Paragon F240

[BoOTs]

Hi there. I have a Paragon F240 and am having some slumping going on with the annealing recipe that I am using. Anyone out there wanna share the temp, rate, time they use to anneal their pieces?

This is what we have been doing:

Full Rate to garage @ 1020
Annealing:
Ramp up to 1070 hold for 90 min.
Ramp down 80/hr to 950 hold for 20min.
Ramp down 150/hr to 700
Shut down.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
BoOTs!

[LarryC]

I am assuming boro. You should not be seeing any slumping at 1070. I anneal at 1050 and 1070 should be fine but my only concern is that some of the more finicky colors might give you trouble at the higher temp. Might.... Do you have a pyrometer that you could use to verify that your kiln is actually at 1070 and not hotter? First thing to check is the placement of the thermocouple. If it has backed out that could explain higher temps.

[Louie HaHa]

I agree with Larry. If you are using boro there should not be any slumping. I sometimes ramp mine up to 1200+ for certain items/colors. I never have slumping. I'm thinking it's your pyrometer not giving you an accurate reading.

Good luck! I've seen some costly accidents occur from slumping, that shizz sucks.

[pacosaki]

I have a paragon 160 I think. I set it for 1050 to work and then bump up to 1160 for 1 1/2 hrs and cool @ 500 deg./hr till I get to 500 deg. then off. No slumping, no marks from the fiber blanket I set the stuff on.

good luck!

[KT-Old School Glass]

It sounds like your getting false temp reading on the pyrometer. Check to make sure the thermocouple is all the way in. If it gets pushed into the kiln wall some it can give a false reading.

If that doesn't work you may need to re-calibrate the thermocouple/pyrometer. I think that procedure is on the Paragon website.

[BoOTs]

So I put my pyrometer in the kiln and it read the same as what the kiln was reading. The thermocouple is in all the way too.

The slumping is happening in my pulled point handles. I prepped for some drinking glasses and wasn't feelin it to complete them. So I placed the entire tube plus handle in the kiln and annealed it. Next day pulled them out of the kiln and the handles were slumped. Could it be that they were to thin?

[Chad S]

What was the max temp you had the kiln at when slumping occurred? I'm guessing around 1050 for annealing. The softening temp for boro is around 1508 and working temp is around 2228 FYI. I strike certain colors at 1200 the max temp of my kiln and never had any issues with slumping myself.

[KT-Old School Glass]

As thin as the wall is on pulled points it is not uncommon for those to slump and have had some slump myself like that. The point handle is usually less than 1mm thick.

I was thinking you were talking about finished work slumping.

[pipeshawk]

I use a paragon most of the time, and we just let the pulled point handles stick out the punty door while it's cooling. I would think what little stress this creates will dissipate when you anneal it again.

[JBob]

iv had 9.5x2 handles slump in a paragon regularly (sticking out but still being several inches in the killn to make sure my work is at the back) while striking it, my aims never really done it...

[Aymie]

My f240 slumps 12mm blue tubes at 1050. Has been that way since I bought it. But I know the reading is off since it also strikes purple like no other at 1050.

Call paragon. They are quite helpful.

[BoOTs]

Now that you say that Aymie I remember it happening when you worked with us. Guess i'm givin paragon a call.
Thanks