Mississippi 44"

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

This is what you want gulf (btw that is one hell of a (helluva in US I believe) nice job you've done on the vcrete btw
Google Image Result for http://www.radcraft.com/aimg/21ZSCoHvoyL._SL160_.jpg

That's pretty cool Amac,
I hope that I have enough blanket between the dome and the vcrete for it not to work. Though, your giving me an idea for the chimney cap . And thanks for the compliment on the vcrete but, it's kind of embarassing to see a perfectly round dome like yours done strictly by eye. Now that was a helluva good job .

Good accent on the helluva by the way. It depends on what part of the US for pronuciation. Down here where I'm from we tend to take large blocks of words in a sentence and squeeze them down to as few syllables as possible .

[Amac]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I might come up with some kind of cork to put in it that ain't to noticeable from the ground once the brick are layed on the dome. There is also the option of putting a decorative plate over it like was mentioned a page or two back.

This is what you want gulf (btw that is one hell of a (helluva in US I believe) nice job you've done on the vcrete btw
Google Image Result for http://www.radcraft.com/aimg/21ZSCoHvoyL._SL160_.jpg

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Thanks Gene,
I will probably fill the hole in the vcrete layer with a small piece of the blanket that I have left. I might come up with some kind of cork to put in it that ain't to noticeable from the ground once the brick are layed on the dome. There is also the option of putting a decorative plate over it like was mentioned a page or two back.

[ggoose]

Re: Mississippi 44"

That dome is a pleasure to look at. The attention to detail is tremendous. Will you eventually plug the top of the dome or use the hole to vent moisture? Great work!

gene

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I can't believe how uniform and smooth your vcete is. Great job, bar is getting set pretty high.............

Thank's very much Russell,
But, it is all about the tools. The tools, I got from this forum .

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I can't believe how uniform and smooth your vcete is. Great job, bar is getting set pretty high.............

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I finished the vcrete over the dome today.
I had to disasemble the swinging template when I got to the top where I had done a cut down in the insulation.

I placed all six patches exactlty where from they were cut and placed a wire patch over the area.
I used a lower section of the template arm as a guage or template to finish.
.
Here it is complete with a standard size vent opening.
.
.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Tscarborough,

Put a fire in it, it will dry it out just fine.

"Fire", sounds like music to my ears . It won't be long now. I think that I will start out just using it as a smoker in the first part of the curing process.

Amac,

I thought it would be cool to include a steam kettle whistle so that it could sound like a real steam train when the oven was drying out - or even from a small reservoir which could be filled with water and touched the dome

How about doing something like that with the waiste heat from the chimney?. Now that would be cool . It wouldn't rob any heat from the oven and might could be used for other purposes.

Edit: Yes, I really liked MK1's build. That is one kick ss oven and one hll of a back yard :>.

[Amac]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Hey Gulf Nice work. The scale of your undetaking is almost putting my back out. I spent yesterday rounding the vermicrete in my own dome but using my gloved hands and a trowel and standing back and having a look at it every now and then.

I intend to incude a vent

Have you seen this one by MK1 with an Iron shell and a small valve on the top.

I thought it would be cool to include a steam kettle whistle so that it could sound like a real steam train when the oven was drying out - or even from a small reservoir which could be filled with water and touched the dome

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/8/mk...tml#post131783

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Put a fire in it, it will dry it out just fine.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Also,
I intend to incude a vent like Neil2 described in pizzahead's steam vent thread. It may take a long time to dry but hopefully she want blow up .

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Thanks' david,
I hope that your on the mend real soon. I did take your suggestion on another thread to heart about 4 separate layers but, I got in a hurry and 4 layers just did not seem to work with the template application. So I decided, that since I am under a roof, to make it full thickness. After the vcrete is finished I will go on to other work on the oven and just let that set for a long while before rendering.

[david s]

Re: Mississippi 44"

When you do the vermicrete in one big layer it will take ages to dry, that's why I prefer to do it in 1" layers. You can work out the approx amount of water that you've added by dividing the volume of vermiculite by 3. Whatever it comes to it will be LOTS and it takes a lot of time to get rid of it. don't be in a rush. Very neat work by the way you've done really well. if you're really keen do a test batch by weighing the dry ingredients (cement and verm.) then add the required water content, press it into a mould the same thickness as the layer on your dome, then after its dry you can weigh it and calculate how long it takes for the water to dry out. Don't be duped into thinking that it's dry when the outer surface appears dry because it will still be damp underneath.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

This is s pic of my gliding form which I fabbed to help keep my dome (sphere) true.

I cut a curve in a 2X4 block (scribed from the template) and attached a piece of scrap roofing valley metal. After some experimenting, I cut the metal back to about an 6" overall width.

The cup of the 2X4 on this short of distance helped keep the form true into the corners of the chimney. The wider width, which I started with, was just a little to floppy. It's was a little of a learning curve for me but, I placed the vcrete on each course lightly packing it outward toward the form and downward toward the course below. Although I sort of drug my trial across the chicken wire to put some undernerath I did not want to compress my ceramic blanket. As it turned out my 4" of vcrete will actual be more like 3 to 6" ISH . And that is after widening my original template due to the overlaps.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Last weekend I thought that I would tackle the vcrete shell over the dome. I figured that with my template already in place that I could do it fairly easy. Not so. Working in a bent over position under my roof, and one wrong move, I threw my back out . Well, I tried to work through it but, was only able to get 4 courses done on Saturday and just 3 on Sunday.
This is a pic from Saturday.

Still on the mend, I got one more course on monday after work.

Had to work late the last couple of days so, no progress. I hope cold joints ain't an issue with vcrete or this gal is going to be "fridgid" .