portable steel base?

[moose13]

I have been a welder for many years and and chompin' at the bit to do a pompeii style oven. I was thinking it would be nice to make a heavy duty steel base out of pipe or square tubing and build the oven on top of it. If i ever moved i could possibly take my oven with me. Has anyone here done this? Any thoughts or suggestions i may be missing? Thanks!

[Lburou]

The short answer is 'Yes'....With a steel base, you will need to keep it dry and design it so a forklift can get to it. One member here tried to move his oven with a forklift and it caused a lot of damage to his yard and the oven as well. All this assuming of course that you over build the base to hold more than the calculated weight of the oven and superstructure. BTW, I'm from Cheyenne.

[moose13]

Originally Posted by Lburou

The short answer is 'Yes'....With a steel base, you will need to keep it dry and design it so a forklift can get to it. One member here tried to move his oven with a forklift and it caused a lot of damage to his yard and the oven as well. All this assuming of course that you over build the base to hold more than the calculated weight of the oven and superstructure. BTW, I'm from Cheyenne.

Thanks Lee, I was thinking 6" square tubing. I tend to overbuild everything so it would probably hold up a small dump truck. Don't plan on moving soon, but all that work put in an oven it would be great to be able to take it with you someday.

I was hoping you were still in Cheyenne as i would like to see a finished oven. Not thinking there are many in Wyoming.

[Lburou]

If you can work the search function successfully, there are several threads about steel bases. One recent thread used 2 inch channel iron I think, so, 6 inch would definitely be enough. With such a design, I am most concerned about supporting the hearth evenly.

[moose13]

I was thinking 6" mainly for aesthetics. And yes would be plenty strong. Seems i could design a base where the concrete pad could be poured directly into.

[Lburou]

Originally Posted by moose13

I was thinking 6" mainly for aesthetics. And yes would be plenty strong. Seems i could design a base where the concrete pad could be poured directly into.

That sounds good

[Salvager]

I have thought about this "take the oven with me" issue as well. Best I've come up with so far is a heavy wooden sled, built out of creosote impregnated timbers such as are used for docks etc. With the oven in situ, these would be buried to avoid the smell and appearance of the timbers. The sled would be built with suitable reinforcing and attachment points for cables etc. (all galvanized fittings). Then, if moving day came, it could be dragged with a winch slowly out to a trailer. And hopefully moved without damage. Not a quick or easy process, but perhaps easier than building another oven.

With all that weight, you need as large a "footprint" as possible to reduced the weight per square inch/foot and the chance of sinking in, especially while moving. That would depend on the soil to be crossed of course.

Since you're a welder, maybe something made in steel that is both massively strong and rigid, but made to look decorative so that it can be in the open would be best? Maybe you could find some old architectural metalwork, pillars etc. to work into your design that would give an attractive appearance and at least vertical strength, with some less obvious structural bracing to prevent any flexing or distortion, which would probably damage the oven if it occurred.

You could also build in attachment points for jacks and wheels if you wanted to go that way instead of the sled idea.

Probably you could drag or wheel the oven over most surfaces if you go slowly enough. The precision of your brickwork would probably have a big effect on the durability of the dome. Perhaps an external steel frame directly over the bricks would also be a good idea to inhibit any movement. I was eyeing a couple of old iron wagon wheel rims the other day with this in mind.

Powder coating would be the most durable finish I guess.

Just some random thoughts!