Paragon tips needed.

[SBranson]

Well I decided on the Paragon 36" model as it seemed to be a great price for the size and will handle pretty good sized swords.

I just tried it tonight and wondered if there are any good tips for getting this to work best. I tried to fire it up to 450F and it hit that and shut off but it climbed another 50F before evening out and slowly, very slowly, starting to drop.
If I open the door it drops quicker, obviously, but closing the door starts brings the heat out of the back of the oven and the temperature climbs again.

I've heard of putting plates in the ovens to help stabilize the heat.

Any good ideas? Really slow ramp speed? Fire it a good hour before needing it?
I guess this isn't as much of an issue with smaller ovens.

Or is this more of an issue at the lower temperatures.

 

[Kyle Royer]

Slower ramp speed is the way to go. I have a 24" Paragon and when I'm doing a tempering job I'll have it heat at 1500 an hour so it will get to 425 quick and only overshoot about 15 to 20 degrees. I don't worry about the 15 to 20 degree overshooting on mine because it cools down to the 425 within 10 minutes, which means my blade is not going to be getting overshot on the heat. If you want less overshooting with the temp just use a slower ramp speed. Mine does the same thing at lower and higher temps. Also, you could set the programing to heat at full rate until it gets 50 to 100 degrees lower than the temp you want and then set the second temp to ramp up slower to the final temp. That would save a little time if you want it to be heating up quicker.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Slower ramp rate and allowing it to come up to temperature and then stabilize for 15 minutes before putting in a blade. This will avoid any overheating problems.

 

[SBranson]

Thanks guys. Great idea Kyle.. never thought of doing a 2 stage for the tempering temperatures.