42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

Nice cuts, nice saw, nice progress. Looking good.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

A fun and fulfilling day on the WFO ends. I am getting a better feel for the creation of angle and bevel with the miter tile saw. (I bought this saw several years ago when tiling the house with 18 inch squares - I wanted the long arm for diagonal cuts - Little did I know that the bevel adjustment would one-day be so handy). I will describe how I am cutting the bricks for the courses - this will be obvious to anyone who has already cut bricks - but perhaps helpful for those trying to picture the process and have not yet started cutting.

First I cut a 2.5 x 4.5 x 9 inch brick in half with the blade square.

Next I angle the blade about one degree. I came to the actual angle by trial and error and I marked the sweet spot on the angle indicator of the saw with a pencil mark on a piece of tape. I expect this angle to increase slightly as the courses turn in smaller circles.

I then set the angle on the table guide. Each mark is 2.5 degrees. For the first course on my 42 inch oven the right spot was one and one-half marks. To determine these positions I cut and dry set three bricks (several times). btw - On the second course the right spot was 1 3/4 marks.

I place the manufactured edge against the guide and the cut edge toward me, this way the small face of the block (oven side) will be a manufactured surface.

I turn the block around (not over), move the guide to the other side at one and one-half marks and cut again. The block is now angled and beveled. As it sits on the saw table, the bevel is such that the larger surface is up - the block will be turned over for placement in the course (this bevel removes the "inverted V" that would otherwise result).


The result is fairly small mortar lines between bricks within each course. I am not cutting the top or bottom of each brick - that is where the mortar goes.

So my three bags of mortar should be plenty - but I may need more bricks! we shall see.

dvm

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

DVM,

Cut only a portion of your chain, mortar in and see if angles and bevels are holding good. Small changes in mortar joints affect the fit of the brick so I have to make small adjustments in the later part of the chain to maintain a decent fit. Keep up the good work.

Agreed.

Another lesson learned: When cutting bricks, the blade needs to make a full purchase on the leading edge of the cut. If you try instead to begin the cut removing a sliver of material - the blade deflects and will not produce the bevel as intended. I have been cutting and dry placing 3 bricks at a time, you might think that uniform blocks could be created that would line up on the lower course in a uniform manor - not happening that way at my house.

The WFO is calling - I will post photos tonight.

dvm

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

DVM,

Looking good, I have the old cheapo HF wet saw, if I had built in miter capability I would be golden too. One trick I have learned so far. Cut only a portion of your chain, mortar in and see if angles and bevels are holding good. Small changes in mortar joints affect the fit of the brick so I have to make small adjustments in the later part of the chain to maintain a decent fit. Keep up the good work.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Today was a good day with the WFO. The oven arch is mortared up. 2/3 of the first course is on the soldiers. I don't have the favored HF saw. Mine is a Rigid 10inch miter saw - the blade tilts up to 45 Degrees off vertical. The table came with an adjustable guide that clamps onto the edge and clamps off from perpendicular to the blade up to a 45. Between the two adjustments: angel at about 4.5degrees off perpendicular and bevel about 1 degree off vertical, I was able to fine tune some brick cutting resulting in very small (by my standards) grout line between bricks in the first course. Now that I have a firm mental picture of the resulting bricks - and how they are placed in the course (smaller face "in" with longer edge of oven face "down") and a feel for the angle and bevel adjustments on the saw - I hope to pick up the pace on the remaining courses.

Plus the double walled stainless steel chimney arrived via fed-ex today! A good day indeed

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

Here a picture of MrChipster's process of marking the arch of a hemispherical arch. Maybe this will help you fine tune your arch.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

You considering using a taper inner arch? If so, check out Karanga Dude's or GianniFoccacia's build. Really helps with tie-in in the arch to the course but now is the time to decide before you mortar. It will work on the arch portion of the inner arch. I think there is an example in GianniF's thread.

I have angled the "Back" of the "Top" of each arch block to give a better surface to tie in the courses. I thought a long time as to what that angle should be exactly (given that I am committed to a less than spherical dome) ... then I decided that in the end it will require a custom cut / grind for each tie-in block. So I simple picked one angle (that would be the scrap created when I cut the blocks for the vertical sides) and I went for it. The size / shape allows two arch bricks from each block. We shall see how it works out.

dvm

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

wow do you move along, looks like the anglizer software did the trick. Yeah,takes lots of passes on saw plus the grinder. You considering using a taper inner arch? If so, check out Karanga Dude's or GianniFoccacia's build. Really helps with tie-in in the arch to the course but now is the time to decide before you mortar. It will work on the arch portion of the inner arch. I think there is an example in GianniF's thread. Looks good...........

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

So I had some fun with my angelizer - bought the thingy at HD and downloaded the software (no purchase necessary) off the internet. Calculations and drawing on the blocks was easy.... cutting the blocks not so easy (flipping and making multiple passes due to the depth of brick and size of blade). Ready for mortar.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

Thanks for the info on the multimeter. Will check it out. I know my oven is not perfect either, it is consuming to try and build the best you can. Someone said on this forum, that the flaws on their build faded away as time went on. Build is lookin good.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

I got off work a bit early today.... and rushed home to wok on the WFO (of course)! Finished the soldier course. It finally feels like I have moved from I am going to build a WFO to I am Actually building a WFO!
Lesson learned today: My oven will not be perfect.
Now that that is out of the way I plan to enjoy myself for the rest of the build and revel in the "character" of my one-of-a-kind creation.

dvm

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

An inexpensive option is here Craftsman -Multimeter
A really cool (expensive) option is here Thermocouple Data Logger with USB Interface
My older son is building an electronic capture station (using parallax hardware and writing his own code) meant to capture data from 9 probes, time stamp the data, and transfer to a computer via a usb device.... we shall see. If it works out I will post the specs.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Way to go, building a oven is an addictive project. BTW, what are using for a readout on your TCs. I did not run power to my build and going to use a portable TC thermometer but have not bought it yet, only the TCs.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Today's Lesson Learned. If you plan to place splits under 18 inch square tiles you MUST level the splits before putting down the larger tiles (sure seems obvious when you say it out loud). Spent today (after church) picking up then re-setting the floor with three thermo-couples (below insulation, above insulation, drilled into back of 18 inch tile (1/2 inch below cooking surface) and FINALLY got started with Mortar! First third of Soldiers are in place!

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.



OK for 2 inch FB insulation is down. The splits are in place, and I am placing the 2" thick, 18 x 18 FB floor tiles. To make the cooking surface level I am working with a mixture of "saw pan trimmings", sand and water. No way Can I spread any consistency of this combination with a notched trowel. So instead I roll it by hand on the splits until I have very fine, 2 - mm balls of fire clay and sand mixture (the moisture is quickly drawn away by the bricks) distributed. After some scootching and tapping with a rubber mallet, the result is level cooking tiles over a layer of splits with a inconsistent distribution of fire clay and sand in between with (no doubt) some pockets of air.

So the question is... is this good enough? or with the incomplete bond between the floor tiles and the splits render the extra mass under the floor tiles ineffective? Any thoughts?

dvm