Begining dome construction

[biondoli]

Re: Begining dome construction

Rlf5,
forgot to ask you in my previous post...what are you using to align the bricks in terms of distance from the center and tilting? Most of us used a kind of home made compass...are you?

[biondoli]

Re: Begining dome construction

I think you can still line up the rows...in the worst case you may need to remove part of the last row and re-allign everything... just more few cuts, that's what I would do. Not sure if casting cement will hold it as it is so big.
And by the way, whatever you decide sleep on it for a while...

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

Well after a 5 month hiatus I'm back on the oven. I probably added a couple courses over the past two weeks. The bad part is I got a bit off course and now each course doesn't line up when you try to connect them after the vent (vent transition is terrible too). So I'm going to try two methods...1) cast the rest of the dome cap with refractory castable and see if a well regulated curing schedule of oven fires will not cause any problems, and 2) make quite a few specially cut bricks to get back on course, and then finish that way. I opted for choice #1, b/c if it works then thats great, and if not then its really not that much wasted work. I had planned on casting the very top of the dome anyway, but I would have been able to cure it in my kitchen oven. The size of the cap now is just too big to fit, so we'll see how this goes...

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

Smart enough? Smart enough to come up with a great idea.

Yea, hopefully someone else will learn from my hindsight!

Dave

No problem at all. Ask away!

[asudavew]

Re: Begining dome construction

Great work.

I have do to something like this.

I may have to ask you some questions down the road.

......

Let me know how well it draws, my bad WOFO.. not so good yet.
i.e. Black outside vent.

Dave

[Acoma]

Re: Begining dome construction

Smart enough? Smart enough to come up with a great idea.

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

You got it! I'll have to grind about a millimeter off the inside of the cast so that the plate will slide right in. My mold was right at 8 inches. If i was smart I would have wrapped tape around the edge until the OD was large enough for the plate.

[Ken524]

Re: Begining dome construction

Excellent! Nice work on the cast. Looks like you just need to slap a DuraTech anchor on there and you are ready to go.

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

Well I took the forms off today for the vent! It actually came out a lot better than I expected. Its hard to see the incline in the vent from the inside though.

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

Thanks guys. Functionally, I think it will do well. The bottom of the opening is about 12 inches deep and 19 inches wide. It compresses to about 12x15 before going to an 8 inch OD circle. Although it won't be much to look at, which is why everything will be covered up with everything else upon completion!

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Begining dome construction

Great job,

I think you are going to be very happy with a cast vent. The capture area really helps keep smoke from coming out the front of the oven.

Drake

[Ken524]

Re: Begining dome construction

Can't wait to see the vent! Looks great!

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

Here's a couple pics of the sixth course. I'm at that point where mortar consistency is of great importance. This is also the course that must tie into the door arch...haven't tackled that part yet though.

[biondoli]

Re: Begining dome construction

A few more pictures of my dome and vent. I tried to recreate what the foam molds on the inside of the vent form looked like. Its pretty much what u see there....I drew in those black lines to show what I cut off. Also, instead of one circle form on top, i had 3. The base was also wider in the real mold.

Thanks Dusty, I got it now...I think it is a good idea, would save time and it is very solid! Thanks Carlo

[rlf5]

Re: Begining dome construction

Dang the lines i drew in my photo program didn't show up. Well just imagine that rectangle block the disk is resting on is a trapezoid.