Hi everyone,
I took the plunge and bought a Paragon SC2, which arrived today. I immediately set it up, took a look at the programming video on the cool tools web site, and fired a couple of pieces I've had sitting around. I used the speed program, set to hold 1650 for an hour. Everything seemingly went well, but when I took the pieces the out they were  not white but silver, and I could see the crystaline structure. So I'm guessing they didn't sinter.  I torch fired one of the pieces and while it's not really white, the crystaline stucture is (mostly) gone.  Has anyone else experienced this? I'll refire them for 2 hours at 1650 tomorrow so they don't break, but I'm perplexed, as the kiln seems in good working order and the thermocouple appears to be where it's supposed to be. I'll make a few calls in the morning, but I thought I'd see if anyone here has any thoughts. Thanks!

What kind of clay were you using? PMC standard needs to be fired for 2 hours at 1650. If you were using standard it was underfired. PMC+ fires at 1650 for 10 min and PMC3 at 1290 for 10 min. Art Clay 650 is 1435 for 5 min. These are the highest temp firings but there are others. When you push the button to go through each cycle make sure you have the right nos. in before you move to the next one. Better to check twice than make a mistake. I have the same kiln and have not had a single problem with it. But why you were firing for only an hour at 1650 makes me believe it was standard and needed to be fired longer. Hope this helps. Alice

 Hi Alice,
After the kiln cooled off last night, I took another look at the thermocouple and although the wire element was sticking out, I was able to pull the ceramic part into the kiln more. I did another test firing tonight and presto! Nice and white. The kiln felt hotter too. I'm using PMC+, and since I was impatient to see how the new kiln worked, I only set it to hold for an hour. I figured that would be better than the 10 minutes I've been doing with the torch. It's now programmed for the full two hours. Thanks for the advice!  Now that I'm up and running  I'm sure  I'll be full of questions.

Cheers,
Sue