Engineered Ceramics

[Engineered Ceramics]

Hi all, I'm new here, I've been interested in pizza making for a while, and only recently discovered the whole hearth oven thing.

Until now, I've been making pizza in my gas grill inside a ceramics box.

As my screen name suggests, I work for a company called Engineered Ceramics, and we specialize in high temperature ceramics. 

To date, we have only made tings for the metal and glass melting industry, but after looking around here and the Bravo Forno site, I don't see any reason why we as a company, couldn't make hearth ovens.

The first picture below is a heart assembly we make to fit a heat treating furnace, it's good to 3000F.

Most of our stuff is designed for the 2400 F - 3000 F range, but we do have some materials that would be a little cheaper and be good to 2400F.

Another Item that springs to mind is a glass crucible we sell, a CP-6033 FS.  It has a 30" inside diameter, and a 34" outside diameter, and is a full 2" thick. (see the drawing and the inside picture.

You could turn it over and use it as a dome.  I think 3 course of firebrick with a 6033 on top would make make something similar to the small Forno Bravo.  This part sells for around $1300, plus freight.  I think it weights around 300 lbs.

I myself manage manufacturing, but I'll see if I can get any of the sales people interested in this.

If there was interest, we would certainly be able so segment the part, so you wouldn't have to try and wrestle one in place at 300 lbs.

One point, our parts are a cream color, almost white, as we have less that 1% impurity in our ceramics.  This gives us superior physical and thermal properties, but may lack the looks of some other items.

We specialize in small runs, so if there is some other options or designs that would be desired, let me know, and I'll see if there is any interest here.

Bill

[Amir]

First, good to have you here .

On using the existing castings, I am not sure either would work.  If you flip over the dome, how would you get the pizza in it?  You would need an openning and a mechanism for the flu.

[Engineered Ceramics]

First, good to have you here .

On using the existing castings, I am not sure either would work.  If you flip over the dome, how would you get the pizza in it?  You would need an opening and a mechanism for the flu.

I would place 3 layers of firebrick down in a semi-circle (or 3/4 circle) and then place the dome on top of that.  That would give you a opening of 9" high by say 16" wide (3 bricks).

[PokerDealer]

<I have to tried to post this several times, but as a new member, I’m not allowed to post hyperlinks.  I’m trying to modify the addresses so that you’ll be able to copy and paste with as little hassle as possible. (I’ve now tried to modify the addresses several times and the system somehow thinks there are links when there aren’t. I’ve even logged out and back in multiple times.) When the system finally allows me to post this, you’ll have to figure out how to get to the addresses on your own.>

You and/or your company might be interested in tandoori ovens. Of course, they are much more popular in Asia than here, but they're becoming more noticeable in restaurants domestically. Obviously, this is not about pizza, but it may open some commercial opportunities for you.

Here is a company that manufactures some. Their website must be having some problems, as all the thumbnails have been reduced to about 1 millimeter square, but you can still click on them.
Click on the Tandoori link There are lots of links there, and also the now miniaturized thumbnails.

doughproovens.  (com)

Quote (with emphasis added):
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"Traditional Clay Pot Construction Problems (Cracking)

Most tandoori pots come from India and take the form of a vitreous clay pot that must be placed into a brick enclosure and surrounded in sand. Traditionally Indian tandoori pots have a short life. Clay pots were never designed to withstand 700̊F (371̊C) for 12 hours a day. They will soon develop cracks which cannot be repaired because of the nature of the cooking. When Naan bread is stuck to a repaired wall, one invariably gets some of the repair material in the naan bread. If the crack is not repaired, you invariably get some of the insulating sand on your naan bread. The Doughpro Tandoori is designed based on the shape of a traditional pot but using high tech long lasting ceramics which can withstand high temperatures for prolonged periods. A Doughpro Tandoori pot will develop heat expansion cracks but can never develop cracks deep enough to expose the insulation. A detailed comparison of the Doughpro Tandoor to other commercially available tandoori ovens can be seen here.

The Doughpro Ovens ceramic tandoor has been designed to last significantly longer than a traditional clay pot and is guaranteed for 12 months. They can be supplied with a proven gas system (designed to resist being blocked up by debris) and are supplied complete, ready to install. They are fully insulated and no further building work is required. We can custom design and manufacture to your requirements."
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Link to their Beech Tandoor Features page:

beechovens.(com).au/imglarge.php?id=tan027&d=&fr=dpro

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I just looked at the best link there, it's labeled:

PDF Downloads: 
• Tandoor brochure (966kB)

on the main Tandoori information page

By the way, I'm in Knoxville. Isn't your company around here?

[Engineered Ceramics]

By the way, I'm in Knoxville. Isn't your company around here?

We are located in northern Illinois, specifically, Gilberts, IL

It is certainly within our ability to design the ceramics portion of a tandoori pot, and I'm very confident that there wouldn't be any cracking issues.

This would be something else to try when the weather gets a little nicer, its bee around 10deg F for  about a month.

We make a large variety of crucibles, which are basically hollow cylinders with a bottom. I could cut some vents in one, and give it a try.

Since our typical customer is melting steel in one of our crucibles, our products are not allowed to have any cracks.  A 1" hair line crack will get a 400 lb crucible rejected.  As a result of this, we have "scrap" parts that are nearly flawless, and good for testing things like a tandoori pots.

[5hortbus]

Bill,
Let me know how this goes. I've been wanting to build myself a woodburning oven for a while, but right now it's a little cost/time prohibitive.

I'm in Oak Park, so as ideas come about, I'd love to try something out, especially when it comes to "scrap parts". Let me know what your ideas are.

Welcome,

Ken

[PokerDealer]

We are located in northern Illinois, specifically, Gilberts, IL

We make a large variety of crucibles, which are basically hollow cylinders with a bottom. I could cut some vents in one, and give it a try.

I believe these ovens are different than what you imagine, based on your note. They have lids and no vents anywhere as far as I know. The heat source is on the outside, I think. The inside gets hot as hades.

The cook uses it one of two ways. He puts long skewers with meat on them down into the oven, with only the metal end point resting against the bottom of the pot and the long handle sticking out the top of the pot, with it resting along the side of the top of the pot. The other way is by putting a bread dough item, such as naan, into the oven by hand, slapping it against the vertical wall of the pot where it sticks and then quickly cooks. After cooking, he then scoops it out of the oven with a long metal tool. That's the only two ways I've seen them used, anyway.

So my point is that, as far as I know, the pot part is all one piece, with no vents and the combustion on the outside of the pot, which is often contained within some type of insulated jacket. Of course, I may be wrong.

[pcampbell]

Why not just design a full modular small dome oven?  I guess the problem is at $1300 for the crucible alone, by the time you get an oven you are going to be well over the $2000  mark where the Forno Bravo ovens start?