Is this metal? Getting Started Discuss Is this metal? in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi everybody: I'm planning to build an oven, but I would like to make it portable like the image below: ...

[Ramiro]

Hi everybody:

I'm planning to build an oven, but I would like to make it portable like the image below:





The stand that is surrounded in a red circle, is it metal?? Has anyone made an oven using this kind of stand? If it is metal, how thick it must be so that it doesn't bend with the oven's weight?

Thank you!

[Modthyrth]

Aw, it's cute. It looks like a big pumpkin.

Sorry, no help. I just liked the design. ;-)

[nissanneill]

Hi Ramiro
you have made it difficult to view as I placed the image in photoshop and enlarged it 400% to being very pixellated.
To me, it looks like metal, not just because if the colour but engineering wise, it would be wise to construct a cantellevered tray as such rather than cantellevering the solid or insulated base without good support.
The frame a;so looks a little light for a brick oven. The castors are a little too light to be carrying 2/3 of a ton of bricks, insulation and outer covering material, whether brick tiles or other materials.

Cheers.

Neill

[david s]

It really all depends on the weight of your oven. If you can calculate the weight then you can build a steel stand of the appropriate strength.

[Ramiro]

Thank you everyone, here is the webpage if you guys want to have a look: NATELHA - Fornos à Lenha, just click on "comercial" and then "galeria de fotos", it's a brazilian company. Another question: what is that black box under the oven?

Thank you!

[nissanneill]

Ramiro,
the picture shows what looks like a timber panel under the hearth bricks. It would be well supported and reinforced under the oven and a horizontal metal bar can be seen just below the oven doors.
As far as the black box is, I would suggest that it is a digital readout for the thermocouples built within the hearth and/or dome to give an accurate indication of the temperature and what is called 'soak', ie. how far through the material the temperature has penetrated. This will then tell you how many bakes you are likely to get when baking bread.

Cheers.

Neill

[dmun]

More South American ovens with the vent in the dome. Someone had a similar item on eBay from Uruguay a while back. Wood must be cheap and time plentiful there.

The black box? maybe a light switch and a thermocouple reader.

[james]

I'll second the "it's cute" comment. The pumpkin shaped brickwork is cool. I'm also with dmun -- it seems as though most South American wood ovens set the vent inside the oven chamber -- either behind the doors or even in the top of the dome. It is easier to build and you get more cooking floor space, but I don't think the design works nearly as well as the Italian "vent outside the cooking chamber" approach.

You can definitely build a metal stand for a wood oven -- but be careful. They're very heavy and tipping is an issue if you intend to move it. We went through this when we got UL for the Modena ovens. We had to be clear that the oven could only be moved as part of the installation process, not typical operation -- or we would have had to go through some very serious "tipping" tests, which are very difficult to pass. Be careful.

James

[Wiley]

Most interesting, I second (or third?) the cute comment. I suspect the plate under the oven is a steel plate (what else could it be?) and also that the outer surface is tile rather than brick. The stability when moving would still be a concern for me too. I would like to see the casters more outboard of the center.

Some of the other photos show another version of the stand which doesn't roll on casters. The photo with the blue crane and a man wiping down the oven shows a stand that looks strong enough to carry the load and it doesn't have casters. Other photos also show that they incorporate a damper for the chimney.

Wiley

[Ramiro]

Thank you for your comments.

I thought about it and and I've decided not to use metal: I'm thinking about using a cement board as hearth slab, like this picture:


Are these cement boards really strong enough to hold the oven? I guess I can find this cement board easily in Home Center, the question is, how thick do you guys think it must be so it can hold the oven's weight?

Thank you!