Bonjour encore...
I can't believe it's two years since I wrote my introduction here https://community.fornobravo.com/for...uild-in-france and received many helpful comments from other members. It's been an odd couple of years and progress has been slow to stopped for great chunks of time. Well I'm at the point where I am pretty much ready to start the actual build and thought I would document my successful (and not so successful) steps here.
I finally got a local ironmonger to make me a trolley/stand for my oven (pics). He also threw in a 3mm steel plate for me to use as a base. The idea of having a non-fixed base was so that if I ever needed to relocate it, I could employ a few friends to lift the top off and place in a trailer leaving the base separate. A more pessimistic addition could be that if I suffer COF (catastrophic oven failure) I could assemble a new oven and re-use my stand/trolley.
I am planning to build a small (600mm ID) dome over sand. 50mm castable refractory with ss needles, 50mm ceramic blanket, 75mm vermiculite cement coat, covering waterproof coat. To be built on a base of 3mm sheet steel, 100mm vermiculite cement, 50mm (or 55mm) refractory bricks.
I am the opposite of Mr DIY, so I have a number of starter questions - some are just seeking confirmation(!), for others I would welcome people's opinions.
1 - Base
Do you think this 3mm sheet metal base is usable/sufficient? I was planning to drill a number of holes to assist drainage/drying of a 100mm vermiculite cement base. Do you think I need rebar? or could I maybe drill extra holes and secure in a load of upward-facing 75mm bolts? (I want to do a few of these anyway so that the bolt heads below the plate ensure it is not possible for the whole to slip on the trolley, although with the weights involved this may be overkill!) Should I just create a temporary wooden form to cast the vermiculite or do you think it would be better to mount permanent wooden edges? (I was thinking temporary, and then maybe tile the cement faces afterwards.)
2 - Door, entry galley and flue
I am planning to cast the entry arch as a separate piece - 190mm high for the flue (63% of internal height). What width do you suggest for the entry? I guess it needs to be at least 350mm to be able comfortably to work a 30cm pizza - is 400mm too wide? The depth of the entry arch I want to keep as short as possible, mainly dictated by the width of the flue. Here in France we have readily available 80mm or 150mm flues. I recently picked up an extremely cheap 1000mm length piece of double walled flue - internal 80mm - (pic) at a car boot sale - if 80mm is sufficient for my small oven, I'd like to use this. I could then permanently mount a small section of 80mm flue to the oven, and make this 1 metre length removable, meaning I can throw a tarp over the structure in winter.
3 - Casting
Vermiculite (or perlite) to cement - recommended 5:1 for the floor and 10:1 for the dome - silly question but this is by WEIGHT isn't it..?
There will be more!
Any comments greatly appreciated.
Rik
I can't believe it's two years since I wrote my introduction here https://community.fornobravo.com/for...uild-in-france and received many helpful comments from other members. It's been an odd couple of years and progress has been slow to stopped for great chunks of time. Well I'm at the point where I am pretty much ready to start the actual build and thought I would document my successful (and not so successful) steps here.
I finally got a local ironmonger to make me a trolley/stand for my oven (pics). He also threw in a 3mm steel plate for me to use as a base. The idea of having a non-fixed base was so that if I ever needed to relocate it, I could employ a few friends to lift the top off and place in a trailer leaving the base separate. A more pessimistic addition could be that if I suffer COF (catastrophic oven failure) I could assemble a new oven and re-use my stand/trolley.
I am planning to build a small (600mm ID) dome over sand. 50mm castable refractory with ss needles, 50mm ceramic blanket, 75mm vermiculite cement coat, covering waterproof coat. To be built on a base of 3mm sheet steel, 100mm vermiculite cement, 50mm (or 55mm) refractory bricks.
I am the opposite of Mr DIY, so I have a number of starter questions - some are just seeking confirmation(!), for others I would welcome people's opinions.
1 - Base
Do you think this 3mm sheet metal base is usable/sufficient? I was planning to drill a number of holes to assist drainage/drying of a 100mm vermiculite cement base. Do you think I need rebar? or could I maybe drill extra holes and secure in a load of upward-facing 75mm bolts? (I want to do a few of these anyway so that the bolt heads below the plate ensure it is not possible for the whole to slip on the trolley, although with the weights involved this may be overkill!) Should I just create a temporary wooden form to cast the vermiculite or do you think it would be better to mount permanent wooden edges? (I was thinking temporary, and then maybe tile the cement faces afterwards.)
2 - Door, entry galley and flue
I am planning to cast the entry arch as a separate piece - 190mm high for the flue (63% of internal height). What width do you suggest for the entry? I guess it needs to be at least 350mm to be able comfortably to work a 30cm pizza - is 400mm too wide? The depth of the entry arch I want to keep as short as possible, mainly dictated by the width of the flue. Here in France we have readily available 80mm or 150mm flues. I recently picked up an extremely cheap 1000mm length piece of double walled flue - internal 80mm - (pic) at a car boot sale - if 80mm is sufficient for my small oven, I'd like to use this. I could then permanently mount a small section of 80mm flue to the oven, and make this 1 metre length removable, meaning I can throw a tarp over the structure in winter.
3 - Casting
Vermiculite (or perlite) to cement - recommended 5:1 for the floor and 10:1 for the dome - silly question but this is by WEIGHT isn't it..?
There will be more!
Any comments greatly appreciated.
Rik
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