some advice please

[tish]

ok so at FLAME OFF i bought a paragon bluebird and i have programmed her with this
ra1-0736
oc 0154
hld1 00.05
ra2 0314
oc 0354
hld2 00.05
ra3 0703
oc 0545
hld3 01.00
ra4 0523
oc 0452
hld4 01.00
ra5 0001
then 0000 til end
all of which is gobbledygook to me and i have no idea what any of it means
all i want to know is how long does this programme take please

[awrylemming]

Generally I'll leave mine to anneal overnight, it takes around 7 hours before the beads are annealed and cooled enough to take out of the kiln. 

[tish]

how long til the programme actually ends though.mine has been on 7 hrs already and is still clicking away and the numbers are going up and down at around 460 what ever that means

[Sarah]

Hi Tish

Its quite hard to see how long this will take - you seem to be ramping down at 1 degree per hour at the end which will take a very long time and I can't see why its necessary.

What are you trying to do? I'm assuming that's an annealing program but I don't think it will anneal successfully.

If you are looking to anneal (I asume you are as its a bluebird) you might try Helen P's program for an SC2 which should work.


If not - please let us know what you're trying to do. I strongly recommend you get to grips with your kiln and its programming as every kiln is different and you may need to tinker with some of the standard programs.

Sarah
xxx

[Sarah]

Tish

Your schedule has a  hold at 452 degrees for an hour - I think that's why its hovering around 460. But it also suggests that you are ging to cool down from there at 1 degree per hour. This will take 460 hours if that is really what you've programmed..... You don't need to do that! Nor do you need to go to 545 to anneal.



Sarah
xxx

[tish]

ok so ill go turn it off and start again

[awrylemming]

Blimey, I should have put my glasses on and read the program!  I use the program to which the link was given, and have never had a problem with it.  You may want to adjust it at some point in the future, I've recently taken my schedule up by 10 degrees, but that's a personal preference.

[Krysia@No98]

Generally I'll leave mine to anneal overnight, it takes around 7 hours before the beads are annealed and cooled enough to take out of the kiln. 

HOW LONG!!  from the moment I set mine of to anneal it takes three hours and then a further hour before they are cool enough to handle  (which I generally start in the evening and leave to run over night)

[Stephen Richard]

I assume you are heating up and annealing already formed beads.
A simpler programme that will do the job is:
r1- 200C/hr, target temperature 520-540C depending on what glass you are annealing (more on those temperatures at: http://glasstips.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/bead-annealing.html)  Soak for 30 mins to one hour depending on size.
r2 - 200C/hr, target temperature 360C, ) time soak
r3 - 500C/hr, target temp 40C, 0 time
r4 - end

[Pat from Canvey]

I use the schedule that came with the kiln (SC2) bead annealing instructions.

[Magpie]

ra1-0736      warming up at 736°C (I'm assuming you're working in °C rather than °F) per hour
oc 0154        Until you get to 154°C
hld1 00.05     Then holding for 5 minutes at 154°C
ra2 0314       Warming up again at 314°C per hour
oc 0354        to 354°C
hld2 00.05     Holding for 5 minutes at 354°C
ra3 0703       Warming up again at 703°C per hour
oc 0545        to 545°C
hld3 01.00     Holding for 1 hour at 545°C
ra4 0523       Cooling as 523°C per hour
oc 0452        until you get to 452°C
hld4 01.00     Holding for 1 hour at 452°C
ra5 0001       Cooling at 1°C forever as there's no end.
then 0000 til end

Try this one...

ra1-0300      warming up at 300°C per hour
oc 500        Until you get to 500°C
hld1 00.00      no hold, it goes straight into the next segment
ra2 0100       Warming up again at 100°C per hour
oc 0520        to 520°C (effetre will anneal at 520°C and I think bullseye will as well, but this is what Sue was saying about all kilns being different, you need to check your beads and make sure that at 520 they do have their stresses relieved)
hld2 01.00     Holding for 1 hour at 520°C allowing the whole bead to become the same temperature. If you've got large beads you may want to increase it, if you've got a kiln full of spacers then you could get away with less (basically the time taken for the heat to penetrate the bead)
ra3 0070       cooling at 70°C per hour (controlled cooling, about a degree a minute, so hopefully the inside and outside of the bead cools at the same rate which won't introduce stresses back into the glass)
oc 0370        to 370°C (below the 'strain point', if stresses are still there they're permanent)
hld3 0000     no hold, end of cycle, it will now cool to room temp on it's own, the timer on the kiln (we have one on the SC2) will stop counting, you can turn it off and just leave it, can't force it to go any faster, but wait for your beads to get cool as they can still thermal shock if you take them out too early.


I've done the initial heat up in two stages, a 'fast' stage and a 'slow' stage, so if it overshoots on the fast stage it's not a problem as you've not reached annealling temp yet. Also if you want to garage just put a hold in at the end of the 'fast' stage and that's your garaging time.

About total time, your one will never truly end as it's not got a finish temperature, but will take about 433½ hours to get back down to room temp. But you're cooling too quickly from 535 to 452 to allow the stresses to be released.

The one I've done will take not quite 5 hours. It should take about 2 hours to cool from 520° to 370° (150° at 70° per minute = 128 minutes (If you've got MASSIVE beads you can slow this down further if you want)) regardless of the kiln or schedule. The warming up is debateable, you can go faster or slower depending on how sure you are that your beads won't go ping from warming too quickly. If you're annealling as you go with no beads batch annelling, do the first warm up on full until about 450° (as the chances of overshoot are high on full), then warm to between 480 to 500 slowly, then the final warm to 520 when you've finished making beads and are ready for the annealling cycle.

I hope that helps, aplologies for the essay.

[BeeBeads]

Generally I'll leave mine to anneal overnight, it takes around 7 hours before the beads are annealed and cooled enough to take out of the kiln. 

HOW LONG!!  from the moment I set mine of to anneal it takes three hours and then a further hour before they are cool enough to handle  (which I generally start in the evening and leave to run over night)

Mine takes about the same time, about 7 hours, batch annealing starting from a cold kiln (SC2).

[Krysia@No98]

Generally I'll leave mine to anneal overnight, it takes around 7 hours before the beads are annealed and cooled enough to take out of the kiln. 

HOW LONG!!  from the moment I set mine of to anneal it takes three hours and then a further hour before they are cool enough to handle  (which I generally start in the evening and leave to run over night)

Mine takes about the same time, about 7 hours, batch annealing starting from a cold kiln (SC2).

Even batch annealing is only five hours, but it's been a few years since I did it.

[awrylemming]

Can't say it bothers me really, I kick it over to anneal when I go up to bed, get beads out of kiln and examine happily (or often otherwise) over a cuppa in the morning.  I check my beads periodically to make sure they're annealing correctly and have found no stress fractures in the glass, so I'm assuming the schedule is working fine, so no point changing it.  And I can't be bothered faffing .... 

[BeeBeads]

Generally I'll leave mine to anneal overnight, it takes around 7 hours before the beads are annealed and cooled enough to take out of the kiln.  

HOW LONG!!  from the moment I set mine of to anneal it takes three hours and then a further hour before they are cool enough to handle  (which I generally start in the evening and leave to run over night)

Mine takes about the same time, about 7 hours, batch annealing starting from a cold kiln (SC2).

Even batch annealing is only five hours, but it's been a few years since I did it.

I don't sit and count to be honest    It could be 5 ... it could be 7......  
I programmed it with the schedule that someone posted on here ages ago and it works fine.  I'm like Sue, can't be bothered to fanny about with it now (scared I'll muck it up completely!  )