BeanAnimal's 42" build - Pittsburgh PA

[fhausback]

Bean, it looks like your about 2 weeks ahead of me so i have no advice for your mortar sand. But i'll be watching for good ideas to steal.

In regards to sealing your calsil with refractory, is that only to add thermal mass? What does the hive mind think about sealing the calsil from a safety POV? Calsil is not something i'd want to breath in or sprinkle on my pizza. Does anyone think we should be adding a barrier between it and the hearth bricks?

[BeanAnimal]

In my case - the layer of refractory is for thermal mass.

I would not be (at all) concerned about CalSil being UNDER the cooking floor.
The dangers of products like this are from the fibers becoming airborne and inhaled - and in most cases that requires the product to be abraded or in a friable state and exposed.

The layer of bedding sand and the brick floor will effectively encapsulate the insulating layer. There is no need to worry.

[BeanAnimal]

Today’s updates

Oven floor completed on Monday, but I did pry up the front 3 tiles and one to the right and reset them. They were the first ones I set on Monday and I was not happy with their flatness. I. Noticed it. Ugh more this morning than in the waning light last evening.

last evenings progress.


The bird’s eye view


getting trammel setup and marking arch area.
FWIW the trammel in this kit is very well made. It is a fixed radius, but the larger kits have a variable length/pitch trammel for non hemispherical domes.


arch form in place and 1/3 of the first layer done. The mortar (2 part) in this kit is far easier to work with than the heatstop I used years ago. I am actually enjoying working with it.


losing daylight... these went fairly quickly. I should be able to make good progress working for an hour or two each afternoon.

[BeanAnimal]

Today’s update:

Worked about 2.5 hours.
Got about an hour of brick work in and the rest of the time was prep, site cleanup and mortar cleanup. I am going to cover the floor with ramboard. I spend as much time cleaning as I do setting brick.

You will notice a slight dip in 2 of the back bricks. I did not notice this until I began cleanup. It took every fiber of my being to not rip them out and reset them. I don’t know if they were both slightly undersized or I didn’t bed them well enough. I image I am going to be the only person to ever notice and I don’t want to start obsessing about perfection. Just trying to enjoy this and not stress about being perfect. I think I can easily sort it out on the next layer.

finished layer 1 and 3/4 of layer 2.

[GreenViews]

Looking good!

[BeanAnimal]

Got another 2 hours in this afternoon and finished most of the third layer. Still very pleased with this mortar, it is very easy to work with.

[BeanAnimal]

Rained out on Friday. Did get a few goodies in the mail to be revealed later...

I may order the hemlock for the timber frame. Finishing the exterior of the oven under roof would be nice.
i found a regional lumber mill that specializes in timber frame components. Pasawmill.com
there are closer mills and suppliers, but 5 minutes on the phone with these folks, and I am sure I want to do business with them.

[BeanAnimal]

Got, a few more hours in today. I setup Anne up in an attempt to combat the heat and direct sun.


ez-up in place and working on row. 4 and arch columns


row 4 done... note I have not tied the rows into the entry area yet. Did not want to drag the wet saw out until I need to. Trying to bang out as much as I can systematically.


started row 5... and called it quits for the evening.



another quick view... I set the springer bricks after this and cleaned up for the evening.

[BeanAnimal]

Spent some time today connecting the courses to the entry walls and adding a few more courses. Can’t go any further until I set the inner arch.


.

[BeanAnimal]

Rained out most of the afternoon. I was able to sneak in about 30 mins of work and get the inner arch set.


joints are not perfectly spaced, it close enough. It was good practice for the outer arch. I have a better eel,for then go to get things adjusted and aligned. One brick is slightly leaning to then left. Ohh well.

Very nice arch form in he kit. The markings were a big help for keeping things symmetrical.



still a little cleanup to do before dark

.

I set plastic under the form, as it [the form] will not be removed until tomorrow. I hope to have less cleanup of dried mortar.

[GreenViews]

Very nice! Looks so much cleaner than my custom cut every brick arch, lol. I probably spend a full day between planning and cutting arch and dome bricks! Your decision to go with the kit was in no way a bad decision!!! It's still your build! Cheers from Indiana.

[BeanAnimal]

Very nice! Looks so much cleaner than my custom cut every brick arch, lol. I probably spend a full day between planning and cutting arch and dome bricks! Your decision to go with the kit was in no way a bad decision!!! It's still your build! Cheers from Indiana.

You're doing a fantastic job and the works looks plenty clean!

Even with the pre-cut bricks and excellent engineering of the kit, there are still "personalizations" in my imperfection. I think I mentioned it already, but for once in my life, I am trying NOT to be a perfectionist with a large project. It is far less exhausting! I have a full kitchen remodel coming up and will save the insanity for that, which is hopefully the last large scale project I undertake for a long time.

[BeanAnimal]

Goodies arrived by fedex this morning ---

I purchased thermocouples from automation direct (8 of them) and may (or may not) begin installing them. I ordered them on a whim, but they arrived too late (easily) place them where I had planned. I am not even sure I really want to deal with them.

The techy nerd in me wants to log temps or at least display them somehow - for no other reason than curiosity. The realist in me realizes that this is most likely a waste of time and money.

• If I place them, then I need a way to replace them, or just understand their limited life and ignore the imminent failures until none of them are any longer accurate or work.
• I plan on a full stone enclosure - meaning I need to neatly design some type of maintenance access (or place only through holes drilled from under the dome.
• As they showed up late - I am not very thrilled about using a rotary hammer drill on my new dome. I would hate to break any brick bonds. I can pre-drill the few courses that are left and place a few sensors I guess.
• The reading device that I ordered is Type-J (much more on that later if I decide to use) and therefore I can only read to about ~1200. That appears to be right on the borderline - and Type-K would have been better, but I couldn't find a meter that I LIKED for type K.

I had not planned on using thermowells. Too much expense and I don't like the idea of metal being mortared in place - as it will expand at a greater rate than the surrounding brick, possibly forcing cracks in the brick faces. The plan was to simply drill 1/4" holes into the brick and place the probes 1/2" from the brick surface at various places - with 1 or 2 probes protruding INTO the oven and 1 or 2 into the floor and/or insulation. These ALL would be loose fit - for easy replacement and would still measure saturated heat fairly accurately.

So not sure what I want to do here. I like the idea but don't want to deal with all of the gotchas. I hate to waste the money already spent, but at the same time hate to waste time on useless rabbit hole. So one way or the other I will need to make a decision today.

[UtahBeehiver]

I place thermocouples in my build because I thought I needed them to measure thermal mass saturation. I never use them anymore. Just use the cheap infrared thermo gun and visuals ques.

[BeanAnimal]

I place thermocouples in my build because I thought I needed them to measure thermal mass saturation. I never use them anymore. Just use the cheap infrared thermo gun and visuals ques.

I think in most cases the "I never use them anymore" outcome prevails.



So I purchased one of these - mostly because it looked cool -- It has 8 positions, uses type-J thermocouples and is old. Produced from 1930 on to maybe the late 80s? This unit appears to be from the 50's or 60's given the appearance of the backalite back plate material. They were apparently used for manifold and exhaust temperatures on trucks, and large diesel process equipment.. patent 1,798,896, granted 1927. Anyway, my "must have syndrome" got the better of me and that send me down this path.