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Better door this time...

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  • Better door this time...

    After my last dismal door attempt, I decided to make a new one. This one's a bit more complicated though. On hand, I had some aluminium scraps, some aluminium mesh, and a lot of vermiculite. And a nice wooden handle made from an oak branch, salvaged from my last two doors (they didn't work - see my previous thread...

    I also bought a couple of meters of knitted stainless steel mesh tube from ebay: example link here

    I cut two sheets of aluminium to fit exactly in the door opening of my oven, and used the stainless and aluminium mesh to cover the sides. The whole lot was held together with a single thin stainless cable, passing through holes in the aluminium and through the mesh - sort of like stitching the panels together. I'd filled the mesh tubes with vermiculite before I'd assembled them into the door, and when it was all assembled I filled the door with loose vermiculite, packed it fairly tight, then screwed a plate over the hole I'd used to fill it. Finally, I bolted the oak handle back on.

    As a picture tells a thousand words, the pictures attached are probably an easier way of describing it...

    As luck would have it my oven entry is angled inwards, so this door forms a tight plug. I tested it yesterday and was pleased with it - from the graphs (also attached here) it looks like it's at least as good as my previous AAC door (now broken, too fragile...), and maybe even a bit better at holding the heat in.

    It's about 4" thick, but is nice and light due to all the vermiculite. What would I do differently next time? Not use the knitted tubing - it looks good, but the plain vanilla aluminium mesh would have been fine.
    http://fornoeconomico.blogspot.com/

  • #2
    Re: Better door this time...

    ... and for those who prefer their temperature in Farenheit, graph in F attached, along with a picture of my new door in it's natural habitat.
    http://fornoeconomico.blogspot.com/

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    • #3
      Re: Better door this time...

      I like the door.
      Kind of what I did.. and have to RE do.

      ahaha

      I guess we all have door probs.

      The graph is great!
      It's neat to see how it all comes together about the 5 hour mark.

      Thanks for posting it.
      My thread:
      http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/d...ress-2476.html
      My costs:
      http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...Xr0fvgxuh4s7Hw
      My pics:
      http://picasaweb.google.com/dawatsonator

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      • #4
        Re: Better door this time...

        It seems that the tiny loose vermiculite peices would leak out...any issue with that? How is it staying in?
        Drake
        My Oven Thread:
        http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/d...-oven-633.html

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        • #5
          Re: Better door this time...

          Thanks for graphs, Carl, its very informative

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          • #6
            Re: Better door this time...

            Cool! You've got me thinking again here... wonder if that guy's wire tubing sales will go up as a result of your door?
            "Building a Brick oven is the most fun anyone can have by themselves." (Terry Pratchett... slightly amended)

            http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/p...pics-2610.html
            http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f9/p...nues-2991.html

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            • #7
              Re: Better door this time...

              Thanks everyone! To answer a few questions:

              Drake - the vermiculite I used is the 'Micafill' brand - don't know if this is a UK specific thing? It's pretty large chunks - about 5-10mm - and the fine mesh of the woven tubes and the aluminium mesh contain it without any leaking out. No problems so far with any loss, but time will show...

              Frances - actually the woven wire mesh tubes were very fiddly so I wouldn't recommend that approach (sorry to the bloke that's selling it, that's your sales back down to normal again), and I could have probably achieved the same effect with the aluminium mesh. I would recommend using the aluminium mesh next time - cheaper too. The main saving grace of the stainless tubing is that it's easy to form to a curve

              I used mesh to join the front and back panels to reduce the heat wicking out the oven that would travel from the front to the back of the door. There's less cross sectional area in the mesh, so the heat should flow more slowly. Don't know how much difference it would make though, think I'm becoming obsessive...
              Last edited by Carl; 06-24-2008, 11:29 AM.
              http://fornoeconomico.blogspot.com/

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