36' low dome neapolitan style

[MarvinG]

Hi Gulf,

Today I improved my IT, and yes - It also seemed easier to properly level it, rather than adjusting the length all the time. Since I have this whole for the burner, taking out the stones was super easy.
Now everything should be quite neat I hope. Many thanks for your input!

Thinking ahead a bit: My oven pipe has 15cm in Diameter. To me it seems to be the easiest to weld a little metal cast from squared to round which I will put on top of my vent?
Shall i go along the oven first to keep some more heat inside or just straight up from the vent?
Is there anything special I have to keep in mind when mounting the metal to the bricks due to expansion of materials?
Thanks

[Gulf]

You would probably find that initially removing the center brick much more difficult than getting it back in place.

I probably had one of the first easily adjustable ITs. My intentions were to do exactly what you describe. However, I had guaged my inner arch with the radius of the IT. So, I decided that I would begin adjusting after I cleared the inner arch. Turns out that I never did adjust the IT. If it made any diference in efficiency, I'll never know.

Welding is above my paygrade. But, I would insulate the entry.

[MarvinG]

Hi Gulf, thanks for your eagle eyes!
I see the point. Centering the line should not be a big issue. For the bricks I layed so far I guess it does not matter so far, right?
Yes, I was also thinking of removing the floor brick, but do not really feel comfortable doing that. I'm afraid that the brick will not fit in properly after that anymore...I mean the plywood I use is about 10mm, the round thing itself another 15-20mm, so I think i'll just accept that. Or shall I shorten the IT every with every round around 2 mm?


Maybe you have also noticed, that I somehow made the entry of the steel floor too narrow to put insulation around. On one hand I feel like leaving it so I can see the bricks, on the other hand I am afraid that this will heat up the little room like crazy. I mean adding 5-10 cm in width there in welding some metal would be fairly easy. What do you think?

Have a good day!

[Gulf]

Your IT may need a little tweaking. The centerline from the pivot should be directly inline with 1/2 the thickness of the brick. I hope the pic below will explain.

Your pivot point is also above finished floor level. That can make the finished dome height a little taller than 1/2 the diameter. To check, compare the measurements of the IT from horizontal to vertical. About the only way to compensate for that is to remove a center floor brick and insert a wooden brick to attach the pivot. I've seen a lot domes built like that. They still cook. But, I just want you to be aware in case you want to adjust things now.

[MarvinG]

Thanks for your hints Gulf!
Very valuable.
Meanwhile some little update from todays progress:

[Gulf]

Thanks Marvin,

Any small screw or bottle jack that won't leak down.Some have borrowed the jack from their automobliles. Place it directly in the middle of the disk an ease it into place. Be careful not to dislodge the preceding course. It worked great for me as I was able to drop it down amd clean each completed course. Some have struggled with this method. I would only advise now for only doing the last few courses and the keystone.I think that what made it work so well for me is that I had everything precut before I started mortaring. I did not get a pic of the jack but here is a post from my build helping to explain what I did.

[MarvinG]

Hi Gulf,
Thanks, you made my day! :-)
...just looked at the photos of your build. Blew me pretty much away. Wonderful all these details, and the profesionality as well as the uncompromising commitment towards quality!

Meanwhile I have layed the floor and will do my first round of bricks today. I saw that towards the upper end you used a plywood to hold... how did you do this exactly?
Thanks, Marvin

[Gulf]

I did not use anything. I placed my floor brick directly on the board insulation. Many have applied dry clay with a knotched trial before placing the floor brick.

[MarvinG]

Thanks for the advice Gulf!

I did it with a long knive and cut some overstanding edges slightly. Then I mixed the dust form the cutted bricks with sand 1:1, added water and thought I could evenly distribute it with the trowel which has pinks. But the fibreboard suck up all the water right away, that I only had crumbs which I could not distribute.
Can I also use sand only? or nothing instead? I mean the overstand is really never more than 1 mm.
thanks for your advice guys!

[Gulf]

Can you lightly sand the high spots down in your insulationn manualy, with a sheetrock (dry wall) sanding block first?

[MarvinG]

There are a few questions which came up, does anyone have some advice?!


1. The firbre-boards are not perfectly leveled. Some pieces (also because they are small, due to transportation) the stick out a millimeter here and there. Shall I use sand first, and put the bricks on top of it then?
2. One of my concerns is, that when I have to lift the oven out and transport it somewhere this might cause an unleveled floor. Is there an option to "glue" the floor together wich high heat mortar? As far as I am informed the floor stones are only laying without any support. Can I improve the stability here somehow?
3. The cement layer (7:1) is drying very slowly. Its over a week now and I just need to get started. Also some of my firebricks were a bit in the rain. Is that an issue? Or can I solve this with adding a few additional little curing fires once everything is finished?
4. Originally I planned a low dome, as the post says. I also have made a indispensible tool which is adjustable in lengths, so technically everything is in place. But somehow I am a bit afraid of choosing this version, also it might be even less stable for the future transport? Any hints?

So far so good. Tomorrow I will put the oven in the final position and then lay the first ring of bricks.
Cheers from Georgia
Marvin

[MarvinG]

I have also been working on the pipe which is directly connected with the chimney, as well as the air inflow for he oven next to it and the ventilation for the room air. The next step was then cutting the bricks, and preparing the 2nd layer of insulation. Here I used ceramic fibre board, 5cm in thickness, 300kg/m3 density.
I waited to cut the front end of the floor, since that should be precise. Also because the place I cut the bricks is 45 min away from the location of the oven itself...
And I have also received my burner.

[MarvinG]

I have welded it together - however made some mistakes. I was not aware enough of the bending of the metal when it heats up - so it does not win a beauty price. But it should work.
Since the oven one day needs to be lifted out of the building I also added some support structure which will be hidden in the vermiculite cement - just to make sure it will not collapse.

[MarvinG]

[MarvinG]

Hi everyone

I have been working quite a bit in the last weeks. Here an update with pictures.