A friend who kindly let me use her kiln moved away a while ago and I'm in a kiln dilemma.

I love Paragon kilns but after an expensive PMC discovering year I don't have £550+.

I've read some artclay websites recommend the Prometheus Pro 1, but I have a couple of questions and would be grateful in anyone who has any knowledge could answer them.

Is it suitable for PMC as that's mostly what I work with.

I know you can programme in a single ramp with this kiln, but can you programme in a hold time, or do you just manually turn it off after the time you want?

also, If I were burning out a bisque bead, and wanted to ramp then hold for a while, then fire properly at a higher temperature, could I simply programme it again for the second segment while it's still on?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Hi there,

Yes, the Prometheus is excellent for metal clay, enamelling, small glass fusing, and decals. I sell it rebranded as the MiniKiln (www.silverclay.co.uk/shki.htm if you want to read more about it).

I also have and use a Paragon SC2, but most of the time I actually only use the MiniKiln - I love it. It is small and light, so easy for me to carry to and from classes. It heats up fast and easy to work with.

You just set the target temp, and then it will go up to that temp and keep it until you turn it off. (Hang a kitchen timer around your neck! It is easy to forget all about it when the phone rings or the dog desperately needs to go out... I fired one metal clay load for 7 hours!)

It can also be programmed to use a slow heating-up speed (ramp), if anyone needs intructions for this, please email me.

You can easily just re-set it to another temp whilst firing.

The "bad" points with it, is that it is a lot smaller than something like the SC2, you can't program it which you need for larger glass projects, and you can't just turn it on and leave it. Otherwise I loooove it. And it is so cute!

Petra

(By the way, the SC2 is available for less than £550, email if you want more info)

Sorry it's taken so long to reply. I still can't decide but will email about the SC2.