Would this make a good heat treat oven / kiln?

synthesist said:
In defense of Josh's comment about touching a heating element, on the USAKnifemaker webpage describing their "KnifeDogs(tm) Heat Treating Oven by Paragon" it says -

............................wait for it now............................

Accidentally touching your metal knife to an electrically charged oven element will give serious shock and may cause death.

I think that should be avoided at all cost myself.

I guess opening door on this oven doesn't cut the power. I understand that they were going for the most bang for the buck on this collaboration with Paragon and eliminating that feature probably saved $20 but if I were buying this one I'd pay the extra $20 myself.

Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
Click to expand...

It seems like a no brainer, I can't imagine why anyone would make an over without a door switch
 
So that's where that bit of information sticking somewhere in the back of my brain came from. I had been looking hard at the orange knifedogs/Paragon oven last year. I was more concerned about the dial on it versus the digital display. Now it seems that I have more to look at and be concerned about. I'll definitely not be purchasing one of those now.

Thanks guys!
 
I'm re-thinking this...

I may go with the KH-418 instead...

http://www.mackilns.com/kh-418/

It's still 120v but has an 18" length and automatically disconnects power when the door is opened.

If anyone has one of these, AaronGough, Cjwb2012,... I would appreciate hearing your input!

(mccandmatt - thank you for your kind words!)
 
SpeedyGonzales said:
I'm re-thinking this...

I may go with the KH-418 instead...

http://www.mackilns.com/kh-418/

It's still 120v but has an 18" length and automatically disconnects power when the door is opened.

If anyone has one of these, AaronGough, Cjwb2012,... I would appreciate hearing your input!

(mccandmatt - thank you for your kind words!)
Click to expand...

Hey Andy!
The KH418 is the kiln that I've been using for the past 6 months or so. Mine has the Rampmaster control and I have zero complaints about it. The control is easy to use, the kiln seems to hold temperature very accurately, and I've been able to do some nice work with it! The whole unit is well built and looks like it will last quite a while.

The only thing to be aware of is that the kiln will require a dedicated electrical circuit as it draws a lot of current. Heat-up time on the 120V version is slower that than the 220V version, but I haven't found that to be an issue. In my case I generally want to ramp my A2 up to austenitizing temperature at a max of 900-1000ºF/hr anyway so I don't need it faster.

I would say my kiln goes from cold to 2000ºF in about 100-120 minutes. Cold to 1050ºF definitely takes less than an hour, but I've never timed it.

The kiln is large enough that I can do a batch of 6-7 blades in it at one time with no issues.

In short I don't yet have any regrets about buying that kiln. I think it will do fine when I start doing kitchen knives too, but obviously it's not long enough to be dealing with swords...

-A
 
Thank you so much, Aaron! That was really helpful and covered everything I need to know right now. I'm glad you've been satisfied with it.

I was considering the 414 (13.5" version) but thought its not much more for 4 or so more inches.

The heat up time seems quite reasonable!

If you haven't seen Aaron Gough's video on the testing of different steels... Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSVs2LCZ-TQ&sns=em
 
Ive had my KH418 for about a year now and like I said in the earlier post it has been flawless. The Rampmaster controls are easy to use and give you more options for storing different stages of HT than the set pro. I have 2 different heat treat settings and a few tempering settings. Its nice to hit a button and everything is pre-set. Set it and forget it! Well....don't forget it that would be bad but you get the point. I would definitely go with the 18 inch over the 13 inch. Its well worth the difference in cost. I kinda wish I would have gotten a larger one. If I end up making anything larger Ill just send it out for HT.
 
I ordered the 24 inch kiln from Mac last year and love it , you might want to call and talk to them about what you want. When I ordered mine the door disconnect power switch was about
100 bucks extra. I did have them add that to my kiln. Mine was the 220 volt 24 inch model. Get the Rampmaster control, you wont regret it.

Jerry
 
Thank you all so much for your input. The KH-418 was really a stretch for me, budget wise, so I had to go with the set-pro controller. But thats okay with me. I'll be happy to have a kiln at all let alone something this nice.

I appreciate all the input very much.

The KH models come standard with the power interupt switch for the door but with the higher voltage ones it must be ordered separate.
 
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