Finishing touches on Shop Dragon rebuild

Hi All;
Early summer this year Gerry Parent and I rebuilt my 7" batch (AKA) "The Shop Dragon".  (https://permies.com/t/181421/Batch-box-rebuild )
We rebuilt it to the point where it could be fired up.  Only one barrel was installed and none of the brickwork was finished in the front.
I wanted it in this condition to allow me to experiment with different materials for a roof.
Previously both of my batches had ceramic board as a roof.  
Bluntly they sucked!  Way too fragile to be anywhere near firewood.
After trying a single sheet of insulated RA330 as a roof. (failure)  I purchased a 16"x24" heavy cast iron griddle.

Recently I have been able, thanks to some mid-forty degree mornings to burn repeated full loads of wood back to back.  
The results are promising. The heavy cast iron SO FAR is rock solid, with no warping or cracking!
The only way I will know for sure if this is a suitable roof material is to burn it thru the winter.

So even without Gerry's professional rocket scientist help, I dove in to get my girl back into flying condition.
I built a mini scaffold to bring up the second barrel so I could lift it into place.
While balancing both barrels I maneuvered a barrel clamp into place and secured them together.
The batch box is roofed by cast iron, the cast iron has no insulation on it. A steel plate sits approx 1.5" over the cast iron.
My barrel sits on this steel plate and two tabs are welded on to keep the lower barrel in place.
After leveling the double barrels, I packed loose Morgan super wool in all the gaps to seal it up.

The front of the batch needed custom-cut bricks on both sides of the door to seal it all up. More Morgan was used to fill any odd gap.
Then I removed the door to replace the original handle with the updated heavier version.  I added a new door catch as well.
Ready to fly into the face of winter and test that cast iron roof with all she has got!  ( I hope the cast iron wins!)

Built correctly with clay /sand mortar these rebuilds are EASY.  
If you build an RMH, you will find yourself doing rebuilds or repairs, or improvements and loving every minute of it!
Once you have built one yourself, you will have no fear of making changes!

Its been almost a year now since I also had a place where I did regular Shop Dragon tear-downs/ rebuilds to test ideas and innovations.
Now, I'm currently iiving in the desert with not much need for heating and no place to test, so it was a real pleasure to get back into it by paying Thomas a visit and getting to tinker together with his Shop Dragon.

I discovered that Thomas is certainly not a perfectionist or a fine finishing touches kind of guy and that should be an inspiration to those that feel they don't have the skills necessary to build one. Trust me, if being a rocket scientist called for fine precision, I think we'd of both been left with cold workshops all these years.
Its moreso the spirit of being like a kid with a wondering mind and allowing creativity to be your guide and not being afraid to try something that may not work. After all, its just being mostly held together with mud that can be reworked again and again by rehydrating it with water.

For those that are not interested in getting their rocket science diploma though and are more interested in just putting together a tried and true RMH that they don't want to modify any further, it is definitely possible. There are lots of good posts here and books that show finished and very functional units.
However, I still would strongly encourage that you build with clay/sand mortar which is a huge benefit down the road for easy repairs and small modifications. Besides, it much easier on your hands, the environment and doesn't have a set working time before it hardens forever.

The take away out of all of this is to not be afraid to to go ahead and build your own RMH this winter (whenever that is for you).
Start simple, learn the basics through first hand experience, and most of all have fun!

51F this morning, cool enough to build a small fire in the dragon to confirm any smoke leaks are plugged up.
Glad to announce she passed the smoke test!  A few tiny seeps from between the two barrels that quickly went away as soon as the heat started moving.
Ready for winter in the shop and house, only the studio Dragon is awaiting the arrival of her new roof to be ready for winter!

I'm continuing with my roof experiments by installing a 12"x24"x2" heavy firebrick in the studio.  I will insulate it with Morgan super wool.
In the spring we will see how each faired over a winter of hardcore burning.
Both Dragons are in uninsulated buildings and are burned back to back long and hot all day, much hotter than an RMH located inside an insulated home.
This will be a definitive test of these roof materials for use on any batch box.

Hey Thomas can I run an idea by you, I’ve seen these videos of an arch that’s built with a truck and basically they put the keystone block in the top and pull the truck out and everything is locked in place with the weight. Do you think this idea could work with the roof of the batch box using firebrick?

Yes, it does!
Check out the new shop batch box build at Wheatonvile.
https://permies.com/t/193821/permaculture-projects/inch-batch-box-rocket-mass

The funny thing is, I would have told you not to do it two weeks ago.
I was under the impression Peter wanted a flat roof on batch boxes.
He recently said using an arched/domed-style roof was okay.

thomas rubino wrote:Yes, it does!
Check out the new shop batch box build at Wheatonvile.
https://permies.com/t/193821/permaculture-projects/inch-batch-box-rocket-mass

The funny thing is, I would have told you not to do it two weeks ago.
I was under the impression Peter wanted a flat roof on batch boxes.
He recently said using an arched/domed-style roof was okay.

Thanks for that good reference. I’ve been out of the rocket builder game for a few years and it appears there have been massive improvements. I got a lot of stinking reading to do!

I'm looking forward to an excuse to use my old Tonka trucks. They're the metal ones and I've still got them.