Door design??

[pizzahead]

I am pleased to say my WFO is working a treat. Cooked in it for the first time on the weekend and have not had pizza that good since I was last in italy (still have to insulate it).

Thankyou to everybody for all the help during my construction time.

I am now deciding on a door. I have some left over cal sil boards and was wondering how I could incorporate them into a insulated door.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? I have an igloo style oven with a reveal inside the entry so I can seal the oven when cooking bread etc.

Thanks again.

Cheers
Jase

[nodoubt68]

Re: Door design??

Woo hoo Jase !
You lucky bugger, I'm coming over for pizza ..lol
Glad it has all worked for you. I'm not much good for advise on the door, we are hoping to use an antique oven door I found.
Hope someone comes up with something useful for you.
Pizza on Matey !!!!!!

[david s]

Re: Door design??

Try bolting the board onto a wooden door. Use small bolts so you minimise heat loss through them. Don't use screws the heat gets into where the threads bite into the timber and because they're so hot they char the wood and loosen. I use a 12mm panel in front of a 20 mm hardwood untreated timber door. It makes for a one handed operation to place and remove the door

[pizzahead]

Re: Door design??

Only problem is that the cal sil board is in a few smaller pieces (not large enough for one piece as they are off cuts). Also wouldn't the board get damaged as you slide it in and out of the oven, it is pretty fragile stuff.

Thanks
Jase

[pizzahead]

Re: Door design??

Woo hoo Jase !
You lucky bugger, I'm coming over for pizza ..lol
Glad it has all worked for you. I'm not much good for advise on the door, we are hoping to use an antique oven door I found.
Hope someone comes up with something useful for you.
Pizza on Matey !!!!!!

I can send you a list of where I purchased all my material from if you like, that was the hardest part I reckon. Let me know and I will post it as a PDF here.

Cheers
Jase

[RTflorida]

Re: Door design??

I have not made a door with cal sil board (or any other ceramic fiber board), I used leftover perlite and made a hollow 3" sheet aluminum door which I filled with the perlite> I can say any and all of the ceramic boards should be encased (wrapped) in some way. Sheet SS or aluminum come to mind...wood on the outside would certainly look good.
As you mention, exposed, it will easily damage......and remember this stuff is toxic; you don't want to breath it or have particles get into any food.

RT

[Frances]

Re: Door design??

I've used aerated concrete (its called Y-tong around here) covered with wood - works very well, insulates beautifully, and doesn't cost much. the concrete board does become brittle over time, but its also very easy to replace. Check it out:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f9/d...wood-5191.html

That said, my favourite doors are the hollow metal ones filled with some kind of insulation. But for tht you need to know or be a competant welder...

This is one example I find very cool, but there are plenty of others:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f9/d...ress-3328.html

[egalecki]

Re: Door design??

this is my all time favorite door. I wish I had the skills to make one myself!

[nodoubt68]

Re: Door design??

Without a doubt Jase, need all the help I can get. Have you come up with any door ideas yet ??

[pizzahead]

Re: Door design??

I have also attached a door design. Thinking of getting it fabricated out of stainless steel and then fill the cavity with vermiculite concrete and a render of high heat mortar on the outside to protect it. Thoughts anyone??

Hi Lee, see attached my materials and where I got them from. Good luck.

Jase

[nodoubt68]

Re: Door design??

Excellent !!! Thanks Jase. Good luck with your door.

[cvdukes]

Re: Door design??

Attaching pics of my plug door that seals the oven chamber. The plug part that fits inside the oven throat was cast of vermiculite concrete. It was pretty easy to make a mold for it just by bending 3" wide stips of counter formica laminate to the approx configuration, and tacking them into place on a scrap of plywood. I think it only took me about 30 minutes to fabricate the mold once I figured out the shape with some cardboard templates. The vermicrete was poured to the 3" thickness and allowed to harden a few days. After the vermicrete cured up, I simply knocked the mold apart to release it...

The outside flange of the door was cut of hardee concrete board. sptThe bolts holding the wood handle were inserted before the vermicrete was attached so their heads are shielded from the heat by the 3" of vermicrete.
The vermicrete plug was held to the concrete board by some construction glue (pl premium) and one bolt that passes through bothe the vermicrete and the concrete board. The glue was simply to hold things together long enough for next step.

Since the vemicrete is rather soft and crumbly, I coated everything with a layer of surface bonding cement. I had to do this in two steps since I couldn't figure out a way to coat all sides at once.

This door has survived at least a year now pretty much unscathed with probably 25-30 good fires. I can't see any evidence of the surface bonding cement breaking down. I usually don't insert the door until the temp has dropped to 600 F, so probably not in the temp range where I need to worry about it. I added the fiberglass roping a couple of weeks ago to get a better seal (visible on the last pic of the inside surface)... while I was at it, it was easy enough to just recoat everything with a new coat of the surface bonding cement.
It ain't the purtiest door around, but highly servicable and cheap.

[mfiore]

Re: Door design??

cvdukes,

Thanks for posting the door images. Did I read correct? Is the door 3 inches thick? The photos don't seem that thick.

How heavy is that door?

[cvdukes]

Re: Door design??

The problem with taking pictures in bright winter sunshine... washes out the dpeth of field. For reference, the stuccoed wall on the right side of the door plug is 14 inches, but looks about 6 in the photo...
I cast the vermicrete as 3 inches thick...the backer board is another 1/2 inch. I would guess it weighs 10- 15 pounds...not too heavy that I cant easily lift it out of the way with one hand

[james]

Re: Door design??

I'm going to briefly highjack this thread to ask Mike if he's having a lot of fun. :-)

How many times have you cooked in your oven? Is this one of the coolest thing you've ever done? How's it going?

When you've made it to thinking about your door -- you've come a long way!
James