The Advance Kilns AKL 1297 is a 12" x 9" x 7", 4-sided, energy-saving, professional-build, high-temperature furnace, ideal for your school, college, ceramics studio, craft centre, engineering workshop, medical laboratory, or technical facility. It's made for serious users not the occasional hobbyist.

The Advance Kilns AKL 1297 is suitable for Art Clay, PMC, and BronzClay metal clays, enamelling, firing ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware, glass fusing, sagging, and slumping, heat-treating and melting metals, painting china, and working with many other materials and processes.

To learn about table-top kilns that can use a regular mains socket, such as the UltraLite Kiln, the Kitiki Mini-Kiln, and the Paragon BlueBird, Caldera, EZ Beader, FireFly, Home Artist, SC-2, SC-3, and Xpress, transfer to Electric Kilns using the Electric Kilns link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

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The The Advance Kilns AKL 1297.

All programmable kilns work in the same way: the thermocouple checks the internal temperature regularly and tells the programmer to switch the elements on or off to control the heating or cooling rate.

When the target temperature is reached, the elements are switched off. However, residual heat in the firing chamber allows the internal temperature to overshoot the target temperature briefly before starting to fall back.

This is more noticeable at low temperatures than at high temperatures. For example: 300°C will probably overshoot to 320°C whereas 800°C will probably only overshoot to 810°C before starting to fall back. Take this into account if you're working with temperature-critical materials or processes.

During the hold-time, with the elements still off, the internal temperature falls. Although the programmer will soon switch the elements back on, the firing chamber will initially absorb some of the new heat before the temperature recovers. The continual switching of the elements on and off causes the internal temperature to cycle around the target temperature.

The actual temperature of your work will be affected, slightly, by its position on the kiln shelf, the vertical spacing of any stacked shelves, and its nearness to the elements, a lid, a door, a bead door, a window, or a peephole.

Remember that glass needs radiant heat and will fuse, sag, or slump better on one shelf than between stacked shelves.

Kiln doors and lids are not meant to be a perfect fit otherwise, at high temperatures, there'd be no room for expansion and the door could stick and the ceramic-fibre or firebricks could crack.

Eventually, with normal use, kilns discolour slightly, inside and outside, and some firebricks might develop hairline cracks. Remember, your kiln is a robust, versatile, red-hot tool: not an ornament.

Working successfully with a kiln involves careful research, planned experiment, and repeated testing. It's important to learn how to creatively use unexpected effects, as things that work for your friends or teachers might not work in the same way for you. So, keep a firing log:

Buy a durable notebook. Using a new page for every firing, draw diagrams of the shelves, their vertical spacing, and the position of your work on the shelves. Put a few scraps at different places on the shelves to learn how things react. Describe the material, the shape of your work, the firing cycle, and the end result.

A kiln log is vital if you're experimenting with temperature-sensitive materials, or working with coloured dichroic glasses, enamels, or glazes, and a skilled artist will use the log to advantage to re-create effects.

The Advance Kilns AKL 1297 furnace is an energy-saving, front-opening, fireboard and firebrick kiln. It's suitable for glass moulding, heat treating metals, and firing ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware.

The Advance Kilns AKL1297 furnace is a 1305°C cone 10, four-sided, rectangular, front-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, ramp-hold and cone-fire, Bartlett 3-key digital programmer.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 1300W, so can use a regular mains socket. It needs a strong table as it weighs about 55Kg.

The stainless steel case measures 527mm x 533mm x 565mm, and is slotted for air circulation: so it keeps cool. The electrical components, located on the front, stay cool, even at extended hold times. The door opens just more than 90° and is hinged on the left but it can be re-engineered and hinged on the right: remember this when ordering.

To comply with EU safety regulations, the kiln is fitted with a door switch which cuts off power to the elements whenever the kiln is opened: an important safety feature included in the price.

The firebrick firing chamber measures 305mm x 229mm x 178mm internally, and heats from the sides, with the fast-firing elements lying in grooves in the 64mm thick bricks. The bricks are backed with fibreboard, resulting in valuable energy-savings.

The electronic display prompts for heating rate, target temperature, and hold time, making it easy to set up and re-use accurate drying, heating, holding, and cooling sequences.

The furnace has a door cut-off switch, an important safety feature if you like to open the door whilst you work. However, never get careless: kilns are very hot and connected to the mains.

The elements lie in pin-less grooves in the firebrick, and are quick, easy, and inexpensive to replace in the unlikely event of a failure.

The furnaces heat from both sides, not both sides and the back. This minimises the front-to-back temperature difference that's common with smaller kilns.

The kiln prices include the recommended shelf kit, and the legally-necessary lid or door safety switch where appropriate.

The on-line shop includes Advance Kilns, BullsEye ThinFire kiln paper, ceramic blocks, ceramic cloths, digital pyrometers, reminder-timers, fire extinguishers, glare-resistant glasses, heat-resistant gloves, kiln shelves, kiln tables, and other tools and accessories. Alternatively, visit the Cherry Heaven Shop in Corfe Castle village.

Cherry Heaven, through Advance Kilns, is the EU distributor for Advance Kilns made by Advance Kilns in Canada, and, through The UltraLite Kiln, an EU distributor for the Ultra Lite Kiln made by JEC Products in the US.

Cherry Heaven, through Electric Kilns, is an EU distributor for Paragon Kilns made by Paragon Industries in the US, and the Prometheus Pro kilns made by Odak Sanat in Turkey.

Cherry Heaven, through The Kitiki Studio, is a UK distributor for Art Clay made by Aida Chemical Industries in Japan, and an EU distributor for AccentGold For Silver paint and Metal Clay Veneer, both made in the US.