Thanks Phil re the photos
. The very first firing's very poor results gave me a great picture - so good that I posted it on Instagram as every lampworker's nightmare or something like that. This is from carrying out their garage/anneal schedule to the letter, and it's only a little spacer bead.
That was when I knew I had a really major problem with something. Thankfully I have my own probe and pyrometer which pretty soon gave me the real story.
Hi, Moira
Yep, the elements and controller thermocouple are working perfectly.
A test batch anneal fire with a shelf on props just below the bottom of the element collar yields good results, with a standard 500C soak, as if I was using my old kiln. It's just too far for significant heat to reach the full depth of the collar. And of course the bead door is redundant if the floor is unuseable.
As for Paragon, yes, I was surprised too. I certainly wasn't expecting that and with each passing day it was dawning on me that this problem was clearly a design fault and had some possible implications for the whole configuration options for this baby. But if it is really that serious (man I hope they come up with a solution - or find something really wrong I'm doing) and they've gone away to do some testing, then great. They could have told me that. They forget I know what my own results are, and fully expected them to come back to me with their own data and some possible reasons why my beads are no good.. Surely there are test archives buried somewhere.
I was perfectly happy to keep it all quiet in case the worst case scenario came to pass, but not without some support in the meantime. And with no support forthcoming, that just served to piss me off, in the context of one business working together with another in order to work on a solution.
And the eventual response I did get didn't suggest any willingness to do so either. It was pretty dismissive, thinks someone who was already disappointed that her new baby wasn't working, and just plain rude, thinks someone who has invested heavily in equipment for business purposes. My reputation as a worker is important, and the last thing I want to churn out is poor quality beads for people to enjoy.
The importer I bought it through here in Australia were not what I'd describe as terribly supportive either, unfortunately.
For now, all I can do is wait for the 'other departments' to get back to them.
I can't make beads in the meantime without a big hassle of getting my old kiln andaccessory probe set up again (have it packed to sell/move),or finding room for the crock pot to batch anneal.
I'm counting my blessings that I got this happening before our move, rather than leaving it all packaged for after the move in a few very short months. So it could have been much worse.