Jen Ken Orton says 940 for annealing?

[lillianw]

I'm new to this, just setting up my studio and the instructions in my Jen-Ken manual (with Orton Controller) give me a program that never gets me above 940 degrees. But then I'm reading all over the place that proper annealing temp is 968. If my beads never get above 940 are they not properly annealed? Seems so odd that the manual would say 940 if 968 is proper annealing temp. I have it going to 940 and resting there for 4 hours because this is how long I'll likely work, then ramping down to 400. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Carolyn M]

I have mine set at 960, the annealing time is much shorter, ramp down slowly to 800, hold for one hour, then cool over about 5-6 hours. It's the program I was given as a newbie, and it seems to work well for most of my glass.

[Kevan]

Carolyn, that is the same schedule we use.

[Renee]

Lillian, different people use different schedules with different garaging temps. 968 isn't etched in stone, though. Your beads will be properly annealed if garaged at 940 provided you follow a schedule for that temp. Make sense? Carolyn and Kevan garage at 960, I garage at 970. Our schedules are probably slightly different, but our beads come out annealed in the end.

[ziggys]

Hi Lillian, Like you I own a Jen-Ken. My manual came with annealing schedules too compliments of Flame Tree Glass.
I spoke to one of the owners at Flame Tree about it 'cause I was wondering also why it was so low.
Anyway my conclusion is that Jen-Ken kilns run hot. Flame Tree knows what they are doing. If they say to set it to 940 I set it to 940. I use the entire schedule they have in there. Though I may have made it a tad more conservative over time.
Every kiln is different. I've read threads by many people saying their Jen-Ken kiln runs hot though it wasn't always my model.
Also I have tried setting mine to 960 and my beads slumped in the kiln.
So I'm happy to let the experts tell me what schedule to run. :)
HTH,
Angela