: ~janie - Viewing Profile

Well, here we go again. We just get our kilns sorted and set up and something new comes into the studio.

My husband's boss was excited to find out that I was a potter this past weekend. It turns out that when he purchased another business, it included a Paragon kiln! He calls it 'that box', and couldn't for the life of him figure out why it would be there (at an engineering firm). Anyway, he gave it to us, and Bobby went to pick it up today.

It is a Paragon model # A33B. The tag says 120/240/3W volts, 25.9 amps, Phase 1, Max temp 2300.

We were kind of impressed that it came with a LOT of stilts, of all sizes, and many of them are covered with glaze. We were amazed that two shelves (5/8") are warped, and one has broken across the middle.

There are two switches. No kiln sitter. How do I use this kiln, what is it for? I have a Recommended Firing Schedule that estimates 6-9 hours to the max temp from zero.

It also has a strange plug on it that has an extra wire.

Any ideas? Thanks.

I have one of the first programable kilns made by Paragon. I am happy enough with it, in that it is in wonderful condition, regardless of it's age, and I just have a smaaaallll problem with it.

We had a malfunction and found that we needed to replace the elements, which we did. We fired a load of bisque, and programmed it for ^06, which according to the chart on the front of the kiln is 1851 F. I put witness cones- ^06 only, on each of 4 shelves. Every cone was melted to the shelf; not quite a puddle, but close.

So, I thought maybe I could compensate when I fired a load of glazed work. I programmed the kiln to ^5, and used witness cones of ^5 and ^6 on each shelf. The ^5 was about flat, the ^6 was bent over touching the cookie it was placed on. The cones were placed 4-5" from the wall of the kiln.

To compound my problem, the chart on the kiln says that ^5 is 2151F, the cones are Orton cones, and I believe ^6 is 2230, or close to that anyway.

Thus, I am deducing that my kiln is way over firing.

My husband is working a lot of hours right now, no way I can ask him to replace the thermocoupling right now. But I still need to get some work out. Can I safely use my kiln, and how would I estimate how to program it for Laguna clay, B-Mix 5, which is a reliable ^5-6 clay? Or am I asking too much?

TIA.