Rampmaster normalizing/programming question --

[Burchtree]

I did some searching, but I didn't find much on this. Is there a way to set the kiln to do three normalizing cycles while leaving the blades in the oven? My idea was to do 5 segs with the 2 and 4 being set to 0 degrees. Well; the oven didn't like that. Any suggestions? It is back to the instruction manual for me.

 

[cden]

Don't know for sure, but would the oven like it better if you set bottom temp for a few degrees above what you think room temp is going to be?

It may (?) cool so slowly, would it be better to use it for one careful anneal cycle?

Good luck with it, Craig

 

[mete]

Normalizing implies air cool, annealing implies furnace cool .What steel do you have and what are you trying to achieve ?

 

[Burchtree]

1095. Being able to normalize without getting the blades out -- probably not possible to get the heat down fast enough in the furnace. I went ahead and brought them up to temp, soak for about 5, then just shut it off and opened the door to cool them down, then repeating. Worked pretty well and was a hellluva lot better than standing in front of the forge.

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

You're better off to just use the oven as a heat "source". At least it'll be more accurate than your forge.
Firstly, before I do ANYTHING in my oven, I let it sit at temp for a full hour so the entire mass of the oven is at the right temp and when it cycles off and on, there's only about a 3-4 degee window of fluctuation.
Stick your blade in, the internal temp will drop, let the oven rebound to target temp, and in my oven, the blade lags behind the oven about 3 minutes until it is at oven temp.
Let your knife soak at your normalizing temp a moment or two and remove to air cool.
Repeat.
There will be no real time benefit doing it this way, if that's what you are trying to solve with using the oven. It will be more accurate, however.
personally, I'd just use the forge!

 

[Burchtree]

Thanks! The forge is pretty accurate with its pyrometer (and no direct flame hitting the blade), but with large batches, standing in front of the forge gets tiresome.

 

[Rob!]

The Rampmaster is an incredible controller - but it is not a refrigerator. Be sure what you ask of it is reasonable.

Rob!