40" homemade cast dome

[purplehaze]

When I poured the Dome I made fairly large batches that were on the dryer side coupled with the fact I was doing the job alone on a hot day. The only form of vibration was using an orbital sander on the outer mold. I should have added more water to the vent batch, hopefully it will have less voids.

[purplehaze]

Removed the form from the vent trans today. There were a few small voids that I filled and a couple of areas that had too much refractory cement which was removed.

[UtahBeehiver]

Your cast is coming along very nicely.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, UtahBeehiver.

It's going to rain for the next few days which is good because it will keep me from starting the curing process too early. Hopefully the ss needles and the polypropylene fiber additions will reduce any cracking. Now I have to think of how I am going to add the thermal break in the entryway floor.

[david s]

I noticed you have made the flue gallery much shallower than your original mould. I didn't want to criticize as you are doing such a good job, but you'll be glad you made it shallow it will be much easier to work the oven.
With the Homebrew castable, holding the moisture in for a week after casting is a good idea.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, I struggled with the design of the flue gallery. I thought 12" deep was too much but I needed it 2" thick on both sides of the 8" chimney pipe. I settled on cutting is down and having the 2" overhang the front of the oven.

[UtahBeehiver]

I notice your chimney interface is galvanized, doubt very much you will see temps where zinc vapors will be an issue but the gauge of the metal seems light for a wood fired chimney. Just something to think about.

[purplehaze]

The galvanized stub was strictly for the chimney pipe placement in the mold. I am currently looking for some insulated SS pipe on CL.

[UtahBeehiver]

Looks like you got it figured out.

[purplehaze]

I had to expand the perlite insulating area, it was too narrow. I also started my curing fires yesterday and added a thermal break using the ceramic fiber rope between the dome and vent and the floor.


I also took a quick video of the draft on this windy day but I am not sure how to post it.

[Gulf]

You may have saw it if you clicked on the Insert Video icon under Advanced Editor but, the supported videos are Hulu, You Tube, Vimeo, Daily Motion, Metacafe, Google, and Face Book.( I hope that I have them all correct.) I've linked You Tube videos before. So, I think that you will have to upload the video to one of those sites and use the Insert Video Icon to embed it in to your post.

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the info Gulf but I use photobucket for my pics and vids. I just don't want to sign up for yet another site so I will just stick with pics.

I have been curing the oven over the past week and the homemade refractory likes an extremely low and slow curing schedule. I got some hairline cracks in the dome but I was prepared to get them. The cracks disappear when the oven cools down. I have yet to get any in the vent area which is good due to it being a thinner casting.

I have got the dome up to 700F last night and cooked our first pizzas. I had to cook them on pans because I don't have a peel or an ash broom yet.

[david s]

I have got the dome up to 700F last night and cooked our first pizzas. I had to cook them on pans because I don't have a peel or an ash broom yet.

Skip the ash broom. Natural bristles burn at pizza temps and brass bristles are dangerous if ingested. I've found a blow pipe is the best for clearing the ash, but make sure you blow not suck.You can also use it to encourage the fire and use it as a poker.
Pizzas look good.

[purplehaze]

I had to create a public gallery for the photos on photo bucket for the old and new photos.

http://s94.photobucket.com/user/purple11haze/library/



Since my last post I have been busy with other projects so the oven took a back seat to everything else. I have made progress. I built a dog house around the oven using metal studs, covered it with cement board and put on a roof. I also added 2" concrete countertops. One side is a prep table and the other surrounds an Argentine charcoal grill I built with a buddy. The countertops have been polished and I'm waiting for the stain and sealer to arrive.

[Gulf]

That's a bummer! I am going to have to repair my entire build thread, as I get time, thanks to Phototbucket .