Question for those who heat treat

[RickinTN]

Hello all,
I've been heat treating for a while with a $10 toaster oven purchased at a Goodwill store. I have been able to get the oven to "hold" temperature with a fluctuation of +/- 20 degrees and it certainly will get hot enough. I decided recently to upgrade to a convection toaster oven and purchased a Faberware oven. It would only reach 390 degrees, so I returned it. I purchased an Oster brand top of the line oven with digital control. It runs from 50 to 70 degrees cooler than the digital setting indicates, and will only reach about 380 degrees. Is there a brand of convection oven others use which will reach temperatures of 440 to 450 or so and hold temperature reasonably well? Has anyone found a brand that seems to work well?
Thanks for your help,
Rick

[hickfu]

I picked up a toastmaster convection oven at the thrift store for 25.00 and figured it would not work at all. It gets plenty hot enough and like all convection's I have dealt with they dont seem to hold temp. When I set mine for 440 it will go up and down from around 435 or so to 465. I dont even look at it any more because it annoys me. After it gets to where I want, I put the pan in, set the timer I have and walk away..... Does your door seal all the way around? I have no seal around the door and was wondering it this is normal. Maybe it has to be that way so more air can be pumped in... All and all its a good little (actually pretty big) toaster.

I never did try it with the little toaster oven I have for pan lubing..... Maybe I will give that a shot to see how it holds temp.

Doc

[hickfu]

I put some boolits in to heat treat in my regular toaster oven that I got from the thrift store for 3.99 (its a DeLonghi) and set it on the 430 setting. I watched it until it wouldnt go any higher and it was set right on 450.... I put the boolits in and have been watching (well until now) for the last 45 minutes and it barely fluctuates at all... The needle at 450 covers the little dot and it will go a bit higher and show half the dot and then go a little lower to show the other half of the dot. I can believe it holds temp this good! Well its almost done so gotta go.

Ok, its done and the temp only fluctuated buy 3 degrees the entire time (boy was that the most boring hour of my life!!!) it went from 448 to 451 degrees so I think this brand of toaster oven is a VERY good one. I may start using it instead of the convection...

Doc