39" Stargate Pompeii

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Weather here is just unreal - 20 21 degrees today - thats 3 days in a row - a hell of a lot better than our normal summer didn't even cover the dome the last two nights.
Had to get some progress so I called to that engineering place this morning and he cut and bent some stainless steel 24" by 4.5" by .5", while I was waiting. I reckon it was good value at ?20 all things considered. Then I mixed some vermicrete and using the floor bricks as a form which I lined with foil to stop it sticking, I laid the stainless on the wet vermicrete. OK so far - if it doesn't work out I will rip it out and replace it with firebrick.
Also dug a trench around the slab and a sump for drainage over the last few days.
Stuck a light in to see it at night - its

[Gulf]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Weather here is just unreal - 20 21 degrees today - thats 3 days in a row - a hell of a lot better than our normal summer didn't even cover the dome the last two nights

No snakes, no skeeters, perfect weather, I bet ya'll don't have tornadoes or hurricanes either. I can't believe that my ancestors let us get run out of there . Just kiddin', I'm following your build with great interest. Look's great, keep up the good work.

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

No snakes, no skeeters

..and no gators - we've no alligators either. Yet another irishman - Did many irish make it down to mississipi? My own connections in the US are sparse and mostly lost touch with. Three of my dads uncles went to Pittsburgh and one of their daughters still lives in Virginia. I get an occasional email from her. I only mention the weather because it's not normal btw - pity We had a similar early summer last year but it didn't last long and normal service was resumed after a few weeks.
Thanks for the comment. I have of course been following your - monumental is a word that comes to mind - build down there. . It's a cathedral of ovens - compared with my little chapel. It's far more ambitious a project than I could take on and looks fantastic

I meant to post this link on Paddys day and totally forgot. So for all those whose ancestors took the emigrant ship here's Sean Keanes version of "paddys green shamrock shore" - enjoy
Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore Sean Keane - YouTube

[calipizzanapoletana]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Amac,
anytime you feel as if your dome isn't as well made as others, take a look at mine you'll feel better about your work. Yours is a work of art man, nice job!

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Thanks calipizzanapoletana - it's not that I feel it isn't well made. I'm actually mesmerised by it - but have you looked at gulfs - it's the sagrada familia of pizza ovens.
BTW your oven has a certain charm and will work as good as any.
As Marilyn Monroe said: “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

[Gulf]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

..and no gators - we've no alligators either. Yet another irishman - Did many irish make it down to mississipi?
Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore Sean Keane - YouTube

The name side of my blood line were actually "Scotch Irish". We were kicked out of multiple countries . Many Americans are mongrals such as I ("the melting pot"). I have a South Lousianna blood line too! I got in trouble with a previous employer years ago because I checked the minority box on an application. I had to fill in the "other" box. So I entered Scotch Irish/French Arcadian. When cornered I explained that I was an Irish/Coon Ass . Man!!, some people just can't take a joke .
There is actually a large Irish heritage in Mississippi. My boss is a direct decendent. Corned beef and cabbage every St. Paddy's day. We are usually are at work. In the south here we celebrate just about any holiday, We can get used too any color of beer!
We must have picked up a little blood on the way, because that tune did stir something. Thank's for sharing.

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

When cornered I explained that I was an Irish/Coon Ass . Man!!, some people just can't take a joke

that is funny
Scotch/Irish implies from the NE Ulster region where a lot of Scots were settled during the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s after what we called in our history lessons "the flight of the earls". The old O'Neill and O'Donnell earls fled Ulster for Spain and France and elsewhere in Europe. Their lands were confiscated and settled by Scots and English.
A few of the early US presidents were of Scotch/Irish including Andrew Jackson and aslo I think William Penn (of Pennsylvania).
As usual wikipedia has a lot of background so - at the risk of stirring up ancient animosities - here's a link
Scotch-Irish American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I guess all this discussion belongs on a different forum.

My boss is a direct decendent. Corned beef and cabbage every St. Paddy's day.

Do you know that the first (and only) time I had corned beef and cabbage was in the US (sf). I hadn't heard of it - some guy from Spokane was on about it so I had to try it. The cabbage turned out to be sauerkraut. In Ireland the tradition would have been bacon and cabbage.

I have done nothing else with the oven. The golf course was calling yesterday. Must get moving again. This weather won't last forever.

[Gulf]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

that is funny


Do you know that the first (and only) time I had corned beef and cabbage was in the US (sf). I hadn't heard of it - some guy from Spokane was on about it so I had to try it. The cabbage turned out to be sauerkraut. In Ireland the tradition would have been bacon and cabbage

"Bacon and cabbage" would fit closer to my taste buds. However, I would greatly prefer mustard or collard greens

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

So I got sidetracked to the golf course wednesday - and having stared at the dome for long enough without it having any noticeable effect - yesterday evening I finally made my mind up. I would make it as simple as possible - just one brick deep and 1/2 a brick for the vent opening for the chimney. I decided also to have a go at tapering the arch bricks - and I am uber happy with how they turned out. I'm becoming a dab hand with this grinder.

Is this vent opening enough - I estimate it is 4.5" by about 15". That may be a little bit less when the bricks are mortared.

Speaking of which - I don't want to end up with a tiny keystone again - so I wll lay out the bricks of the arch allowing a space for mortar. What would be good for that - a couple of mm?

I am debating with myself whether to use a couple of lengths of ceramic rope between the arch and the vent arch as a heat break - to some of the vent. Is this recommended, and what kind of adhesive is good?

Strange thing is the blade was wearing thin on the outside from where I had been shaving the bricks on the higher courses of the dome. I decided to turn it a sthere was abit more on the inner side. I then realised I had the blade turned the wrong way round all along I wonder would it have made my cutting easier or better turned the right way round. It is coming to the end of it's life but still cutting well and even a little finer cuts, because the cutting edge has got so thin.

The pics are:
1 view of lough ree behind the 7th tee - day was so nice I couldn't resist it.
2 the jig I rigged up on my all purpose workbench . The important thing with the grinder is to cut vertically - and not to try cutting at any angles downwards. The cut I estimated - and it was oK was just under 60mm on the narrow side - so my bricks being 75mm that was 8mm each side - more or less.
3 the arch dry stacked - I will do this again with spacers.
4. the vent opening - half brick size to save effort.

[apagios]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Looking great! Tapered arch bricks turned out well!

Especially if you are doing all this with a grinder? I had some cuts I was proud of, but I feel like I cheated with the 10" wet saw!

I didn't put a heat break between my arch and vent arch, as I was concerned about hot gasses seeping into cracks. I suspect ceramic rope would work fine. My heat break is between the vent arch and outer red brick arch facade since the facade arch is simply red bricks and regular mortar, I wanted a small gap for a thermal brake.

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Thanks apagios
Winter is back - snow reported up in donegal today and we have been hit by some arctic winds today. That's my latest excuse for grinding (sorry) to a halt. This oven is being "designed" as I go along so the vent I have cut may be widened (it is 4.5"). I still haven't sourced a flue or chimney. I think I will skip that ceramic rope ( sorry again - I really didn't spot that "skip" pun until I reread it!)

[apagios]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

While you research your vent & chimney during the cold winds, you might consider a slightly wider vent arch? I sized mine at 12" deep, it made it an even alternating layers of 1 full brick and 1/3 of a brick. Then I had 1/3 bricks on the side against the arch doorway, and 1/3 bricks on the outer face so my vent was about as wide as the interior of a standard 9" clay flue tile



Oh and I cut my partial bricks for the vent at an angle to better encourage flow up the chimney, it also has the nice side effect of enlarging your vent size at it's opening:



I had very good luck with simply buying 2 clay flue tiles, cutting them on diagonals, leveling off the top and bottoms, and using heatstop to mortar them together into an inverted funnel.

I'd highly recommend that method, I learned it from this forum. I just set up my diagonal cuts so the tops would mate up to be the exact size of 1 flue tile so I could simply stack a 3rd flu tile on top to complete my chimney.



BTW, Is it too cruel to mention that its 70*F and sunny in the Washington DC area? I drove my Mazdaspeed Miata today with the top down

[Amac]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Is it too cruel to mention that its 70*F and sunny in the Washington DC area?

A bit - last week we had 20 21 C (whch is around 70) - most of the week - and suddenly had a cold front move down this week. It's to get back to normal later in the week. My next excuse is that I'll be watching the Masters
I have seen that idea of the flue in a lot of builds - but I haven't seen a flue like that anywhere here. What is the length/width of the actual vent opening - is the width 6"?

[apagios]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

I sized the vent opening to be approximately equal to the size of 2 of those flue tiles.

IIRC they are called 9" flue tile (24" long), but the actual dimensions were closer to 8.5" outside and 7" inside. I sized my vent to be about 6.5" by 12" since the corners were rounded and I wanted to cut just far enough in from the corners to get only the straight sides to mortar together.

If you can find the flue tiles I highly reccomend them. I cut mine with a dry diamond blade on a regular circular saw (ton of dust, wear goggles & dust mask!). And they are cheap! I got 3 of them at $8.95 each, so my total chimney was less then $30!

I put a single layer of ceramic blanket insulation around it with 2 wires to tie it up until I was able to form the metal lath around it to shape the chimney & support the surface bond cement/stucco.

[apagios]

Re: 39" Stargate Pompeii

Oh and if you do try and make the vent arch deeper, if you notice in the pics, I used 1 full brick on the edge of the vent hole with 1/6 of a brick on each side to bring it to the total 1 full brick plus 1/3 brick depth of the arch.

This way the full brick is part of the structure of the arch and there's no seams in the vent corners. So the 4 small bricks in the top of the arch around the vent hole all press evenly on the 2 full bricks with the carved out sections. It evenly distributes the load of the chimney down the arch.