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The Paragon KM series kilns are knife-making and heat-treating kilns. Although you can also work with many other materials and processes, the kilns are deep so not suited to small items.

They're ideal for your home, school, college, ceramics studio, craft workshop, engineering workshop, medical laboratory, technical facility, or arts centre running jewellery courses.

The Paragon KM series kilns are 1095°C, four-sided, firebrick kilns, with easy-to-use, ramp-hold, Sentry Xpress 3-key digital programmers. The KM14D and KM24D can use a regular mains socket.

They're suitable for Art Clay, BronzClay, CopprClay, and PMC metal clays, Accent Gold, Metal Clay Veneer, china paints, glass-bead annealing, applying decals, dichroic glasses, enamelling, jewellery, lost-wax casting, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, stoneware, glass fusing, and glass sagging and slumping.

They come in four versions, as the front-opening KM14D, KM24D, KM36D, and KM45D, in ascending order of firing-chamber size, the model number being the interior depth in inches: the only difference.

Although the Paragon KM kilns are usually described as knife-making kilns, they're also bought as annealing kilns, Bronze-Clay kilns, glass kilns, glass-fusing kilns, heat-treating kilns, hobby kilns, jewelry kilns, jewellery kilns, lampwork kilns, metal clay kilns, mixed-media kilns, silverclay kilns, small kilns, or studio kilns. This diversity is a good reflection of their popularity.

The Paragon factory sometimes lists the KM series kilns as the KM-14D, KM-24D, KM-36D, and KM-45D, all with hyphens.

This page is about the Paragon Xpress series kilns. To learn more about other table-top kilns that can use a regular mains socket, such as the Paragon BlueBird, Caldera, FireFly, Fusion 6, Fusion 7, Home Artist, KM, SC2, SC3, and Xpress kilns, Efco Kilns, the Kitiki Mini-Kiln, and the UltraLite Kiln, use the start link below the menu bar near the top of the page, then choose from the new menu.

To learn about larger floor-standing wired-in kilns, such as the Paragon Fusion, GL, Ovation, and Pearl for glass, the KM knife making kilns, and the Dragon, Iguana, Janus, TNF, Viking, and Vulcan for ceramics, dolls, porcelain, pottery, raku, and stoneware, transfer to Paragon Kilns, using the Paragon Kilns link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

To look at larger photos, hold your mouse over the zoom buttons below. The photos are 480px x 360px and about 30KB so, if you're not on a fast internet connection, they'll take a short while to download.

The Paragon KM-14D.

The Paragon KM series kilns come in four versions, as the front-opening KM14D, KM24D, KM36D, and KM45D, in ascending order of firing-chamber size, the model number being the interior depth in inches: the only difference.

They're 1095°C, four-sided, firebrick kilns, with easy-to-use, ramp hold, Sentry Xpress 12-key digital programmers. The KM14D and KM24D can use a regular mains socket.

The 1230°C Xpress E12-A is ideal for firing BronzClay as it can accommodate a 265mm stainless steel charcoal-filled container with a lid. The E12A made for Cherry Heaven is taller inside than the US-models, making it more versatile.

The 1095°C KM-24D is the largest table-top knife-making kiln that can use a regular mains socket.

Paragon kilns, with the exception of the Caldera-S and FireFly-S, use Orton Sentry digital programmers. You can set four or more programmes, each one with eight or more heating, holding, or cooling segments: so you can choose the temperatures, times, and heating and cooling rates. They don't have restrictive features such as single-sequence use or pre-set programmes.

Pre-set programmes might seem to be an advantage. However, having experimented and diversified, many people fire materials, or combinations of materials, at different temperatures and for different times than are recommended.
And, later, you might want to work with other materials and processes such as: china painting, dichroic glasses, dolls, enamels, fusing, glazes, gold paints, sagging, and slumping.

Although there's cross-over, front-opening kilns, such as those in the Xpress series, are generally preferred for Art Clay and PMC metal clays, BronzClay, dichroic glass, enamelling, and mixed-media jewellery.

And 1290°C top-opening kilns, such as those in the Caldera and FireFly series, are preferred for ceramics, porcelain, and pottery. Firebrick kilns are better suited to continual high temperatures.

The Xpress has a door cut-off switch, an important safety feature if you like to open the door or bead 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.

For help, or in the unlikely event of a fault, you can talk to an engineer in the UK. However, home checks, adjustments, and repairs are quick and easy, needing little more than a PoziDriv screwdriver, and you can watch an on-line video or call for help. Alternatively, we can repair the kiln in our workshop at Cherry Heaven.

230V EU elements replace the 110V US elements. Although the maximum temperature remains unchanged, the EU kilns heat up faster: useful if you want to repeat firings.

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.

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 340°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 Paragon KM-14D is suitable for knife making and heat treating. Although you can also work with many other materials and processes, the kilns are deep so not suited to small items.

It's a 1095°C, four-sided, rectangular, firebrick, front-opening kiln, with an easy-to-use, ramp-hold, Sentry Xpress 12-key digital programmer.

The UK kiln is rated at 230V 1200W, so can use a regular mains socket. It needs a strong table as it weighs about 50kg.

The outer steel case measures 584mm x 533mm x 368mm, and is slotted for air circulation: so it keeps cool. The door is hinged on the bottom, and is kept closed by the counterbalanced handle.

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 140mm x 368mm x 108mm internally, and heats from both sides and the back, with the fast-firing elements lying in grooves in the 64mm thick bricks. The door has a peephole-vent in the middle.

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.

It's very important to understand what the shelf kit consists of, why you might need a different one, and why you might need more than one:

The recommended furniture kit for the E9A, included in the price, consists of one 178mm x 178mm x 15mm cordierite shelf and four 25mm x 25mm x 12mm posts.

Cordierite is a magnesium aluminium silicate that resists thermal distortion and fracture. A thick shelf, on posts, heats and cools evenly: particularly important for glass work.

Cordierite is brittle: if you drop the shelf, it'll break. It's a good idea to have spare shelves, especially if your business depends on your kiln or you're running courses. You can buy extra shelf kits in the on-line shop.

Depending on the sizes of your pieces and the number of pieces you want to fire, three shelves can be stacked to make better use of your time: so you may want more than one furniture kit.

For enamelling and glass fusing, you'll need to put kiln paper on the shelf to stop anything sticking: it's simpler and cleaner to use than glass separator. You can buy shelf paper in the on-line shop.

Firebricks hold more heat than ceramic fibre so firebrick kilns generally heat more evenly and take longer to cool, making the Xpress E9A ideal for small-scale glass work. Its internal floor area is 1.22 times that of the SC-2.

Apart from its internal size, the only minor limitation is that, although 1095°C is hot enough for low-fire ceramics, it's not hot enough for normal ceramics, porcelain, pottery, and stoneware: they need a 1260°C or 1290°C kiln.

US-made firebrick kilns have live heating elements that are exposed whenever the door or lid is open. To comply with EU safety regulations, an additional switch, included in the price, is fitted to cut off the power whenever the kiln is opened. Exposed live elements are very dangerous, and illegal in the UK.

This internet resource belongs to Cherry Heaven, an EU distributor, and a sales, support, spares, and repair centre, for Paragon Kilns.

To learn about larger floor-standing wired-in kilns, such as the Paragon Fusion, GL, Ovation, and Pearl for glass, the KM knife making kilns, and the Dragon, Iguana, Janus, TNF, Viking, and Vulcan for ceramics, dolls, porcelain, pottery, raku, and stoneware, transfer to Paragon Kilns, using the Paragon Kilns link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

The Kitiki Studio provides a comprehensive Art Clay educational programme as classes, masterclasses, workshops, and Art Clay Level 1 and Level 2 teacher-certification courses, as well as classes for related products and techniques.

Arts and crafts events, masterclasses, open days, workshops, and general jewellery courses, are often added. If you're interested, mail or call.

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

The on-line shop includes Paragon 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 is an EU distributor for Paragon Kilns made in the US, Advance Kilns made in Canada, Efco Kilns made in Germany, Kitiki Mini-Kilns made in Turkey, and UltraLite Kilns made in the US.

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