Casting Large refractory Slabs

Regarding the development of the Shorty and DSR3 cores: both were done for a large part with kiln shelves. The top of the riser box and firebox were as thin as 10 mm (0.394"). Sidewalls of the firebox were mostly 15 mm (0.591") and the rest was a hotchpotch of 30 mm (1.18") slabs and thinner leftovers that were laying around. The core that was in the EU approved DSR3 was done entirely in kiln shelves, bar the riser tube, of course.

I don't know about the DSR3 development model, but the Shorty one is in daily use since the last week of November. The top of the Shorty's riser box is still closed with three strips of 10 mm shelve material.



All shelve parts are still in one piece as far as I know, have seen it Januari 31rst last time.

Glenn Herbert wrote:  I have a lot of kiln shelves that I don't use. I saw that Peter used pieces of kiln shelf for parts of his Shorty development core. Would kiln shelves of appropriate sizes be okay to use for all the slabs? How much does thickness of slabs affect the function of the core? Obviously the riser box upper top thickness is irrelevant, but do the ports created with these slabs need to be a particular thickness? (The port at the back of the firebox can be made from standard firebrick.) I can easily double up layers of kiln shelf if necessary.

Two questions here,  Glenn Herbert,  this seems to be a great question concerning products readily available ( excess from potters corners, and all the way up to being available at the pottery shops)  I have never tried to cut those things on my diamond saw?   Does this work well?    I cut granite all the time,  with most working well, but some not so good, being very hard.  And NO, I am not asking if granite can handle internal heat, it can NOT.

second question, There are 24" x 24" x 1.25" thick ceramic paving pads, for sale at some of the big box stores,  Can these handle the inner workings of our Batch box type stoves?  They are actually my bases for any stove I have made, but always with that light layer of ash to insulate. And the heat to this area is never over 300 degrees  I already know that if one area is heated to extreme levels they generally do not do well, (such as a burner pointed at one general area  but have never tested in a more slowly raising and even high temp stove.  ( even that is sorta miss statement as I can go from NO fire to full fire in 15 minutes or so)

Just thinking out loud without testing having been done.  It all seems to take time.   Clapping hands as always for Peter V and his work.

Scott,

I cut kiln shelving with wet diamond saw without any effort. If they are cut dry they quickly heat up to white-hot temperatures in the cut groove and start chipping.
When using old kiln shelves, please inspect them well as they develop micro cracks after multiple uses under load. In my gas kiln, a new bottom shelf got cracks after 8 firings.

Ceramic flooring tiles break readily, they dont turn to dust or anything like that but fracture as soon as heat is applied.
My locale stove store sells heat resistant ceramic tiles but they are only 4” square and still crack after a bit of use.
Exactly as Cristobal says, kiln shelves cut very easily with a decent wet saw.

In Australia this sort of stuff is available.
https://thewoodfiredco.com.au/collections/refactories
I know the size of the slab is too small, but is this the material to be used if purchased?