Sugarcreek kiln question

Beile

Beile

Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
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Does anybody with a Sugar Creek kiln have a problem with the door opening up instead of right or left or opening down like Evenheat or Paragon? Also, about how long does it take to get to 1,600 degrees in a 110v vs a 220v oven of the same size? Thanks, Tim
 
A few months ago I emailed the folks at Sugarcreek and asked them same question on how long it took to get to 1500 deg f. I don't remeber their answer, but it seems like they said about 1 1/2 hours----could be wrong, but do remember it being a lot longer than I thought it should be.
Just shoot them an email and they will answer your questions.


-Mike-
 
The 110V Sugar Creek kiln takes 20-30 min to get to 1500, it's when you try to go up past 1800 that it slows down. No problems with the door opening up, it will stay open completely, so you can work it by yourself if you don't have someone running a cycle with you, try to close it immediately though to avoid exposing the elements to the cool air.
 
I don't own a sugar creek but there should be no differance in the heat time between 110 and 220. the reason is that a 220 volt oven will only draw half the amps of the 110 volt oven so the wattage (amount of heat developed) will remain the same.
 
Hey thanks you guys, which one to get is the question then, the Sugar Creek is pretty inexpensive compared to the others and will problaby be ok for me I'm guessing.
 
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Acrid has it about right!! i own a sugarcreek and its a fine oven.getting to 1500 should'nt take long..,but going to 1925 takes over an hour.
 
Hi Bill - the 110V knifemaker's kiln offered by Sugar Creek is not available in 220V as far as I know. The oven has a 13A draw and is limited there so folks can run it on any standard 110V outlets, thus limiting how many watts can be shoved into the oven. It sits on the edge of acceptable chamber sizes in that it is pretty large for the watts.

The construction of these ovens isn't terribly different than an evenheat and the bricks are rated the same, I believe, but evenheat doesn't have a 110V oven. The 110V Paragon seems to have much tighter construction and it is a smaller chamber, so I think it will actually heat up faster, although I've never used one of those particular ovens.
 
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I have a sugarcreek 220 volt oven and it takes 3 1/2 hours to get to 1950 it seem I have a problem from what your reporting
 
I have a Sugar Creek 220V. It is the larger of the two sizes, so I think heat times are a bit slow. When I got the oven, they sent an example of times to reach various temps done on one of their ovens. Mine was definitely slower than the examples given. At the time I was using D2 and reaching 1850 took quite a while. The people at Sugr Creek were helpful and freely sent various parts to help remedy the situation. Ultimately a different heating element fixed my slow heating problem. 3.5 hours to 1950 was probably about what mine did prior to the new element, now its faster. But now I'm not using any D2 or 440C--mostly 10xx and 52100--so its better. The Sugar Creek works great for the 1500 degree crowd, but for the stainless bunch it is slow. I will look for the time vs temp sheet to give some examples.
 
Hey Acrid, It seems we are opposites. I have never used a sugar creek but I do have the 110v paragon. It will heat up 1500 for the straight carbon stuff in about twelve to fifteen minutes. and takes fourty to fifty to get to 2000.
 
That Sugarcreek 110v kiln is only 10.75 inches deep. That won't HT a very big blade. The next size up is 24 inches deep. Looks like they could have made the little one a little bigger, 14 to 18 inches would have been better. But then it might not had enough heat at 110v.
 
Hey folks, I was away for the Chicago show and refused to use a computer, sorry for dredging this up late. I do think the paragon will heat up faster than the SC, it seems to hold quite a bit more heat.

As far as the small oven, I've done a 12" blade in it, just have to turn it sideways, the SC is fairly wide for being a small oven, so you can fit longer blades at an angle. I don't do too many knives over 10 - 11" anyhow and sending out the occasional large one isn't something I'm averse to. The oven has a lot of limitations, but both the 110V version and the 24" version offer a very good value for a maker on a budget, sure beats a torch and a magnet anyhow.
 
I have the 220V 24" Suggar Creek, and I have been very happy with it, especially considering the price. I got mine 6 months ago, so they may have changed it from older models, but it only takes about 1hr to reach 1950 for my 13c26. I've had no trouble with the door opening up instead of to the side, although, it would be better if it opened to the side.
 
I have both side opening and sliding up door kilns. The problem of the side opening doors is the heat at the interior side of the door is facing at you when you are trying to get the blade out. It is a big kiln therefore the heat was very dangerous. When I bought a sliding door kiln the problem vanished. It may not be the case for the smaller kilns though...
 
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