Am thinking about building a woodburning fireplace (standalone type) from welded 3/16" or so plate. I'm not sure how to handle the door but all-in-all it wouldn't seem to be too difficult. Or, maybe I'm wrong...
Anyhow, was wondering if anyone has already done it or if plans/examples are available anywhere.
Also, would it be practical to cut 3/16 plate with an abrasive blade in a circular saw??
Laurie Forbes
I've made a few wood stoves, not difficult at all. Do your design on graph paper. If it were me, I would seriously consider having a welding shop shear the plate and look hard at having as much bent. An oxy-act torch would be a must for a project along with a welding box & grinder, drillpress. Can't comment on a abrasive circular saw for large cutouts. A local welding shop does some shearing for me on occasions at quitting time. I get the plate and give it a light coat of white spray paint. Then carefully draw the layout lines on with a felt tip pen for the shear operator.
Then I just back up with the plate ready to go and pick up the drops. They charge me a nominal fee for this. They also do some techinical stuff at different times for me so I have a good working relationship with them. Ask around
The fun wood stoves are the ones I make from scrap. I like 80 gal pressure tanks for the body, and make the door from a bottom of a 20gal water heater tank. Some scrap for the hinges, latch, and legs. A piece of
10" sche 80 for the stack. Line with firebrick.DE
Various parts would be easy using a CNC Plasma torch - Simple parts like that are not much work - other than the cad and grinding..
Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
Laurie Forbes wrote:
Search with google for Rumford fireplaces. Count Rumford perfected these designs in the 1700s. You will need to line the firebox with firebrick or your metal plate will twist and buckle.
Once you decide on the size of the opening all of the rest of the measurements are locked in so you have a fireplace that draws well.
I built one long ago out of masonry and have a booklet buried around here someplace. If you don't find detailed plans post again and I will search for it.
If you just throw a box and chimney together you probably will be disappointed.
Not to be negative, but you might discretely inquire of your insurance agent what effect a self installed, self built(not UL listed) fireplace might have on your fire policy. Maybe nothing, but it would be nice to know in advance.
All the factory metal fireplaces are double wall. Most of the factory jobs use interlocking castable ceramic panels simulating firebrick, you might get some replacement panels and design around them.
"anotherMike" wrote: Not to be negative, but you might discretely inquire of your insurance agent what effect a self installed, self built(not UL listed) fireplace might have on your fire policy. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Right, and not only that! A friend of mine bought a commercially made conical free-standing metal fireplace--presumably it WAS UL listed. Even so, he had a hard time complying with building code. Had to have a fairly large distance from the walls, and ended up placing a layer of fire-brick on the floor under it.
My dad used to produce woodstoves. he original model used 1/4" plate, and the later one used 5/16".
I did see a lot of warping on the 1/4" plate ones when pushed a bit.
Hmm - maybe I should go thicker than 3/16. Would the 5/16 be more appropriate - I don't seem to recall store bought stoves being that heavy?
Laurie Forbes
yes but who has one :)
I would think that would be a slow and painful way to do it. Try one of these:
Peter
Me! In Texas - Deep Texas. Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
Laurie Forbes wrote:
When living in the coastal redwoods - northern Ca - We had a medium wood stove in our 2000+ sq ft house - plenty enough.
It was required to be up on a tile deck above the floor and so many inches in several ways. The wall was a special - blue ? board that was more fire proof. They use that wall board in Garages to isolate the auto fire from the house. Creating a fire wall.
Martin Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
Leo Lichtman wrote:
Based on the worthless opinion of a guy who grew up in wood stove heated homes in the far north..Id go with the 5/16 at minimum. 3/8th would be better, just from the thermal mass point of view, but also for the repeated heating and cooling and rusting cycles over the next however many years.
Shrug...
Gunner
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner
Thanks for the info - I have requested their literature. I recall this or a similar product being discussed here a while ago - a worm gear drive circular saw was recommended. have also looked for similar products locally but no luck. One of their demo videos shows cutting 1/4" plate with apparent ease so I would think that 5/16 or 3/8 might be doable.
Laurie Forbes
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