accident, all my first beads are in small pieces now ](*,) and some of them I feel pretty proud of :-( So I think that's my sign to start using the kiln..

Please help!!!

[BayBeadz]

I am watching this thread. I have a Jen-Ken Kiln and feel completely stupid trying to set it up. ;-)

[born2snooze]

Hi Baybeadz, thank you for the company,
now I dont feel so lonely! :biggrin:
Take care!

[BayBeadz]

Anyone have advice? I have the octagon with the side door.

[Melodie]

What controller do you have on the kiln, Bartlett or Orton? It’s likely a three key but if it isn’t then let me know.

Okay, you asked to be given instructions as if you were 6 so please don’t be offended by the simplicity of these.

Kiln shelf – big round flat disk – this is what you set your glass on when fusing. If you are using it for placing beads on to anneal then you might want to add a fiber blanket on top of the shelf. Some people report problems putting the beads directly on the kiln washed shelf. I use a rod holder in my kiln and prop the mandrels on it to keep them off the floor but I use a fiber blanket to lay my off hand work onto.

Kiln post – usually small square hollow pieces that are used to raise the shelf off of the kiln floor. When the shelf is raised the hot air can circulate under it and keep the temperature of the shelf as even as possible with the temperature inside the kiln.

Kiln wash – you should have gotten a small bag of powder with the purchase of your kiln if it was a new one. This keeps the glass from sticking to the shelf and the kiln floor. You can mix the kiln wash 5 parts of water to 1 part of powder. You can brush this on using a cheap soft paint brush. When doing the shelf go all one direction until it is completely covered. Then go the opposite direction until it is covered. Continue on until you have at least 5 coats. Also, put a couple coats over the bricks on the kiln floor. This way if any glass ever falls off of the shelf it won't damage the floor. Once you have everything washed you need to prefire them, you can go to 500 degrees and hold for 10 to 15 minutes.

I need to know what controller you have if you want me to give you a firing schedule. I use BE glass so maybe someone else can chime in with the temps used for Effetre glass. If not then I’ll give you the temps for BE, it shouldn’t be that far off.

Melodie

[shawnette]

Sent to me by BillBrach:

http://user.gru.net/billbrach/kilns/orton.htm

[born2snooze]

Dear Melodie,

thank you so much for the instruction, I'm not offended at all, this is great, since I really have no clue of what to do first. This helps a lot, although I'm still afraid of my kiln. But at least I feel encouraged to try it soon. I actually put the flat disk under the kiln posts! #-o So, your post really help. Thanks!

If you dont mind, I have more questions:

If I only make beads, and I have a mandrel rest for inside the kiln, can I leave the flat disk and not use it?
Or do I still put it inside the kiln? The space is very limited in there, so, I think putting the disk will just reduce the space more. Sorry, if this sound stupid, refer to the tittle of the thread! :lol:

This is the picture of the kiln I have, its hexagonal, have a front opening with fiber. Comes with built-in Bartlett 3-key digital controller.
5691

Thank you so much!

And Shawnette, thank you for the link, I keep it in my fave list! :wave: :)

[Melodie]

You can leave the kiln shelf out IF you coat the floor of the kiln with kiln wash. I also recommend using a thicker fiber paper or at least a fiber blanket on the bottom. If glass falls on an unwashed floor it can melt through your brick if you take the kiln to fusing temps. I have a very deep kiln so I place 1/8” fiber paper on the shelf and then put in the rod rest. I do a lot of off hand work so the fiber paper makes for a nice soft landing when I’m placing it in the kiln. Soooo ... please put something down there to protect your kiln floor.

Using the schedule that Shawnette so kindly provided I will try to walk you through the programming. I have an Orton 3 key and a Bartlett 12 key controller but I did look up the manual for yours. Nice controller.

****
Plug the kiln in and turn on the switch.

If it reads ERR P then simply press the up arrow to bring you to Idle.

Once you see idle then press enter to continue:

1. Choose a program number. This program will be remembered so you will not have to put this in more then once unless you change it. You can select program 1,2,3 or4 by using the up or down buttons. Let’s just say you choose Program 1 since this will be your most used program. Select USr1 and then press enter.

2. You can now program up to 8 segments but we are only going to use 3 segments. Each segment asks for three pieces of information before entering the next segment. They are, in order:

a. Ramp - How fast do you want your kiln to ramp. This basically means how fast should it heat up or cool down. The symbol for ramp is rAx, x being which ever ramp you are currently programming.

b. Hold Temp – What temperature do you want your kiln to stay at during this segment. The symbol for Temp is °Fx, x being which ever segment you are currently programming.

c. Hold Time – How long do you want the segment to stay at the Hold Temp. The symbol for Time is HLdx, x being which ever segment you are currently programming.

Sooooo … to follow the schedule given for Effetre when you see the rA1 (ramp 1) you would enter:

(rA1) 1400 then enter
(°F1) 950 then enter
(HLd1) 8:00 then enter (This sets the hold time to 8 hours. If you normally torch for a longer or shorter length of time then change this to your needs. It’s better to error on the longer side.)

This ends the first segment.

For the second segment you need to enter the following:

(rA2) 1400 then enter
(°F2) 968 then enter
(HLd2) 1:00 then enter (This sets the annealing time to one hour.)

This ends the second segment.

For the third and final segment you need to enter the following:

(rA3) 120 then enter
(°F3) 848 then enter
(HLd3) 1 then enter (This sets the last hold time to 1 minute. Personally, I would set this to 0 but 1 is okay too.)

This ends the last segment.

I’m not positive on this controller but you should be able to press start/enter twice here to start the schedule and skip the remaining 5 segments you don't want to use. It may ask you for a few other things like delay time but simply keep pressing start/enter button until you see the read out say ON.

After the last segment has finished you should see the IDLE alternating with the current temp in the kiln on the display. From here the kiln will simply be cooling down on it’s own. Do NOT raise the lid until the read out is showing room temp.

If you find that you are finished before the 8 hour hold time in segment 1 then select the up arrow. You should see a read out containing SStPx for skip step with x being the segment number. If it shows SStP1 then press the up arrow again to skip the rest of segment 1. If it reads SStp2 then leave it alone and it will return to the second segment.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Melodie

[born2snooze]

Wow! Melodie!
Thank you so much for the step by step.
I print it out and have it in hand when I give it a try tomorrow. Thank you so much for taking the time to help!

You are such an O:)

Big Hugs!

[stargirlmama]

these were the best direction ever when I first got this kiln a while back! I saved this to my favorites and now I'm ready to start fusing and would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if someone could post very clear and step by step instructions on how I can program it into as my USR2 for this same kiln and controller please!