Refractory cast from a 2-use form?

[Rocko Bonaparte]

I was scheming to go with brick for my second oven, but now I hear my mother wants a pizza oven now too, so I'm compelled to think about building two ovens in my future. So instead I'm wondering if I should go with a refractory cast oven, where I get at least 2 uses out of the form. I see a lot of folks in here build single-use forms, and I would assume industrially they're casting from a very-reusable form, but what about something in between?

After looking through a lot of people's builds, and doing the math, I am still thinking about sticking with bricks. Say, for a 48" oven, I may be looking at upwards of 300 bricks. If I can do a brick a minute then that's 5 hours. There's certainly a lot of prep work involved in getting all those angles and everything else, but I wonder if I can really get a mold for two uses that would save me time beyond that. Is there anything I should keep in mind to consider casting to make two identical ovens instead?

[david s]

Re: Refractory cast from a 2-use form?

It is a lot of work making a mould that will survive two castings. If you take into consideration the time spent in building it you won't be very far in front. Using a sand mould for each build is a far simpler solution in terms of time. IMO if you want to build ten ovens then perhaps a mould that can be reused will become economical. You may come up with a workable solution though, so keep planning.

[Toomulla]

Re: Refractory cast from a 2-use form?

I was scheming to go with brick for my second oven, but now I hear my mother wants a pizza oven now too, so I'm compelled to think about building two ovens in my future. So instead I'm wondering if I should go with a refractory cast oven, where I get at least 2 uses out of the form. I see a lot of folks in here build single-use forms, and I would assume industrially they're casting from a very-reusable form, but what about something in between?

After looking through a lot of people's builds, and doing the math, I am still thinking about sticking with bricks. Say, for a 48" oven, I may be looking at upwards of 300 bricks. If I can do a brick a minute then that's 5 hours. There's certainly a lot of prep work involved in getting all those angles and everything else, but I wonder if I can really get a mold for two uses that would save me time beyond that. Is there anything I should keep in mind to consider casting to make two identical ovens instead?

Good luck with a brick a minute the last 9 took me 10 hours

[Rocko Bonaparte]

Re: Refractory cast from a 2-use form?

Generally how long did it take you to lay bricks? It's looking like it would still be faster to do bricks, but I should at least get a better impression. I'll admit I forgot particularly about the keystone on top.

[Toomulla]

Re: Refractory cast from a 2-use form?

I used tapered bricks and cut them on the sides to obtain a 3 mm joint both ways it took me a day a course
My approach is most likely over fussy but I would be surprised if you can do better then a course a day even using square cut bricks