Heat Treating Ovens-advice

S

sixth_sense

Joined
Dec 29, 2005
Messages
41
Hey Fellas,

I'm ready to take the leap to heat treating my own blades. I would love to learn form some people who have made the move. Can I do it with a budget of $1000? Where would be a good place to find an inexpensive/used one? Any particular brand you would reccomend?

Guys, I really appreciate the advice I always get in this forum. Thanks.

SS
 
You can get the small Evenheat from Tim Z for that. But it is 220v.
 
I second the Even Heat from Tim Zowada. It is true that it is 220V, if you are unable to use 220V don't get a heat treating furnace until you can.
 
http://tzknives.com/horizontalkilns.html

I just received an 18" inch model from Tim. I haven't used it yet but will soon. I had also looked at the Paragon ovens but thought that the Evenheat more suited my needs. It opens from the side and not the bottom so you don't have to reach across it to get your blades in and out of it.

I don't know why 220VAC would be a concern, just unplug the wife's dryer.

Craig
 
I built mine. Of course I weld and got the Koawool as scrap pieces from work. I bought an old pottery kiln and used the bricks from that. I got the steel new from the drop pile at the steel yard. All together maybe $350. There is a thread here somewhere on building them.
 
The sugar creek kilns are pretty good, the infinite switch 110V model takes quite a while to come up to heat for stainless.
 
I have the Evenheat with the digital comtrols and it is 220V's It work great for me in my shop. There are others out there just as good but to me this one is the best.

This is just the one I use. Look around and you will find something in your price. Hope this was of help in some way. And Wecome to Bladeforums number #1 in knife information. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. - - - - - - :thumbup:
 
I have an 18" evenheat 220V. Works great and heats up pretty fast.
-John
 
How much is that Sugar oven with the digital control?

I have 2 22" Evenheat ovens there was a problem with the first oven, when it came time to return it for the problem all they wanted was the digital controller back. I found a another controller did some repairing to fix the problem for cheap and use it for tempering.

I have had a few problems with my Evenheats, the elements are not seated well and during heating and cooling the elements completely came out and I had to replace them with new ones that Even heat sent me. Bottom line they do stand behind their products, other than that great ovens.

One thing I do on all major purchases is photo document the delivery, I take pictures of all four sides of the box and the whole unpacking procedure. The first thing most companies ask "Do you have pictures" it saves you lots of headaches if something happen in shipping.

From what I read I must be the only one who had the element problem?

At times I wish I had the Paragon with a gas set up, it would make life a lot easier not having to deal with foil.

Tim Z is great to deal with

Good luck lots of choices out there
Spencer
 
I have a 27" inch Evenheat which I bought from Tim Z a few years back. I think it was $950.00 + $155.00 s/h and it came directly from Evenheat Kiln. The only thing i don't like about it (maybe this is with all kilns) is that the heating elements towards the back of the kiln are held in place with 4 ceramic pins and somehow the two on the left when you're looking into the kiln came loose and i can't seem to get them back holding the elements in well as they should have just made it one longer pin. No idea why they made it two pins that sit on top of one another!


If you already have a dryer plug setup in your garage or something, have evenheat use that plug on the kiln's wiring. Won't have to bother setting up another plug and change the house fuse to 20AMP as a dryer plug is 30AMPS.
 
Leu Custom said:
I have a 27" inch Evenheat which I bought from Tim Z a few years back. I think it was $950.00 + $155.00 s/h and it came directly from Evenheat Kiln. The only thing i don't like about it (maybe this is with all kilns) is that the heating elements towards the back of the kiln are held in place with 4 ceramic pins and somehow the two on the left when you're looking into the kiln came loose and i can't seem to get them back holding the elements in well as they should have just made it one longer pin. No idea why they made it two pins that sit on top of one another!


If you already have a dryer plug setup in your garage or something, have evenheat use that plug on the kiln's wiring. Won't have to bother setting up another plug and change the house fuse to 20AMP as a dryer plug is 30AMPS.
Click to expand...

Leu contact Evenheat they make them in one solid piece now, I just got a set in.

Spencer
 
Thanks Spencer! :D Damn, I still haven't called you about the Kydex yet! I'll do so soon! Did the set cost $$ or did they send them for free?
 
Spencer, i just recieved a sugarcreek couple weeks back! i got the smaller model which came to just over $600 with full digital control's.the larger model is only an extra $70 or so.i know these ovens are'nt praised as the paragon or evenheat..,but i cant imagine an oven being easier to use or more accurate!its a great little unit!!
 
balibalistic said:
Spencer, i just recieved a sugarcreek couple weeks back! i got the smaller model which came to just over $600 with full digital control's.the larger model is only an extra $70 or so.i know these ovens are'nt praised as the paragon or evenheat..,but i cant imagine an oven being easier to use or more accurate!its a great little unit!!
Click to expand...
Same here thats the one I got . Don Hanson bought one a while back and I called and asked how he liked his. He said nothing but good things about it.
 
Hey guys, I do most of my heat treating at Alan Folts shop, which is how I came to experience the Sugar Creek. His is just the analogue, as I mentioned above. It works just fine for almost all of what we do. If you can run 220 and afford digital, I'd say go for it. The only thing other ovens have over his is speed. The 1300W is pushing the limiti of nearly .5 cubic ft of space. Carbon steel is no problem, but if you need to get close to 2000 degrees, it's not as fast as some other setups.
 
I've been using a Paragon 110V for 20 years. Great unit, had to change the elements only once, and have run alot of 440C through it.

The power goes out frequently around here, and several times I found myself heat treating when the power decides to go out. No problem, fire up the generator, plug in and carry on with the heat treating.
 
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