BA's Dome! Let the games Begin! Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss BA's Dome! Let the games Begin! in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi Scott, I'll answer your questions with what methods I used. There are many to choose from, this just felt ...

[Bandrasco]

Hi Scott,

I'll answer your questions with what methods I used. There are many to choose from, this just felt easy to me.

Originally Posted by smuth10

Do you angle the bottom and side of each of your bricks or did you just use mortar? It looks like you cut angles to the sides of each brick.

I only angled the sides but did so front to back and then top to bottom

String method - If your dome is 42" I am assuming you have a mark 21" from the center and the inside of each ring needs to be at this marking even as you go up to the higher rings. Is this correct? Also, should the angle on the top of the brick be flush with the string when it is pulled tight over the top of the brick?

Yes I marked a spot at 21" that I pull tight to ensure the top face of each brick is at the proper placement. As you pull the string up it gives you a perfect half circle along with the proper angle. If you pull the string and move the back of your brick up until it's flush you will have the correct angle.

Last ? - Did you cut your bricks smaller as you go up to accommodate for the tighter rings? If you did angle the sides, how do you know what angle to make them?

I did cut the bricks smaller as I went up. I'll try and post a few pictures to show you what I did but for the first 4-5 rows I took a half brick, set it on the course dry with shims using the string to get the proper pitch. I pre-marked the brick showing dead center front to back and then aligned the brick to line up with the string. I took the string and pulled it to the left back corner and then simply drew a line where the string crossed over the brick. I repeated the process on the right side. Now you have a perfectly shaped brick that can be repeated. The second cut is to remove the space between them when you angle them inwards. Pictures make it way easier than I can explain. There were many threads that have great detail on this. I'll see if I can locate them plus post a quick pic of my method.

Sorry for all of the new guy questions. I have been following your build and I am very impressed by your work. It seems that keeps things simple with the string is sometimes the cleanest route.

Thanks again, Scott...

Ask away; thats what everyone is here for . As you can see this forum is a huge help!

Thanks for the kind words Scott, good luck with your build.

[Dino_Pizza]

Bill,
Since Scott (smuth10) just asked about the string and how great it works for A LOT of the oven builds, I want to note (and really ask) about Ken's dome which in his words is a "squished ellipse thingie", not a half sphere. That would mean adjusting the knot on your string every row. I drew up on autocad (I hope its clear in the attachment) my dome section which is 2 circles, a few inches apart and tied together at the top to acheive the "squished ellipse". But so many of you used a quarter or half circle of plywood as a form and made a great looking and working oven that it all seems to work out.
-Dino

[Bandrasco]

Hi Dino,

I'm not so sure I'll be exactly at 21"when I get to the top. My guess is that I'll be somewhere around 20". From what I have read it's somewhat of a science but not an exact one. I used the string to give me the arch angle as I went up. If it leaves me at 20" then I think I'll be ok; it just works out so easy. I barely used the mark in the string. What I did do is make sure each course was at the same angle as the adjacent bricks and flush with face on the course below; so far it has worked out pretty well. I finished another course tonight, 2 more to go. I'm very confident I'll be done with the dome on Friday-Sat which will give me a one month build (my goal). Then the facade of bricks go up along with insulation. Next weekend I get to light fires, start adding vermiculite/portland and then finally my brick exterior. I'm pleased with everything so far; well there was one piece I put in tonight thats driving me nuts. I didn't see the joint until I cleaned the mortar off just a minute ago. Maybe I'll pull it out tomorrow if it looks that bad in the light.

Take it easy Dino,

[smuth10]

Bill,

Thanks for answering all of my questions. That helps a lot. I thought of a couple more of course. What exactly are you using those other strings for? Maybe I missed something earlier in the post, but what is a screen? Last one, how big is the opening for your chimney?

It is killing me that I cannot go out and work on mine. Damn Michigan weather!

Thanks again, Scott...

[Bandrasco]

No worries Scott,

The strings are a plumb and level line to show me both the center of my oven along with where the next row of bricks need to be for the facade. The screen I refer to is my screen enclosure; I have the arch and chimney facade inside, the rest will be outside with the bugs. Both strings show me where the screen will be when it's installed. This is helping me with brick placement.

I was only able to find 12"X8"X24" clay flue pipes so if you go back in this thread you'll see what I did. I cut and tapered one to be 12" (11.5"inside) at bottom and 8" (inside)at top. The other pipe I cut to be 8" (inside)square X 24" high. My opening inside the vent area starts around 13"-14" wide by 8" deep and tapers up to 11.5" wide by 8"deep which is the size of the bottom flue pipe.

You can always move to Florida! It's a bit cold today, seriously. We started out in Tampa this morning around 39 but have moved up to a very nice sunny 70.

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving,

[Justin]

AN ellipse is a squished circle. most curved sections of these domes seem to follow the curve of an ellipse. This link was posted in another thread, here it is, its worth a look. If you scroll to bottom of the page you can see what they call a "prolate ellipse". so basically you can draw this curve by using 2 focal points and a piece of string of fixed length.
This is the method i used to make the plywood templates for my dome.

[Bandrasco]

According to the link above mine is a spherical dome that may have squished a little and is sitting on a 4" stem wall.

Keystones go in today and the dome will be completed ! I have been going at it in the dark so I haven't been able to take pictures. I'll try to get a few today.

[Justin]

Going at it in the dark.... oh yeah i get ya

[Bandrasco]

11-26-08

Dome progress.

With the exception of the keystone the dome is complete.

Entry shot

Looking up. I have some "I wish I wouldn't have set those" bricks up there... I have some cleaning to do but for the most part I think it came out ok. No supports, forms, or braces used; just HS-50, one yellow string, and a little patience.

[Bandrasco]

11-28-08

I worked on the brick face a bit yesterday and came up with a way cool idea... It's very difficult to explain but I'll give you a preview of the components and you'll have to wait and see what I do with them..

I sent 'Little Man' into the dome for a good cleaning. He had so much fun in there. I was actually surprised at how large the inside was. He's 5'6" and got all the way in.

Someone needs a hair cut!

Here is my cool feature... Hopefully it will work out as planned.

Stay tuned!