Home made electric twin deck

[scott123]

Crosbie, believe it or not, the PO49 most likely has some insulation. Yours will obviously have quite a lot more, but I don't think that trapping every calorie of heat that goes into your setup is going to buy you that much browning when it comes time to make pizza.

If this configuration doesn't give you the bake time that you need, it sounds like you're working with materials that can be reconfigured, so that might help.  I've studied thermodynamics fairly intensively, but, to be honest, I've never built an oven myself, so maybe I'm missing something here.  I really hope that finding some sort of pizzamaking will come to you soon, because, imo, 18 minute pizza is a pretty miserable experience.

Don, I'm completely on board with the insulating brick.  That's a great idea. Crosbie, instead of having a hinged door, how about a door insert with a handle for pulling it out?

[crosbie]

Thanks Don, yup, it's certainly more like a highly insulated oven with a single element.

I have already discovered that ceramic fibres are bad news for human consumption so I won't be going near them.

Incidentally, in an earlier post I thought you were suggesting to line the interior with stainless and then surround that with bricks,etc.  to insulate the hell out of it. Given two internal firebrick shelves that seems quite attractive.

Interesting to hear that the firebrick is very strong. Are we getting on for granite then? The only thing I'd intend doing to it would be to drill some holes for hinge screws. Is this going to be beyond a masonry and/or glass drill?

I was thinking insulating brick was probably like highly compressed powder and rather friable?

Scott123, given my experience with domestic ovens that don't have top mounted radiant elements and are lucky to exceed 200C (230 electric fan 7mins, gas ?C 15-18mins), I find it difficult to believe that a mega-insulated oven pre-heated to 500C with a 1.5kW top element available for use during cooking is going to be that poor at browning. And re my 9cm headroom, if I put the pizza too close to the element I'll get the element S shape imprinted as black burn lines onto the pizza - surely?

As to door, it has to be operable with one hand, with the ability to rapidly open/close. A flip down door with spring action would be nice, but for simplicity I think a left hand hinge and latch is what I'll opt for first (it's going to be heavy, but it sounds like firebrick will easily be strong enough to hinge without dropping over time - given strong hinges).

[shuboyje]

For drilling firebrick I've used a regular drill with a masonry bit.  For hardware you are going to want tapcons or a thru bolt.

[crosbie]

For drilling firebrick I've used a regular drill with a masonry bit.  For hardware you are going to want tapcons or a thru bolt.

Phew! Thanks. It's not TOO hard then.

[Jet_deck]

....  Interesting to hear that the firebrick is very strong...

Strong ?  Maybe, but brittle for sure.  If you look at them wrong they will crack.  Tapcons maybe, but an overtightened thru bolt will crush and crack the firebrick.

Just my $.02

[buceriasdon]

+1

Strong ?  Maybe, but brittle for sure.  If you look at them wrong they will crack.  Tapcons maybe, but an overtightened thru bolt will crush and crack the firebrick.

Just my $.02

[crosbie]

I was going to use masonry/concrete screws (tapcons). I expect anchors are overkill. Another alternative is fibrous rawlplugs.

[buceriasdon]

http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Supplies/kilns/paragon-120v.htm
if you scroll down you can see some with the doors open.

[crosbie]

buceriasdon, ah, but none of them have any pizzas in them!

Here's a pic of a kiln with a pizza in it:
http://katemc.wordpress.com/2007/10/21/pity-we-dont-have-a-kiln

[shuboyje]

Just for clarity my post was from experience drilling and anchoring with firebrick.  I'm posting from my phone do I tend to be short and light on details.

[superspost]

anybody has any news what has happened to this project? i would be interested in something similar or at least find a good commercial solution for the home use...

[crosbie]

superspost, I have all the parts. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the time to put them together. My other half tells me I have to build her a barn first.