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Hello, I am new the board, I was looking into purchasing my first kiln (Jen Ken 24" top loading) and was wondering how far the glass should be from the top elements, is there a safe distance?
Also if using a mold, can it lay directly on the brick or do you still need to use an elevated shelf?
thanks

Brock Madison wrote:Hello, I am new the board, I was looking into purchasing my first kiln (Jen Ken 24" top loading) and was wondering how far the glass should be from the top elements, is there a safe distance?
Also if using a mold, can it lay directly on the brick or do you still need to use an elevated shelf?
thanks

2" is a good safe distance from the elements. You might get away with 1", but will certainly risk thermal shock.

A shelf is best. The air under a shelf helps the heat circulate better.
If you absolutely have to (and it sounds like you want to), you can set the mold directly on the brick, but I'd add a little more annealing time to help with the reduced air flow.

Brad, thanks for your reply
If I use a shelf what is the minimum height it needs to be?

Brock Madison wrote:If I use a shelf what is the minimum height it needs to be?

I use 1/2" mullite (storebought kiln furniture) or 5/8" Ceramaguard (homemade scraps) for my supports.

In your calculations, don't forget the thickness of your shelf!

Brock Madison wrote:Brad, thanks for your reply
If I use a shelf what is the minimum height it needs to be?

depends on where the side elements are in relation to the bottom of the shelf, i have a 28" jenken 15" deep, am using 3" posts
D