Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

I guess cutting all four sides is easy to say for someone who hadn't cut a single brick yet, lol. Now I'm torn. I really want to try it, especially because you say you haven't seen it... but I don't want to back myself into a corner either... decisions decisions

I tapered all four sides of the bricks in my dome, and to be honest, it doesn't take that long. It was fairly quick to draw two horizontal lines across the face of each brick and then trim the line off by rotating each hand-held brick against the running saw blade. Since I was trimming only 3/16" off the top and bottom of each brick, each cut added maybe 30-40 seconds per brick. It took much longer to bevel the sides of each brick than cut the tapers.

A more uniform mortar gap and a 'more engineered' oven is what prompted me to spend the extra time.

Cutting the top and bottom is a big waste of time and materials, imho

I agree - the process of cutting all four sides of each brick did take a little extra time, but no extra materials, really. I mixed up minimal amounts of mortar and since I got a pallet (377 bricks) of firebricks (irregulars that weren't perfectly rectangular) for $50, I didn't care.

John

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

I'm thinking about putting two sets of thermocouples in the oven. I'd like to put one set in the floor to measure top and bottom and achieve a differential temperature to figure out the saturation. I'd like to put the second set in the dome and also have one on the hot side and one on the cool side. From experience, what embed depth should the pairs be at? Also, what position in the floor and dome gives the best data?
Thanks

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Now that the dome is done, I need to figure out the vent and chimney area before I start really laying some bricks.
I have .012" (.3mm) Inconel sheet available to me which would be, in my opinion, acceptable thermal transfer even though I was originally against metal. I think it's thin enough that it should be okay to cover an IFB or some calcium silicate. I also have access to the equipment required to make the design shown. The three options are:

Option 1: Use a 4.5" wide IFB (which is what is shown) and make an Inconel channel to go all around the top and bottom or the arch to protect the IFB.

Option 2: Use a smaller width, 2" maybe, of calcium silicate (similar to what is shown except thinner) and make the same Inconel channel to go all around the top and bottom to protect the calcium silicate.

Option 3: Place a 3.5" layer of aluminate cement and vermiculite to go all around the calcium silicate replacing the Inconel.

The Inconel is virtually free so don't consider cost. What would you go with?

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

yeah, I was referring to the width. I know if you just make them proportionately narrower, it works out - but looks like you went wider on some courses as you worked your way up. Don't spend any time on it, was just curious

They all get narrower as they go up, just not linearly. I believe it will be something like cos?* first brick width, where ? is the angle of inclination. 0? being the first course and 90? being the last. This of course will be a close approximation because of mortar joints, etc. I will check that and provide some drawings over the weekend if I have time.

[deejayoh]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

yeah, I was referring to the width. I know if you just make them proportionately narrower, it works out - but looks like you went wider on some courses as you worked your way up. Don't spend any time on it, was just curious

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

As long as the angle, looking down from the top, remains constant, your bricks will be staggered. If you're talking about the width of the brick, this will be a sinusoidal function. I can work out a formula but the way I modeled it, the model took care of the math for me.

[deejayoh]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Looks like you've done a good job of sizing the brick on each course so that you don't end up with the joints aligned.

Was there a formula behind that, or trial and error? Thinking I could update my spreadsheet to calculate brick sizes automatically

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Closed the dome! If only the real oven went this fast!

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

a work of art

[Tonyp]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Here is a photo which shows all the courses all the way up to the plug.

[Tonyp]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Finished the transition and moved the arch further into the dome to save space. Everything looking as it is supposed to so far?

The pieces at the top are getting quite small. How many courses do you go up till you break the pattern? There are nine courses shown and they are small enough that I could double their size, using half the number of bricks in the course, and still maintain the staggered joints. Is this what people normally do?

Really up to you. I went with progressively smaller bricks through course 10 and then halved the brick count and doubled the size on course 11 out of 12 total (not counting the center plug). My oven is 40" though, so my course 11 could be roughly the same point as your course 10.

Course 12 I halved the count and doubled the size again.

[Campmaki]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

I cut the bricks on my arch to get tighter joints. Having tight joints allowed me to build the vent arch in one day and pull the template out the same day. This made easy cleaning of the vents joints, no grinding and tucking to do.

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Finished the transition and moved the arch further into the dome to save space. Everything looking as it is supposed to so far?

The pieces at the top are getting quite small. How many courses do you go up till you break the pattern? There are nine courses shown and they are small enough that I could double their size, using half the number of bricks in the course, and still maintain the staggered joints. Is this what people normally do?

[n8huntsman]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

I'm using Autodesk Inventor, the successor to AutoCAD.

[deejayoh]

Re: Nathan's 36" SoCal WFO build

Looks great! You've got the concept there for tying the dome to the arch. Very nice.

What are you using for the drawings?