Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Cloita,

You are putting right along. Going to pass me up soon. Do you think you need to buttress your arch?

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Seventh course:


Eighth course almost done:

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Been a few weeks but I've been busy! July never seems to last as long as I want it to... A few days ago marked one year since starting this build. Tonight I got within four bricks of closing up the eighth course before I ran out of daylight. Things are going smoothly, just taking my time with a day or two break between courses to keep myself sane. This is the part of the build where you question how the crap you've gotten yourself into this big of a project...

Enough rambling, here's a few pictures:

Arch progress:


Sixth course (first full circle after arch tie-in):

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Thanks Tex/Russell, the swap of the jig bevel/angle design is where i was at in my head after lunch today but those pictures makes it much clearer. Again, this forum is worth it's weight (packet weight?) in gold!

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Here is the jig I made using the same concepts that Tex talked about. Hendo did use a 14" saw so he had more depth to work with.

[texman]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

I think Hendo may have had a bigger saw than 10" I couldn't make that method work on my 10" either.
You can get the same angles and bevels using the wedges in the pic. Doing the math really helped me, too. HTH
Tracy

from Dmun on that thread:
"Wow, that's clever, raising the whole back of the brick to get the angle you need rather than tilting the side. The only observation is that when you get a few more layers up your 10 inch blade isn't going to be deep enough to cut a brick on it's edge.

By the way, wood works perfectly well for making your shims."
Yes somewhere in there he said he had a 14" saw.

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

yes, been raising the blade as needed, the multiple passes is the concerning part since even at the current angle of course #4 the entire brick is starting to be taller than the usable blade.



the jig matches the angle of rise in my courses as suggested in http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tilt-2802.html, and i cut an angle in the edge against my table to provide the necessary bevel.

the remaining courses are going to become a PITA! i must meditate on a solution today... =)

[texman]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

As those courses rise and the angles increase, you will have to raise the blade and make multiple passes. Are you doing that already?
Tracy

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Long time since last update. I've completed my arches and vent transition (pictures coming soon).

Ran into a major snag though, I'm having one helluva time cutting my bevels on the fourth course with a 10" saw, the bricks are constantly hitting the saw guards and making it extremely difficult to cut straight lines and very time consuming compared to previous courses. I'll get some pictures this afternoon of my jig setup and what's happening, but does anyone have any experience on how they've gotten around this? I'm guessing it is my jig to blame but who knows!

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Whew, good!

[ggoose]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Smooth is good! My bricks were stained with the mortar as well (I used the FB mortar for most of my build and it is much darker than the Heatstop). Thats probaly what I saw in your pics - the staining.

gene

[cloita]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Texman/russell - i attempted the arch with the second course in place and decided to go another course for a better idea of brick intersections.

Ggoose - i have been cleaning the remnants off and making each brick and joint smooth as I go, the brick is retaining the dark color unfortunately. Haven't researched cleaning methods since I figured it would be black anyway, and was happy as long as it is smooth. Thoughts?

[ggoose]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Looking good Cloita! Nice and neat. You might consider cleaning the bricks as you go...that will save the whole muriatic acid routine.

gene

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Cloita,

If I were to do this again, building the arch first or buildingvthe arch with the course I would build the arch first, like Tex said. My 2 cents.

[texman]

Re: Cloita's 42" Pompeii in Plainfield, IL

Have you thought about building the arch first? I started like you and then Amac suggested i complete the arch. I am glad i did. At you can see the target, even though will lie like a dog.
Tracy