Paragon vs evenheat

Even though I really like the evenheat and have had no issues. If I were to buy one now is probably go for the 3 zone paragon. That things looks awesome but it's pretty pricey too.
 
I've had an evenheat for 3 years and have been overall pleased with it.
I have learned to heat treat coupons to try to dial in the HT protocol because there can be variability between ovens in terms of actual temp.
The other thing I have done because of the concern regarding the exposed elements is that I have placed 3 furnace bricks inside my oven to create an "oven inside an oven". I never have more than 2 knives in at a time so it's ok that it takes up space. I don't know if this really mitigates the problem or not but it makes me feel better that they're shielded. :D
 
Robert Erickson said:
I've had an evenheat for 3 years and have been overall pleased with it.
I have learned to heat treat coupons to try to dial in the HT protocol because there can be variability between ovens in terms of actual temp.
The other thing I have done because of the concern regarding the exposed elements is that I have placed 3 furnace bricks inside my oven to create an "oven inside an oven". I never have more than 2 knives in at a time so it's ok that it takes up space. I don't know if this really mitigates the problem or not but it makes me feel better that they're shielded. :D
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They have a switch you can get that will turn off power as soon as you open the door... I think that's what I'm gonna do probably
 
I have not used a Paragon. I have had my Evenheat KH418 for about 8 years. I do not do anywhere near the amount of blades as many other makers. But I have had to replace the control board of my Rampmaster lll and thermocouple. It still acts glitchy sometimes.
 
i4Marc said:
I have not used a Paragon. I have had my Evenheat KH418 for about 8 years. I do not do anywhere near the amount of blades as many other makers. But I have had to replace the control board of my Rampmaster lll and thermocouple. It still acts glitchy sometimes.
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Interesting... a few questions:
  • was anything covered under warranty?
  • How did you find their customer service?
  • How does it act glitchy currently?
 
Not covered under warranty. I thought customer service was good. I have spoken with people who have had a lot of trouble getting answers from Evenheat. I spoke directly with one of the engineers (Jim) who was very helpful. An example of my oven acting glitchy might go something like this. I program a simple heat routine. Go to 1500˚ hold for 5 min. If I get distracted and don't get the coupon or blade in the oven by the time I hit temp I will stop the program put the blade in and restart the program. But the readout will sometimes say "program completed" and wont let me restart the program. Or I might get wider than expected temp swings. Say the temp is ramping...1475, 1477, 1478, 1480 then all of a sudden it's at 1260 then back to 1380, 1420 1456, 1460 etc. My oven has mechanical relays but that seems like a glitch. These kinds of things are pretty frustrating.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
They have a switch you can get that will turn off power as soon as you open the door... I think that's what I'm gonna do probably
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My other thought (rightly or wrongly) is that having insulating bricks closer to the knives and taking up air space may provide a more even heating environment. I'm not an engineer so I may be way off.
 
There was mentioning of muli-zone kilns in the thread. Interested to know when that would be of benefit to us?
One thing I have been pondering, after hints from a pro, is to place a separate K-element, hooked up to a separate thermometer, next to where the actual blade is in the kiln. To get a more exact reading of temps. Any thoughts on that?
 
Scaniaman said:
There was mentioning of muli-zone kilns in the thread. Interested to know when that would be of benefit to us?
One thing I have been pondering, after hints from a pro, is to place a separate K-element, hooked up to a separate thermometer, next to where the actual blade is in the kiln. To get a more exact reading of temps. Any thoughts on that?
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Wouldn't that require either a much more expensive PID (if building the oven yourself) or multiple PID's and wiring for multiple sets of elements? Sounds like a great idea for a larger oven like for swords but might be a bit overkill for a knife making oven. If it is just for taking temps it wouldn't be too bad but for multi zone heating it would be a good bit more complex.
 
mooniesdl3 said:
Wouldn't that require either a much more expensive PID (if building the oven yourself) or multiple PID's and wiring for multiple sets of elements? Sounds like a great idea for a larger oven like for swords but might be a bit overkill for a knife making oven. If it is just for taking temps it wouldn't be too bad but for multi zone heating it would be a good bit more complex.
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Oh, I wasn't thinking for multi-zone kilns. Just for a normal single-zone. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.
I would be intrigued to know the actual temp by the blade during the HT process.. Set-up should be pretty easy. K-element, thermometer, drill.. Not too expensive either. Yeah, maybe exaggerated nerdiness...but there is plenty of that on the forum :)
 
Scaniaman said:
Oh, I wasn't thinking for multi-zone kilns. Just for a normal single-zone. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that.
I would be intrigued to know the actual temp by the blade during the HT process.. Set-up should be pretty easy. K-element, thermometer, drill.. Not too expensive either. Yeah, maybe exaggerated nerdiness...but there is plenty of that on the forum :)
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If you do make sure to post a tutorial :)
 
I have my TC extended down to the middle of my oven with just enough room for my blade underneath
Also have very thin fire bricks,1/2",covering all my elements
When I was replacing my elements I was able to make adjustments like I extended my interior by 4"
Mine is a DIY job
 
I went with evenheat for one simple reason. They're about 1 1/2 hours north of me so I could just drive up there and save shipping cost.

Its been good but there are some things that irk me.

I got the TAP controller and it has a hard time registering the touch of my finger. Maybe I got a bad one but it can be maddening trying to program when it only registers every 10th or 20th touch. Yeah, 10 or 20.

The other thing is that after I run a program and the oven cools down the temperature it shows is ALWAYS 20-25 degrees warmer that it is in my shop. I've left the door open for days and it never shows the correct temp. I have to unplug it for 20 minutes. Then when it's plugged back in. Only then will it show the correct temp.

I also agree with others that test coupons must be done. When I followed established recipes I got sub-par results. After dialing in the correct temps for my oven I got much better results. And I do have a hardness tester which made it much easier.
 
MotorCityMike said:
I went with evenheat for one simple reason. They're about 1 1/2 hours north of me so I could just drive up there and save shipping cost.

Its been good but there are some things that irk me.

I got the TAP controller and it has a hard time registering the touch of my finger. Maybe I got a bad one but it can be maddening trying to program when it only registers every 10th or 20th touch. Yeah, 10 or 20.

The other thing is that after I run a program and the oven cools down the temperature it shows is ALWAYS 20-25 degrees warmer that it is in my shop. I've left the door open for days and it never shows the correct temp. I have to unplug it for 20 minutes. Then when it's plugged back in. Only then will it show the correct temp.

I also agree with others that test coupons must be done. When I followed established recipes I got sub-par results. After dialing in the correct temps for my oven I got much better results. And I do have a hardness tester which made it much easier.
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oh man, good points!! have you contacted Evenheat? if so, what did they say?
 
MotorCityMike said:
I went with evenheat for one simple reason. They're about 1 1/2 hours north of me so I could just drive up there and save shipping cost.

Its been good but there are some things that irk me.

I got the TAP controller and it has a hard time registering the touch of my finger. Maybe I got a bad one but it can be maddening trying to program when it only registers every 10th or 20th touch. Yeah, 10 or 20.

The other thing is that after I run a program and the oven cools down the temperature it shows is ALWAYS 20-25 degrees warmer that it is in my shop. I've left the door open for days and it never shows the correct temp. I have to unplug it for 20 minutes. Then when it's plugged back in. Only then will it show the correct temp.

I also agree with others that test coupons must be done. When I followed established recipes I got sub-par results. After dialing in the correct temps for my oven I got much better results. And I do have a hardness tester which made it much easier.
Click to expand...

Hi Mike, was just browsing doing research for a new knife kiln I'm designing (we are in Australia - it won't be being sold in the US) and saw your post about the troubles with the TAP controller - they are crap... but fairly easy to fix your problems. I don't know how to message you directly - so I'll just post it here: First up, please upgrade your firmware to the latest version if you can. If you can't because it won't register your finger its harder but not impossible. Once you have upgraded your firmware just turn it on and off 5 times (full boot up) without touching the screen and it will open the diagnostic which lets you recalibrate your touch screen. We have also found some issues with two other evenheats using the TAP controller where the wiring to the controller screen was rubbish and just needed redoing - which fixed all the issues those kilns were having. Every wire that goes to the screen is either low or no voltage, so you are safe to take a look - unplug it first just in case.

hopefully that fixes it - the TAP controller was a great idea, just really poorly implemented.

Cheers Ash.
 
I went with Bentrup TC507 for my kiln. Works very well, high quality and easy to use. No touch screen. The Bentrup goes on a lot of industrial HT kilns here.
 
I've had both. An evenheat KO-18, circa 2014, and now a Paragon KM18T Pro.

Construction:
I like the paragon much more. It's more robust, period. I'm not afraid of moving it around on a wheeled cart. The evenheat held up ok, but I felt it was always squeaking when moving it. Also, the door is more solid in the paragon.

Space:
The paragon is tight. Both in height and it width. It's big enough, but it makes it trickier to get a long blade in and out without touching the walls. A minor annoyance.

Power:
The evenheat had less power, and in conjunction with a bigger chamber it took a while to heat up. I don't remember the exact number, but I do remember it was well over an hour. This new paragon is a beast. Yesterday it took me 35 minutes total to austenize a blade with a 15 minutes soak. Simply amazing.

Controllers:
I had the TAP controller with the Evenheat when it was brand new. I spent a while with the engineer/owner of the controller debugging it. Very frustrating, but it the end it worked fine. Not stellar, but fine. And it was very ergonomic to use. The Paragon with the touch screen is ok. Not as nice as the evenheat to work with (the touch screen is quite temperamental), but good enough. The three zone control is fantastic. I can use the whole depth of the oven without concerns, and the redundancy of the TC gives me confidence on the measurements.
 
I hadn't seen the Paragon Pro before, very nice looking. Well if I was in the US and was looking for a kiln, I would buy that one (24" version) I think.
 
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