Skuttle Indoor Air Quality Products Klin manual Loading, Basic Firing Steps

BASIC FIRING STEPS 13

To make things easy to understand we have identified 6 steps to fusing and slumping in your Hot Start Kiln. Here are a few tips which should help you get started.

1 - LOADING

SHELVES

The kiln accessory kit comes with a 13” (33 cm) shelf and three 1” (2.5 cm) support posts. Place the posts on the bot- tom of the kiln in a triangular pattern and then place the shelf on top of the posts. Make sure the gap between the shelf and the kiln wall is as uniform as possible. Never load more than one

level of shelves in a kiln with elements in the lid.

Never place the kiln shelf directly on the bottom slab. It will act as a heat sink and may cause your piece to heat unevenly.

THINFIRE SHELF PAPER

Your accessory kit included both kiln wash and thin shelf paper. While the shelf paper is not required, it will allow you to fire multiple projects without having to re-coat the shelves with kiln wash. Simply add a new piece to each load.

ThinFire is a heat-resistant lightweight ceramic impreg- nated paper. It provides separation between the kiln shelf and the glass in firing applications up to 1600 °F (871°C).

Compared to kiln wash, it reduces shelf preparation time

and improves surface release. A single layer will prevent molten glass from sticking to your shelf.

Edge curl: paper will sometimes pull into or curl over the glass edge. Contact with the glass surface may cause an undesirable mark or haze. To prevent curling over, weight the outer corners and edges of the paper with small pieces of scrap glass.

Cleanup & Safety: on firing, ThinFire disintegrates to a dusty tissue. As with all ceramic fiber material, avoid breath- ing residual dust. Wear a respirator (NIOSH approved for dusts) during disposal. If possible, clean shelves with HEPA

vacuum.

POSITIONING PIECES

It is important to make sure pieces are not too close together, too close to the edge of the shelf or to close to the edge of the shelf paper. If any of your projects are thicker than .25” (6.5 mm) the glass will expand beyond it’s origi- nal footprint.

If you are working on a piece you wish to be thicker then .25” (6.5 mm) after it is fully fused, it will be necessary to build dams with ceramic fiber to contain the glass.

We recommend that you allow at least one inch of space between the glass and the lid of the kiln. If you have a slump mold which is too tall to fit on the shelf you can fire the project on shelf paper directly on the slab. This is not recommended full fused projects.

B E G I N N E R