Evenheat Programming Questions

J

John Frankl

Joined
Oct 16, 2001
Messages
1,917
Sorry to start another Evenheat thread, but I didn't want to hijack the other. For what it's worth, I also went with Tim Zowada and was very happy.

My questions are as follows:

With the SetPro (I know this is not the most popular controller out there, oh well) I can choose heating and cooling rates per hour. What is a happy medium here? I do not want to overwork the kiln, but I also don't want to wait five hours for it to come up to temp.

What are the best blade holders? I am thinking of cutting some grooves in soft firebrick--exactly like the brick inside the kiln--but seem to remember some complaints about this.

Thanks a bunch,

John Frankl
 
im with you on the blade holder inside the kiln had a blade tip over on me middle of the the heat warped on me :barf: :barf:
so far as ramp up rate i go full on i realy dont think its hurting anything
i used to be a potter back in the day and i cant tell you how many time we ran the temp right up to cone at max speed no problems there
oo and i always let the kiln cool with the door just cracked might just be more pottery info and over kill for us but thats how we had always done it
butch
 
John Frankl said:
.......I do not want to overwork the kiln, but I also don't want to wait five hours for it to come up to temp.



John Frankl
Click to expand...

Hi John.

I also have an EvenHeat from Tim and I am very pleased with it.

I am unsure what you mean about 'overworking' the oven.?

I do not ramp the oven up in stages to get to the operating temperature ...I go straight to the temperature I need.....usualy gets there within 40 mins or so.

Am I missing something?
 
Hello,

I have an Evenheat oven and I us the 9999 setting to bring it up to temp ASAP. One other knifemaker, that I know heats his oven up at 1400 degrees per hour. My oven has shown no ill effects to this point.
If you have extra heat treating bricks, they work fine for supporting your blades during heat treating. The short height I use for plain blade heat treating and the taller height for a blades wrapped in heat treating foil. But the bricks are fragile, and I expected them to break at any time. And have an extra standing by. Inconel will be my next investment for a future blade rack in the oven.
 
Crank that puppy-It can take it. As to slotted bricks, you don't need them. l have a row of full sized bricks running down the center of my furnace. I have troughs that I scraped into them deep enough so I can slide my fork under the foil pack. Just lay the package with the blades in it right on the firebrick. Better support, and the bricks heat just as fast as the furnace.

Done hundreds of blades this way and it works better than anything else. They stay flat, and you can handle multiple blades in one larger packet.
 
I use the soft fire brick for holding blades. The more and deeper the slots' the sooner you 'rack' will break up but they last pretty well and even when they crack, I've never had a blade warp.

As for the temps, I also go straight to temp at max speed. I haven't seen or even read of any significant benefit to a slow ramp - and electricity costs more than lobster these days.

The value of the ramping feature is in ramping down

If you are annealing and you want a long slow cool, you can have it. The set-pro is a great controller and easy to use after the first couple tries.

Rob!
 
I set mine on full when hardening, and set it at about 1000 for tempering.
I found that on full ramp when tempering it has a hard time staying on the desire temp, but works better at 1000.
 
blgoode said:
how many of you have the set pro comtroller?
Click to expand...
i got the set pro wasnt going to go with the pain of getting the rampmaster
figgered that i could do all i needed with the set pro and so far im right
just wish i could leave about 8 set programs in it but thats not even a big deal
so whats up or you just taking a pole
butch
 
I've used my evenheat for over 8 years now and i havent had to change an elemant, i always use the fastest setting (on mine i think its 3999), I also us a soft brick, i have several for different thicknesses.
 
With all due respect, you guys are missing out by placing individual wrapped blades in a slotted brick, unless you're only heat treating one at a time.

If you make a horizontal pack, you can HT multiple blades of the same thickness. You can lift the pack with a fork, rather than grabbing it with tongs, which sometimes distorts the knife. Most important, you only open the door once. All your blades see the same, uniform heat and time at temp.

If you support on a soft brick, the heating is perfectly uniform, and your knives will stay flat.
 
id like to see that also as i have had a little problem with blades warping when i do more then one at a time
1 at a time sure is not cost effective
the blades closer to the sides seem to warp every time
 
butcher_block said:
id like to see that also as i have had a little problem with blades warping when i do more then one at a time
1 at a time sure is not cost effective
the blades closer to the sides seem to warp every time
Click to expand...

Two words - plate quench. I can have 6 blades - still in the foil, plate quenching before you can have the envelope open and the first blade out cooling in air. I have HTed 24 blades at once, plate quenching 6 at a time. The plate quench only takes a minute and a half per set. The last 6 of the 24 got an extra 5 minutes soak because I had to use some dry ice to cool the plates. :-) That was pushing it a bit. All rockwell tested fine but it was WAY too hectic. :-) I often do 12 at a time now though when I'm working on large batches of steak knives. The only caveat is they all have to be the same thickness. If there is a mix of thicknesses, I only do up to 2 thicknesses at a time. (2 plate quenches)
 
I think its air quenching air quenchable steel between 2 aluminium plates to draw the heat out.

I am sure someone will chime in with a better description :)
 
blgoode said:
I think its air quenching air quenchable steel between 2 aluminium plates to draw the heat out.

I am sure someone will chime in with a better description :)
Click to expand...
i got nothing to add sept you can also use copper copper is to work better and thats why im holding off till i can get copper plates
butch
 
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