Crucible casting kiln recommendation ?

[coolntn]

Can anyone suggest a good kiln for melting glass in a crucible ? Something small...not too large..and electric. Any suggestions would help. Looking down the road....

Thanks a ton,
Russ

[Bert Weiss]

Can anyone suggest a good kiln for melting glass in a crucible ? Something small...not too large..and electric. Any suggestions would help. Looking down the road....

Thanks a ton,
Russ

Russ

This is a task ripe with problems. Molten glass is highly corrosive. Can it be done, yes. How long your elements and bricks last is the issue. It really depends on how much and for what you plan to use it. There is a lot of talk about this issue on Craftweb. Molybdinum elements are the power of choice for glass blowers using electric furnaces.

[jim simmons]

Can anyone suggest a good kiln for melting glass in a crucible ? Something small...not too large..and electric. Any suggestions would help. Looking down the road....

Thanks a ton,
Russ

Hi Russ, There is a fellow up in Canada that has made some very nice electric crucible furnaces. He has made a couple of videos of them and they seem to be well done.

His name is Mark luackner, and his website is

http://www.mayneislandglass.com/


Jim

[Lauri Levanto]

Hi,
as I am in Finland, on the other side of the pond, I can't
refer to any sources.

Someone has earlier referred to quarx tubes for elements.
My question is do they protect elements better in a
casting kiln?

At the same time I'm asking for comments
about a new casting kiln I am planning
for casting sculptural forms.

It is a two chamber kiln. The top chamber holds a flowerpot
crucible and is top loadable to add more cullet.
There is of course a hole in the floor for the molten glass
to flow down.

The lower chamber is small, about 16"x16 but some
20-25" tall with a side door. There is the mold.

Both chambers are controlled separately, the lower one with
3 zones.

The idea is that I can slowly heat the mold, then
effectively melt the cullet in the flowerpot and
cast to a hot mold. Again only the lower
chamber is kept in annealing temperature.
That should minimize the electricity costs.

Is this plan worth of trying out?

-lauri

[Bert Weiss]

Hi,
as I am in Finland, on the other side of the pond, I can't
refer to any sources.

Someone has earlier referred to quarx tubes for elements.
My question is do they protect elements better in a
casting kiln?

At the same time I'm asking for comments
about a new casting kiln I am planning
for casting sculptural forms.

It is a two chamber kiln. The top chamber holds a flowerpot
crucible and is top loadable to add more cullet.
There is of course a hole in the floor for the molten glass
to flow down.

The lower chamber is small, about 16"x16 but some
20-25" tall with a side door. There is the mold.

Both chambers are controlled separately, the lower one with
3 zones.

The idea is that I can slowly heat the mold, then
effectively melt the cullet in the flowerpot and
cast to a hot mold. Again only the lower
chamber is kept in annealing temperature.
That should minimize the electricity costs.

Is this plan worth of trying out?

-lauri

Lauri

Your plan sounds very good to me. One thing you might want to try is to be able to seperate the top from the bottom so you can do the vitrograph thing. A vitrograph is your top kiln but, you catch the dripping glass on a kiln shelf that you can move around so, for instance, you can write your name with the hot glass as it flows out of the flower pot.

I can see that your idea is fine for more serious work, but playing around with the vitrograph could be fun.

[coolntn]

From the element issue...burning out...needing replacement...sounds like the preferred option by most that do crucible work is to have a gas cruicible kiln ?

[watershed]

Check out Golden flow studios, don't have the bookmark handy. It could also be Flaming Thumb. Neat design, and efficient. But I'm not sure what (blowing casting etc) you are doing, maybe I missed it in the thread.

Greg

[Bert Weiss]

From the element issue...burning out...needing replacement...sounds like the preferred option by most that do crucible work is to have a gas cruicible kiln ?

On the craftweb bulletin board there is always discussion about this issue. There are people doing both electric and gas there. It depends on where you are working relative to local energy prices and availability.

[Jack Bowman]

We just built a 120V crucible furnace. It has three 12 Amp elements that each have their own plug. Crucible is 8" dia by 12" high. All three together melted the first charge overnight. Once molten one element will keep it at blowing temp. Don't know what temp you need for ladeling. Want pix and details? I can post some.

Jack