More progress in Australia

[Rivernook]

After studying many vent building designs here I ran with one Ken and Wayne had showed good detail on(but mine was clearly not as well built)

The flue transition caused me waaaay too much head scratching and laying awake thinking. I knew bricking up a flat base was going to get messy, so I came up with something that is so simple and super strong. The local engineers rolled a peice of stainless steel plate to my arch curve. I had some old 8 inch stainless steel pipe, which was a perfect i.d. for the 8 " flue I bought. A bit of cutting and grinding, welded a piece of stainless pipe to the plate, and I had something I knew would work. The transition was dyna bolted to the arch and hey presto it starts to look like something!

I have one 2 inch layer of ceramic blanket 2/3 up the sides, and two layers on the top. Some chicken wire over the outside, and I’m ready to put the vermiculite on. Unsure about how thick the vermin-crete layer should be, but thinking 2 inches would be enough over the 2 inches of ceramic blanket. Any thoughts?.........

[nissanneill]

Hi Andrew, great to see you nearing the end of construction and almost ready to cook. I guess that you can almost smell those pizzas.
Don't get too concerned about the oven going a little oval nor the appeaqrence of the inside dome as it won't affect the performance at all.
I would be lighting a few larger fires in it starting the drying process as ithe vermiculite and render will only slow down the moisture dissipation from the dome bricks.
Run a couple to three one inch layers )I found it quite difficult to get any more thasn this especially on the almost vertical sides), of vermiculite over the dome and at least one render and hey presto, ready to tile, paint, fina stucco coat and cook. It will not even get warm from the 500˚C oven temps.
Hey, you can tile it and/or the bench area anytime.

Enjoy!!!

Neill

[Rivernook]

Finished project !!!

My oven is finished at last thanks to all the help on FB.(Except for paving around it) We have used it several times, and honestly I can't find anything I don't like about it!!!

I made a door out of 3 mm steel plate, insulated with 20 mm of dry vermiculite. Seems to work well, the handles never get too hot to touch.

The outside finish is an acrylic render mix. I patted the surface with a dust pan brush as the render was going off which gave it a great looking dimpled effect. It is finally painted with 2 coats of exterior acrylic paint plus some Bond-Crete for extra water proofing. I also rendered the base, but gave that a trowel finish.

This project has been one the most rewarding I can recall. I am a farmer, so have practical skills, but had never laid a brick before, done very little concreting at all, and never rendering. Just goes to show how far good advice and determination can get you!!

I will post some more info on how the oven works etc etc.


All the best and thanks again for help and advice.

Andrew

[nissanneill]

Good on you Andrew,
it only goes to show that if you put your mind to it, you can lay anything you want!!
Now all you have to do is finish the paving to the oven and enjoy, enjoy and enjoy some more.
Great work!!!!
Will give you a call next time I'm in the area for a pizza!


Neill