36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

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36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Cut two for the front and two for the back (inner arch form was used for back ones).

Picture #2 - Leveled them and heat stop 50 in place.

Picture #3 - After allowing time to dry, we removed the vent arch form. Still had more leveling to do, but since the back wings had to be cut off with the roto zip, wanted as much access as possible, but put the first set of leveling block on to give the vent arch more support. It was not easy to rotozip off the back set of wings, but it wasn't terribly difficult. We did not put the screws in so that they could be removed from the front because we wanted the recessed heads of the screws to be what would be against the inner arch. We did not want any screw end sticking out that might rub against the inner arch. It was also going to be difficult to remove screws from that last set of wings, so we decided to do the cut them out version when we made the template. more details about the vent arch can be found here http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...rms-21566.html post #6.

Picture #4 - Cut additional firebricks to size to finish leveling off the vent.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - We used the foam board template cut off to help mark the cuts on the leveling bricks. We traced the curve onto two bricks that were spaced a mortar width apart (yes, we used balsa wood again!)

Picture #2 - Then used the saw to make a series of perpendicular cuts. Used a screwdriver to break away these cuts.

Picture #3 - Then the angle grinder to smooth out the curve.

Picture #4 - Check for fit and level.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Looking at the left side, this picture shows the base brick on the floor (the blue tape is holding brown paper to cover the floor), the the next 5 bricks are wedge shaped full length bricks. Then 3 vent arch bricks (6" long and installed with wide side in), and 2 of the front arch bricks installed. The right side is the same, but view blocked by the ladder. We alternated sides when installing to help keep everything even.

Picture #2 - Here is the vent arch prior to adding additional bricks to level and close the front and back of the vent.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - The top 5 bricks on each side were cut into two pieces.... one approx 3" long, one approx 6" long. The mortar joint between the small brick and the larger brick makes up any difference in length and for the material removed by the saw kerf. They were dry stacked in place to make sure they would work!!

Picture #2 - arch brick dimensions = 2 3/8" wide side, 1 11/16" narrow side. 10 at 9" long, 10 at 6" long, 9 at 3" long. 2 base bricks complete the vent arch. Vent bricks (6" long ones) are installed with the wide side in, the others are installed with the wide side out.

Picture #3 - The bricks you see in the back were laid with the wide side facing in. This forms an S shaped curve to form the vent opening. The wooden part of the form for the vent was made by attaching the wood that was cut off from making the arch form and attaching them so that the S curve was formed. These "wings" support the back set of bricks and the middle wooden arch and the front wooden arch supports the front arch bricks. More about the arch form in the jigs and forms part of our build.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Arch brick jig to help with angle mounted on a rented 14" saw. The larger saw can cut the brick at the desired angle in one pass per side..... way easier than with the 10" saw.

Picture #2 - To help line up the bricks in the saw, a center line was drawn on each end of the brick and the top and bottom of the brick. A template with the dimensions for the vent arch brick (2 3/8" wide side, 1 11/16" narrow side. 9" long) were traced on each end of each brick. 20 bricks were cut to these dimensions. We used the same technique for cutting the vent arch bricks that we used for the inner arch, except with the 14" rental saw, we could cut the entire side of the brick with one cut instead of half way then flipping over to cut the other half. After the center lines and template was marked on the front and back, the lines connecting the outside edges of the template were marked on the inside and outside of the bricks. We then propped up the brick on the saw and used the square to check that the cut was going straight thru the marking on the brick. This is done by holding the square against the side of the saw blade with the square on the top of the brick with the brick pushed up to nearly touching the saw blade. The square should lay right beside or on the marking the entire distance of the brick to be cut. To check that the brick is at the correct angle, the combination square was put on the deck of the saw and the 90 leg going up perpendicular to the saw bed would be parallel with the saw blade. We would make sure that the line marking the edge of the template was also perpendicular to the cutting table, so we knew the blade would cut at the desired angle. The tricky part is that adjusting in any direction requires all of the markings to be checked again. At least this time, we only had to line them up once for each side of the brick.

Picture #3 - Purple template on right is the one for the vent arch. We knew this was the correct size because of the foam core one made when doing the design. http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/3...tml#post184271

Picture #4 - The cut bricks were dry stacked, using balsa wood and popsicle sticks for mortar joints to make sure they would work for the vent portion of the arch. the bricks were moved into various locations to determine which order works the best. The first brick in each stack is un-cut (2.5"x4.5"x9"). This picture shows them as they will be forming the vent. We dry stacked them like this first to determine what order they fit the best. We then cut 10 of the bricks into 3" and 6" sections.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Vent arch - ours has a 1.5" reveal - cut 20 bricks into wedge shapes - wide side 2 3/8", narrow side 1 11/16". Then cut 10 of these wedges into 3" and 6" pieces (not exact, as bricks were not exactly 9" long, and varied a little in length). Vent arch dimensions are width = 22", radius = 11", total height = 13.5". Arch sits on a 2.5"x4.5"x 9" base brick to get total height (arch height = 11" +2.5" = 13.5"). The first brick is the regular 2.5"x4.5"x9" brick, then next 5 bricks are full length (approx 9") and are cut with the wide/narrow dimensions given above, with narrow side to the inside. Starting with arch brick #6, the front part of the arch is formed with the 3" deep bricks, narrow side in, forming a normal arch. The back part (closest to the oven) is formed with the 6" deep bricks, orientated with the wide side in and the narrow side out. This forms the vent opening. The vent (back) part of the arch uses 20 bricks total and the front arch portion uses 19 bricks total (including the first 5 bricks in the count of each part of the arch. Mortar joints were 1/8".

Picture #1 - Vent arch form test fit (actually made and tested it before the dome was finished)

Picture #2 - Vent arch form from another angle. Dimensions and information given in the jigs and forms section for the vent arch form. http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tml#post184289 post #6

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 & #2 - Finished plug! Left picture (#1) has the inside up and the outside down. The Right picture (#2) shows it with the inside of the oven down and the outside up (like it will go into place).

Picture #3 - The last dry fit of the plug before mortaring in place. My husband wrote a special message on the outside of the plug!

The dome is now done!!! On to the vent arch.....

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - copy of the tracing on plastic for the outside of the oven (the three colored holes can be ignored....) The hole in the middle is where the IT extension went thru.. when we used it, I had cut an X so that it fit tight over the threaded rod. I cut a circle when I put it in my scrapbook.

Picture #2 - copy of the cardboard tracing made by tracing thru the hole from the top onto the cardboard on the IT on the inside of the oven.

Picture #3 -
The markings were transferred to the prepared plug block. The center was marked with lines connecting the corners. The top/bottom templates were lined up with the identifying joints, one on a line, and one near a line. We cut off as much extra as possible with the saw, starting with straight cuts with the outside markings (widest part of the plug) up. It was then turned with the inside markings (narrow part) up and propped, so that we could cut off some more with the saw. The angle grinder was then used to shape the plug.

Picture #4 - The plug was then dry fit and the tight spots marked from both the inside and the outside of the oven. It was removed and the angle grinder was used to cut it down to the proper size, allowing for a mortar joint.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - We took the bracket off the end of the IT and put on a weld nut and an extension from the cut off part of the rod. We put a piece of clear plastic over the IT and lined up the IT so that it is straight up from the floor. We then traced the hole opening onto the plastic with a marker. We identified two joints at about 90 degrees from each other to use as line up spots for both the top and the bottom of the plug, and marked those on the plastic.

Picture #2 - Here is another angle to show the plastic better.

Picture #3 - We used a magnetic level to help line up the vertical position.

Picture #4 - On the inside, we put a piece of cardboard (think cereal box) on top of the weld nut and marked the inside of the plug opening from the outside of the oven. Did not get a picture of that, but here is the weld nut on the end of the rod.... still at 18" distance like the brackets were.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Getting ready for the plug! We cut two bricks in half and HeatStop50 the two halves together. We let these dry for about a week before cutting them. We actually cut them before layer #10 was complete, because we knew the hole was going to be bigger than one brick width and thought it would be easier to fit the final blocks as one unit than to try to fit two. We marked one side with O's to indicate the outside of the oven, so that when we were doing our markings it would be easier to keep track of the inside and the outside.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 & #2 - Used a compass to measure opening and mark the brick to fill in the last brick for the layer.

Picture #3 - Layer #10 complete!

Picture #4 - Layer #10 from the outside.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Layer #9 done - used 3" for the outside back measurement, with a couple of smaller ones to space out the joints.

Picture #2 - #9 from outside.

Picture #3 - cleaning and filling in from the inside. As additional courses were put on, the hole got smaller and it got darker inside to clean. Started taking a flashlight inside! I don't remember after which course he started cleaning from the inside because it was too difficult to reach in from the outside. My guess is around #7 or #8. We used one of the multi-position type ladders, set as a scaffold, topped with a board supported with a couple of 2x4's or such to angle the board closer to the oven entrance height. The board was supported by a 6"x 6" scrap piece of post laying on the oven base in front of the vent area so that it wasn't on the firebrick floor.

Picture #4 - #10 partially done, before cleaning.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Layer #7 - still using 4 1/2" for the bottom out side dimension. We did set the anchor brick, letting it dry overnight, as mentioned in several posts. We did use the wooden props, but found we could only do so many before there were too many sticks in the way. The last brick for the day just remained clamped in the IT. Not sure would use sticks if did another over.

Picture #2 - Layer #8 complete. Layer #8 used 3" outside bottom dimension and the original end to our IT. First brick of #9 mortared in place to dry to serve as an anchor brick. Layer #9 went to 2 1/2" bottom outside dimension and the IT end with 0.875 width.

Picture #3 - From the outside. Layer #8 complete, #9 anchor brick in place. Bricks for layer #9 cut and set on the base ready to be installed.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - When we went over the arch, we ended up cutting off about half of the brick so that the bottom matched up with the top of the arch and the top was level with the rest of that layer. The top of the arch doesn't line up with an exact row, so by making the layer over the arch level at the top, the bricks over the arch need to be thinner. This layer (#5) didn't line up as well with the arch because we were adjusting for our droop. We got a little bit off on the top right corner of the arch, but it worked out for the next level. When setting the bricks next to the arch, be sure to use your level with your IT. Since the inside corner of the brick is not there, the IT can tilt some and still look right, until you go to the next layer. You can see what I mean about the layer over the arch being about a half of the height in the sketchup model http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/3...tml#post184276 layer #5 (Indigo - more like light blue!)

Picture #2 - We are over the arch (layer #5) and ready for the next layer (#6)!

Picture #3 - After layer #6 from the inside. You can see where we had to make an adjustment between layers #4 & #5 to re-level due to a small droop at layer #3 & #4. Layer #3 didn't quite line up with the arch on the left side of the picture as it did on the right side of the picture. Rather than have a large mortar gap, we trimmed a bit of the arch with the angle grinder. The picture makes it look like more that what it really seemed like.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

At this point, we decided to put some of the Econolite (insulation castable), 3" high to cover the insulation board edge so it didn't get messed up or knocked around as we built higher on the dome, more standing with toes sticking in the insulation was occurring. We mixed 1 3/4 cup water with 1 pound Econolite. Made 1 pound batches for coating the insulation board edges and used 3 pounds.

Mixed in a bucket with the spoon from the thrift store and applied with a trowel.