40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

[kbartman]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

KB and Mongo thanks for the comments! Interesting solution Mongo on helping the blade cut true. KB I do notice there is a bit of play in the HF table, which doesn't surprise me considering the price. I also noticed that when making a cut that is narrower than the blade width it tends to round over the edges of the blade which just makes it want to deflect even more. Every once in a while I would take a really hard brick and make a cut to try and square up the edge. It seemed to help a bit.

I will admit I was concerned too about the proximity of combustible material. I was unsure if the ceramic blanket would offer enough insulation. Where the dome was closest to one of the studs I used the solid CaSi board and trimmed it on one side to contour around the oven until the point where it sloped inward enough to give sufficient clearance for 4 layers of the 1" thick blanket.

Anyone know how to calculate the outside temperature of CaSi board if the hot side is running around 1000 F?

Also good to hear your experience with the floor heating/saturation. Do you have any thermocouples in the dome at approximately the same distance from the inner surface (2.5") that would allow you to say for certain the heat is reaching the outside edge of the floor before halfway through the dome, assuming your dome is roughly 4 1/2" thick?

Tony

Tony,
I ended up buying the thicker blades approx. 1/8" made by Rigid at home depot they cut a lot better then the Kobalts thinner blade at Lowes and with less chance of deflection. Lot more of the brick ended up as wet dust but it was worth it. Do check you table travel it needs to travel very square to your blade otherwise it will wear out the blades prematurely. Evidences of a untrue table travel are black or gray saw mark left on cut faces.

As far as the heat reaching the outside bricks? Yes the heat will fully saturated a fully insulated brick oven. I have thermocouples on the outside faces of the brick dome as well as within 3/4" of the inside face of the dome. My floor becomes fully saturated first. It take some time for the dome bricks to fully saturate 4 to 6 hours depending how big the fire inside. A well insulated oven will match inside and outside temperature in do time. My thermocouples all read within a few degrees the next morning matching the inside temperature. Depending how many red coals were on the floor when the oven was closed up before bed time, what the temperature will end up in the am. Its not uncommon to see 700*F in the am. Keeping a fire stocked over several days I'm sure you could see 1000*F on the outside brick faces. Years ago a friend's mine's home caught fire from improper clearance's of a masonry fire place ............... Keep up the good brick work .........and please try to error on the side of safety.

[SteelandStone]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

Dome is coming along nicely, there were more than a few days I wish I would have been building an indoor oven ie.. the really hot days or the rainy ones. , You should love that puppy in the winter, you can use it as partial heat for the house.

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

Hmm was doing some research and think I am actually using AlSi ie ceramic board..which appears to be a little better than the CaSi for insulation properties.

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

KB and Mongo thanks for the comments! Interesting solution Mongo on helping the blade cut true. KB I do notice there is a bit of play in the HF table, which doesn't surprise me considering the price. I also noticed that when making a cut that is narrower than the blade width it tends to round over the edges of the blade which just makes it want to deflect even more. Every once in a while I would take a really hard brick and make a cut to try and square up the edge. It seemed to help a bit.

I will admit I was concerned too about the proximity of combustible material. I was unsure if the ceramic blanket would offer enough insulation. Where the dome was closest to one of the studs I used the solid CaSi board and trimmed it on one side to contour around the oven until the point where it sloped inward enough to give sufficient clearance for 4 layers of the 1" thick blanket.

Anyone know how to calculate the outside temperature of CaSi board if the hot side is running around 1000 F?

Also good to hear your experience with the floor heating/saturation. Do you have any thermocouples in the dome at approximately the same distance from the inner surface (2.5") that would allow you to say for certain the heat is reaching the outside edge of the floor before halfway through the dome, assuming your dome is roughly 4 1/2" thick?

Tony

[kbartman]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

PS,
I also was plagued with deflecting blades come to find out the blade discs were wearing on the sides do too table misalignment. Once that was solved I no longer had those issues.

[kbartman]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

40" diameter dome with bricks cut in half for 4.5" thick walls. I am really pushing it as big as possible in my corner so I had to cut into the drywall and trim some studs to give 3" clearance to the outside of the dome for insulation. The trimmed studs were reinforced with steel angle iron. The 40" diameter also doesn't give me much room for a landing/entrance so the dome arch is slightly compressed into the front of the oven by about 2"...

Tonyp,
It has been awhile since I posted anything. Just recently discover you build. and caught up on the discussions. You are doing some mighty fine looking brick work, and I have to say the mortar joints are looking perfect to me.. Doing a inside build takes some extra courage to tackle, looks like your doing your home work. Keep up the good work.

I do have a concern since you are building inside your home. You stated that you are very close too the minimum 3" insulation to your studs and had to remove drywall and trim wood studs. I too was very close to the minimum. I ended up about 3" of insulation between the lower portion of my brick dome and my studs. I used steel stud construction on my enclosure. I wish I would have had more room for insulation. When I fire for more then 4 to 6 hrs I get quite a noticeable temp rise on the outer stucco on my enclosure next to the steel studs. Having used steel studs gives a little comfort that it will not combusted if fired for longer periods. Don't want to alarm you but feel I have a obligation to state my concern. If it was me I think I consider removing the combustible studs and replace with something non combustible. Once the bricks are fully satuated you could reached 1000* F 3" inches from you wood studs

Your floor looks great, At times I've wondered if I should had a thicker floor than my 2 1/2" of brick. I installed thermocouple in three location on long my floor with a total of eleven in all around the oven. I monitor those during heat up a cooking. My experience has shown that is the floor is the first to become fully saturated with heat. I think you will like having the extra mass on the floor.

Look forward to following you're build.

[mongota]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

By the way if you have ever tried to trim 1/16" off the face of a brick with the wet saw you might discover that the blade wants to deflect off. Did you know you can put two blades onto the HF 10" wet saw?

When I've had to shave the edge of a porcelain tile on my wet saw, I have a short piece of dowel that I push against the side of the blade to prevent it from deflecting outward.

Sounds silly but it works like a champ.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

From what I can see, the dome is looking nice, bricks are staggered well and very uniform.

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

I also opted to make the bricks in each progressively higher row a little narrower than the previous. Once I got the jig set to minimize the upside down V, I would cut the width along the bottom edge equivalent to the width of the upper edge on the prior row. This worked fairly well with keeping the mortar lines roughly centered from course to course. I did find I had to tweak a bit here and there though because my mortar widths are somewhat inconsistent as I am most definitely NOT a pro at setting bricks!

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

Setting the starting bricks for row 6. I found it handy to set one brick on the left side of the dome and then another on the right level with the other. I could then use those two to make sure I was nice and level as I was going around the dome.

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

Row 4 done and starting on Row 5

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

Just a shot of course 3 and checking everything before mortar..

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

Oh not sure if I mentioned the oven arch dimensions:

20" wide x 12.75" high in the center. I used a 10" radius circle and raised it 2.75" to give me the height.

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

I mentioned the floor was in. So here is a photo with the floor in and IT device.

My goal is to maintain the 20" radius as the dome is constructed.. or at least end as close to 20" inside dome height as I could. The hinge on my IT is about 1.25" off the floor of the oven. I looked at the possibility of maybe offsetting the IT hinge as some have done. In the end I decided it would be easier to shorten the IT length by about 1/8" per course. I welded a 3/8" coarse thread nut on the end of the metal tube and inserted a 3/8" threaded rod. At 16 threads/inch, two rotations in would shorten the IT length by 1/8". In actuality I didn't start shortening the IT until the 3rd course as I wanted a few of the lower courses to be just a tad more vertical. I found that I had to open the IT bracket just a little past 90 degrees to compensate for the adjustment and prevent a step from forming between each course.

[Tonyp]

Re: 40" Indoor Pompeii in NNY

If you want a thick floor, why not put another regular floor on top of the first one (laying the bricks the traditional way for both levels)? Removal of the second floor seems easier if desired, and you would be left with a standard floor under it anyway. Just a thought. I haven't built my oven yet, so I am excited to see your results. Thanks and keep posting.

I had considered that but would have ended up with 4.5" instead of the 5" I had planned. I was unsure how well the heat would penetrate between two stacked thinner layers. So I opted for cutting the bricks to get the solid single layer dimensions I wanted.