Used Kilns? Will they work for glass?

[PiscesGlass]

Just perusing Craigslist, and I noticed these bargains...I saw three, have no idea if they are still available..but can they be used to slump glass?

The tiny one does mention glass..but maybe it's too small?  Certainly the price seems right if I just wanted to do jewelry.
Except I thinkI might outgrow it pretty quickly.

http://maine.craigslist.org/art/1690170669.html

And then there's this one, which I suspect has been used mostly for ceramics, but they say the interior is 9 x 11"

http://maine.craigslist.org/art/1718933868.html

Again, another ceramic kiln.

http://maine.craigslist.org/art/1742529196.html

Let me know if any of these might work, and your thoughts...De

[Kev]

The 2nd and 3rd have no top elements which means they are ceramic kilns. I believe Rebecca has a ceramic kiln she uses for glass. She might be able to offer some advice.

[Glassic]

Just my two cents worth, the tiny one is overpriced, probably because of the shipping bite you guys suffer. Probably good for beads, jewelry, those tiny frit melt molds and tiles. A slumping mold would be a tight fit.
The Duncan is dun4 but Paragon bought the name and supply parts.
The Paragon is still available but is a pottery kiln and not digital. The asking price could almost get you a new glass kiln.
When I bought my stuff the paragon site was so full of info that it was like going to school, I bought from Clayking and their site is a good one too.
http://www.paragonweb.com/index.cfm

I second Rebecca, she know how to wiggle round the cons of using a ceramic/pottery kiln.
If you talk yourself down to a new Caldera size with digital and collar.... talk to me.....

[Becki]

You can certainly use a ceramic kiln for glass, De, but, as Kev mentioned, ceramic kilns only have elements in the sides, glass kilns in the top or the top and sides so it will be a little different learning experience with a ceramic kiln. Also ceramic kilns, more than likely, will not have a controller...not a necessity but really nice to have.

Here's a bit of info that may answer some questions for you.
http://fusedglass.org/glass_kilns

[PiscesGlass]

Thanks for the websites & information guys.  I did check both of them out..so far the Calder S, which is an 8 x 8 x 6 3/4 sized kiln is a pretty reasonably priced kiln.  I'll go check Clayking also Y.   

This information does make the ceramics kilns on Craigslist seem extremely overpriced by comparison..and not as easy to work with besides..I guess if I spend the money I would be better off getting new and made specifically for glass.

De

[JoanFrances]

Duncan was a big supplier of many ceramic/pottery related supplies.  At one time it was the go to company for ceramic shops.  Many ceramic kilns are way deeper than most glassers would ever need, and most of them require special wiring too, but like has already been said, Rebecca uses a ceramic kiln, so she would deffinately be able to answer your questions. 

[Amber]

I found the Skutt Firebox 8 on sale for a nice price when I googled it!  http://www.sheffield-pottery.com/SKUTT-KILN-GLASS-FUSING-KILN-FIREBOX-8-p/skfb.htm and maybe if you drove down it'd be cheaper then shipping?

[ct4mom]

Many places have times that offer free shipping as well. I went this route as well and so happy I waited to find the right deal. I would not have been happy with one for ceramics.

[Ian]

De
The most important thing about getting a kiln is to ask yourself
What do I want to fuse?
 how large do I want to go . If its only for jewellry then an 8 inch kiln is fine. if you want to be able to fuse an 18 inch plate then you have to go for at least a 24 inch inside measurement kiln. If you want to do up to 15 inch dropouts then you will need to get a at least an 18 to 20 inch deep kiln. If you want to be able to do 10 X 10 inch plates at a time then you a large coffin type kiln. And the most important thing from my experience is do not invest in a kiln without a digital programmer. If you have a programmer then using a ceramic kiln is not that difficult.
As an example I have a coffin type kiln that is 1.250 metres X 54 Centimetres that can take 3X 18 inch platters at a time.
Then I have a 24 inch deep X 24 inch round toploader ceramic kiln for long dropouts
And 2 x 10x10 x10 inch kilns for small molds, jewellry and doing quick tests.
I also altered the kilns to take digital controllers with 10 different programmes with each programme giving me 16 segments
This allows me to do just about any thing from pendants all the way up to panels measuring 1.2 meters X 45 centimetres.
But it all started from the question, what do I want to fuse?
Hope this helps
Ian

[Amber]

I hate to even guess how many thousands of dollars you have in just kilns Ian *lol.

I think the other, and most important, factor is budget. Last fall I would have loooovvvedd to have gotten a kiln that was bigger, and it would have used it more efficiently then the one I have by filling it more for each fire. But what it really came down to was buying a kiln that fit within budget, so I went with a Skutt firebox 14, because that was as much as I could stretch my dollar *LOL.

I found looking at a kiln was a lot like looking at houses, no sense looking at bigger then my pocketbook because I can only dream **.

[Judy K]

My first kiln is a Paragon Fusion 7. It has a 13" round shelf, and 9" of height to play in. So I can experiment with tiny jewelery , bowls , paint, and 8x10" solid glass paintings like I have this winter. It was the perfect size to start out and it was 110 volt so I did not need to rewire to use it. 4 years later I went bigger.

Watch your Craig's list, but you may be buying someone else's mistakes. I bought my second kiln from Dogwood Ceramics. They had good prices and the man was very helpful!!!!!!!!!!!  http://www.dogwoodceramics.com/

I love the ease of the glass kilns computer controlled brains to run my programs. With the ceramics kilns you use timers and cone sitters. It would have been much harder for me to isolate my mistakes from the kilns issues with out the controller.

Happy hunting

[Ian]

"With the ceramics kilns you use timers and cone sitters."
But they can be fitted with digital controllers like mine is and then it is perfectly good enough to use for glass. You just have to adjust your firing schedules.
Ian

[PiscesGlass]

When you talk about adjusting your firing schedules, can you elaborate a little more?  BTW thanks Ian for all of the information you've posted about using your ceramics kiln, this is some of the information I was hoping for.

I wrote back to this thread last night, but it seems to have disappeared for some reason.  I,like Amber, am in a position where the budget is tight, so I was hoping to get more bang for the buck by finding a good sized "used" kiln, even if it happened to be a ceramic kiln (if they would be sufficient) and learn what would be necessary to make it do what I needed it to do.  Those that I posted, may have been someone elses problems, or maybe they are just people that haven't used them for a while and need the space/money, I would be very cautious about taking a look at them and questioning the sellers.  

Joan told me that I would definitely need to make sure that the firebrick inside them was in good shape and not deteriorated.  The firebrick "rings"(?) or "collars" can be replaced, but I have no idea just now how expensive that would be.

If I buy new at a similar price, I'm definitely going to have to settle on smaller dimension wise.  Which in answering Ian's question.."what do I want to do in the kiln?"...well I'd love to try my hand at plates, and drops for sure.  And it sounds like all of the dedicated kiln users out here have several sizes available to them for a variety of purposes.

I haven't yet looked to see how expensive the digital controllers are.  I have to weigh all of the pro's and con's.  But I'd like to be able to do some larger projects I think...

Thanks to everyone who has responded to this thread so far...lots of interesting stuff to check out and good perspectives.

De

[JoanFrances]

Don't forget De, the larger onces require dedicated wiring as the are not 110, are 220 or higher.  You would have to add that expense to your over all projected costs. 

[Amber]

When I was first looking I thought of buying a pottery kiln and outfitting it with a 3-key controller, thinking it would save me money AND I might be able to get something a wee bit larger. In the end a controller alone was going to cost me a pretty penny, it varied between 300 to 500 dollars and then a used non-glass kiln was going to cost minimum 250 up to 450. It just seemed like more time, money and effort then I really wanted for something that wasn't going to be under warranty and have new parts. When I saw how much it was going to cost me to go that route I just went ahead and bought new. This is the same model I got http://www.sheffield-pottery.com/SKUTT-KILN-GLASS-FUSING-KILN-FIREBOX-14-p/skfb14.htm but mine wasn't on sale *lol. I think this is a really good price and if you can drive down to pick up a kiln you'll save yourself a pretty penny on shipping! I know Ct4mom mentioned the free shipping but some places don't offer it on items that have to be sent as freight due to weight restrictions. I know Canada Post wouldn't touch mine with a ten foot pole *LOL.



plus Joan's good point about wiring, this model is regular household so no modifications :).

[Kev]

That is a good price!

[PiscesGlass]

When I was first looking I thought of buying a pottery kiln and outfitting it with a 3-key controller, thinking it would save me money AND I might be able to get something a wee bit larger. In the end a controller alone was going to cost me a pretty penny, it varied between 300 to 500 dollars and then a used non-glass kiln was going to cost minimum 250 up to 450. It just seemed like more time, money and effort then I really wanted for something that wasn't going to be under warranty and have new parts. When I saw how much it was going to cost me to go that route I just went ahead and bought new. This is the same model I got http://www.sheffield-pottery.com/SKUTT-KILN-GLASS-FUSING-KILN-FIREBOX-14-p/skfb14.htm but mine wasn't on sale *lol. I think this is a really good price and if you can drive down to pick up a kiln you'll save yourself a pretty penny on shipping! I know Ct4mom mentioned the free shipping but some places don't offer it on items that have to be sent as freight due to weight restrictions. I know Canada Post wouldn't touch mine with a ten foot pole *LOL.



plus Joan's good point about wiring, this model is regular household so no modifications :).

LOL..Amber you've convinced me..the part about how expensive the controller's are put everything into perspective..along with being able to use regular household current on this one.  Why re-invent the wheel eh? LOL.  Plus Mass isn't that far a drive from me, I could easily go pick it up. 

Thanks for your input Amber!  Much appreciated!!

De

[Kev]

That's the same size as my smaller one and you will love having a square one..more versatile and less wasted space inside.

[Anne]

De, when I bought my kiln I was under the impression it took regular household wiring.  When I got it home and we looked at the manual we found the electrical requirements called for Size 12 wire.  That wasn't the wire in our house (and when I bought the kiln the house was fairly new).  We had to rewire to my power outlet.  Just an fyi for you!

[PiscesGlass]

De, when I bought my kiln I was under the impression it took regular household wiring.  When I got it home and we looked at the manual we found the electrical requirements called for Size 12 wire.  That wasn't the wire in our house (and when I bought the kiln the house was fairly new).  We had to rewire to my power outlet.  Just an fyi for you!

Uh oh..well that's something to check..this house was built in 1978...What mfg is your kiln Anne?
When I'm able to get this one..I'll check the manual for sure. Thanks!