Karangi Dude's Mobile Oven

[Karangi Dude]

After moving from Karangi on the NSW coast where we ran Wood Fired Oven building and cooking workshops we relocated to Milawa north east Victoria and found ourselves in the heart of the gourmet food and wine region. We decided to have a go at catering so we mounted an oven on a trailer, after some research we decided NOT to go with a brick oven for various reasons, weight, wall and floor thickness, many brick pieces that may move during transport etc. We decided on a cast oven less parts to move, 50mm wall and floor compared to brick 115mm walls 75mm floor
The oven we chose was a Forno Bravo Casa 110, we placed an order with the Australian agent for Forno Bravo.
In the meantime I designed a deck trailer and had it made to order by a friend in the trade.
Trailer is 4000mm x 2000mm dual axel with electric brakes rated at 2900 kg. To place the oven at the right height we made a second deck above the base deck
When the base trailer was finished I started the build, two layers of 50mm ceramic fibre board and then place the 50mm fire brick tiles on a fine sand base and started to assemble the oven

[cobblerdave]

G'day
wow I get the chance to welcome you for the secound oven.
please tell us more....
regards dave

[Karangi Dude]

Thanks Dave,


After setting the pieces in place I braced the pieces with timbers then ground off the rough edges and mortared the joins with high temp mortar

[Karangi Dude]

To hold the oven and insulation in place we welded a 3mm piece of plate all the way around the base of the oven (my son in law did the welding he is a welder)
The plate is welded to the deck leaving enough space to fill with vermiculite and cement this will hold the oven and insulation in position so that the oven does not move

[Karangi Dude]

I mixed the vermiculite with portland cement and filled the cavity around the base of the oven to the height of the hearth leaving enough room for a granite landing
At this stage I used some heat beads to create a little heat to help cure the high temp mortar

[UtahBeehiver]

KD,

Thanks for starting a new thread showing your steps in building a mobile oven. There has been a few builders who needed and wanted information on doing a mobile oven. It is great to have you back on the forum.

BTW, for all the forum members, although KD's ranking shows a "serf" he is actually one of our seasoned and pioneering members, ie cooking expert and main member to introduced a tapered inner arch, which is now one of the main building standards.

Russell

[Karangi Dude]

Thanks Russell,

It's good to be back
I hope there is some info in this thread that might help members who are thinking about a mobile oven

Next I designed a decorative arch to suit the flue arch of the oven (slightly different with the way the oven has sloping sides) I also used a high temp material to create a 4mm thermal break between the cast and the fire bricks that i used to build the arch

[Karangi Dude]

With the decorative arch now finished it was time for the insulation, 2 layers of 50mm fibre blanket and some 3mm straps to hold the whole thing down, I then placed mesh and tie wires over the blanket ready for vermiculite layer.

[Karangi Dude]

To get that nice round shape I covered the insulation layer with a layer of Vermicrtete
l left a small hole in the top (an empty beer can did the job) to release any steam that may build up during the curing process

Whilst waiting on the vermiculite to dry I set the granite landing into the entry (I had the granite made to order)

[Karangi Dude]

The flue exit needed some grinding to open up the throat and make a more smooth passage for the flue gasses to exit the flue
After grinding the top of the flue vent I bolted on the upstand ready to take the flue

The flue that came with the oven was to short and only a single skin, I designed and had a flue made by The Flue Factory in Melbourne
It was the right length with a double skin and a heavier upstand also has a wind cowl to prevent smoke being blown down the flue on windy days

[Karangi Dude]

Before I started the render coat I made a cardboard spacer to fit around the upstand to leave a clearance for the flue pipe to slide on

Then it was time to render the oven still leaving a hole to vent the moisture when curing the oven (this hole will be filled in later before painting)
The vermicrete layer was not quite the required shape the final shape was made with the render coat

[Karangi Dude]

I removed the cardboard spacer and placed the flue on temporarily so I could cure the oven
I started the curing by using Heat Beads (BBQ Briquettes) for several hours before lighting the first fires
After several fires it was time to get the oven up to pizza temp (of coarse cook a couple of pizzas)
I checked the hole that I had left for any steam to escape by placing a piece of clear plastic over the hole, there was no more condensation to be seen on the plastic so it was ready to be sealed up. I topped it up with some vermicrete and finished it of with some render ready to paint

[Karangi Dude]

I was ready to paint the oven
First a coat of BondCrete to seal the render and to act as a key coat for the undercoat
After the undercoat 2 coats of topcoat

[Karangi Dude]

Next it was back to the trailer manufacturer to build the enclosure
But first some brainstorming and careful planning was needed before I came up with the design I wanted
There are so many things that needed to be considered, like how high should the roof be, how many doors and how big they should be
I also wanted the roof to slope so that the rain would run away from the side I was operating the oven from
I also needed an area under the trailer for a couple of water tanks one for fresh water and one for grey water

[deejayoh]

Wow, that is a lot of steel! I don't think you are in any danger of that blowing away on the highway. All looking very good, following with interest.

Welcome back, btw!