Dogloo pizza oven form

[mine]

Call Hi-Temp Inc. in Portland and talk to Jeff about the castable refractory. 1 800 325 2492. From him I learned that there are different densities of this stuff.

I used Greenlite 45L, a lightweight insulating formulation to make a curved brick lining for the firebox on my offset smoker. Added stainless needles for x-tra strength.The 1/4 thick brick lining lowered the external temp of my 1/4 thick steel firebox by ~ 200° F.

The stuff you want will be in the 140-150 lb/cu ft. or higher, much more dense than the Greenlite.

[edschmidt]

I dont think there would be any problem just stacking the sections with no mortar. I am a little concerned about the different thicknesses inside the dome. Something I theorized and executed (then lost interest in) for forming a perfect sphere as an outer form (or inner for that matter) is to purchase a Biggens (love that name) ball. The largest has a max size of 52" but stays perfectly round for anything above 30. What I did was to inflate it to 36" and fiberglass 1/2 of the exterior of the bal.. Now inflate to between 40, and 44 in and again fiberglass the exterior. Each one should use approx. 1 gallon of resin ($30) and I have gotten really good deals on fiberglass cloth scrap on e-bay. If the dogloo is close to round you could do this for the exterior form, just cut in 3 sections to match the dogloo inner forms.

Hope this helps, and bear in mind these are all just suggestions, nobody is saying your idea wont work.

Eddie

[John Fahle]

Dogloos come in different sizes. If you could find one that is 4" larger in diameter, and 2" taller (although height is adjustable, I guess, since you're cutting off the bottom anyway) you could just put one inside the other as the form. You would of course have to shore up the outer form to give it enough strength to hold all that refmix, assuming you cast it upside down. Or, you cast it right side up, fill the inner dome with sand for strength, then place the outer dome over it, with the very top cut off for pouring. I'd think you'd want to use a very wet mixture to minimize the chance of air pockets. And make the hole big enough to fit a curved prod into, for stirring. When it's set, you just lift off the outer form, then lift off the dome. Alternatively, if you poured it onto your already built floor, you could just lift off the outer form, dig out the sand through the door, and then start slashing away at the inner form with a utility knife. Cut it up and take it out in pieces.

[John Fahle]

For that matter, you could just use the dogloo for the outer form, and use sand covered in wet newspaper as the inner form. Just dig out the sand once it's set.

[TDVT]

To those who have used it, what is the mixed consistency of the castable refractory?

Is it so thin as to require an inner & outer form?

Just wondering.

[Frances]

I used some castable refactory for my vent - it was very liquid, very weird, very black... seems (so far) to have dried strongly enough though.

Sorry, is this an international thread at all? No idea what US castable refactory would be like, but the stuff I used would definately need inner and outer forms.

[wlively]

The castable refractory I used, KS-4 plus and it was thick and held its shape well, especially after adding the stainless needles. I used it to cast my dome plug and vent. I found that I did not have to put up 2 of the outer sides of the vent forms, it packed like mud.