Heat Treatment Oven Build Process

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With the layout decided, I could get on with preparing some of the bricks. I started by using my edge distance gauge thing (one of my most frequently used tools) and a pencil to mark the bits that needed to be removed:

To cut the bricks, I used an old hard-point handsaw. It was phenomenally easy to cut (and to cut relatively straight): the handsaw powered through the brick with very little effort. On the first one, I clamped the brick down to the bench, but for the rest I just held it on the bench by hand. The friction between the brick and the bench is high and the force being applied by the saw is low, so it was very easy to do this without the brick slipping:

After lots of pencil sharpening and a bit of very quick sawing, I ended up with a pile of bricks that looked like this:

That was enough for a test assembly of the cavity:

I also placed a few bricks on the end to help decide what to do for the door and the rear of the chamber:

They (obviously) won't look like that in the end; I haven't decided yet whether to just cut them off where they are at the moment or move the bottom bricks up a bit (so they're centred vertically). I'll probably go with the latter. Centred vertically will reduce the opportunities for heat escape, but has the disadvantage of using more cut bricks (as there will be a thin one top and bottom rather than just a thin one at the top).

The next job will be to start preparing the steel frame that will hold the bricks together. That'll involve a lot of angle grinder work to remove the mill scale on all the 20 mm × 20 mm × 3 mm angle iron I've got; I've got a bit of a headache at the moment so I can't face the noise (even with ear defenders on) of the grinder so I'll have a go at that tomorrow.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

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