[Noisebridge-discuss] Made at Noisebridge - Concrete Stove

Wed Sep 4 17:10:55 UTC 2013

Best cheap cement mold release I've found?

Off-brand, non-stick cooking spray.   It's strongly hydrophobic, and it has
an additive that gives it a good "stick" to any surface.

The cheaper, the better.  I've found that "PAM" is actually not as good as
.. say .. "Safeway generic brand."

-M

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:53 AM, girlgeek <girlgeek at wt.net> wrote:

>  Hi Frantisek,
> One good way to make the top is to build a mold of formica with the smooth
> side facing in so that you will have a nice smooth surface to pour  the top
> into.  You are working upside down here.  If you want any includes at the
> surface then they go in first.  It's an upside down cake.  A nice smooth
> mold surface will save you a LOT of sanding & coughing.
>
> The tensil strength of concrete is not particularly good.  You will need
> some metal or wood below the surface level.  I don't know what they are
> called, but there are meshes of rebar type metal that you can use for the
> strength layer.
>
> At the end it is a matter of attaching the table top to the legs.  You
> probably want to imbed some attaching mechanism into the top and/ or legs
> while you are pouring. I recommend thinking this step through completely
> before you start.
>
> You may wish to use the same sort of formica boxes for the leg mold.
>
> Don't forget a release material.  I don't know what kind of release agent
> is needed for cement.
>
> hth,  all the best to you there in Korea,
> Claudia
>
>
> On 9/4/2013 6:20 PM, Rikke Rasmussen wrote:
>
> +1
>
>  It looks amazing! Rockin' job, Jarrod!
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:20 AM, jarrod hicks <hicksu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I started by watching several youtube videos explaining the process of
>> creating concrete counter tops in various ways.
>>
>>  I ended up choosing quikrete 5000 for concrete. This comes in 60 or 80
>> pound bags with cement, sand, and a small rock aggregate already mixed
>> together. Only water has to be added. We used a pretty dry mix that was
>> hard to work with, but should turn out strong. The concrete layer is at
>> least 2" thick, some of the videos I saw said one could get away with 1.5"
>> thick.
>>
>>  We used a welded wire concrete reinforcing mesh inside the counter-top
>> about 1/2" from the bottom of concrete. Most instructions recommended using
>> reinforcement to control cracking. Although I couldn't find it nearby,
>> another recommended reinforcement material was masonry block ladder wire.
>>
>>  The forms were attached to the table, protected with polyurethane, and
>> we poured directly onto it. The other popular way of making these counter
>> tops is to pour into a form that is separate from the counter so that the
>> nice flat bottom of the form becomes the nice flat top of the counter.
>>
>>  After removing the forms, I patched any large voids with pour stone. If
>> we used a slightly wetter concrete mix and more vibration we probably could
>> have greatly reduced these.
>>
>>  The top was finished using hand trowels during the pour and a masonry
>> grinding wheel with our grinder/polisher after 7 days of curing. Then
>> covered with a generous coat of penetrating concrete sealer.
>>
>>  Cheers
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 3:46 AM, Frantisek Apfelbeck <algoldor at yahoo.com>wrote:
>>
>>>  Hi Jarrod,
>>> Thanks a lot for the info! I'm actually going to build table with
>>> concrete top in next few days and it is my first time. I wonder could you
>>> recommend me how shall I approach the top concrete layer? Is it just cement
>>> mixed with water no sand no iron for strengthening? How thick do you think
>>> I should go? There is no stove in it, the propose of the table is to serve
>>> as a preparation place handling however hot stuff (it is suppose to handle
>>> the thinks coming out of the oven). Also I wonder what is the concrete
>>> finish which you are mentioning in the how to?
>>>
>>>  The table is going to be used in a small hostel here in Jeju (island
>>> South of South Korea - part of the country) next to the concrete oven which
>>> I helped to build. I'm one of the cofounders of Tastebridge so it is really
>>> nice to see any project like this to help to keep the food hacking in the
>>> game in the place!
>>>
>>>  Many thanks for any info and your time and effort with the project!
>>>
>>>  Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Frantisek Algoldor Apfelbeck
>>>
>>>
>>>  biotechnologist&kvasir and hacker
>>>
>>>
>>>  http://www.frantisekapfelbeck.org
>>>
>>>
>>>  "There is no way to peace, peace is the way." Mohandas Karamchand
>>> Gandhi
>>>
>>>   ------------------------------
>>> *From:* jarrod hicks <hicksu at gmail.com>
>>> *To:* NoiseBridge Discuss <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 4, 2013 10:10 AM
>>> *Subject:* [Noisebridge-discuss] Made at Noisebridge - Concrete Stove
>>>
>>>  Here is some photo documentation of the new stove that I installed
>>> yesterday. Big thanks to all that helped, and those that resisted writing
>>> their names in the concrete while it cured.
>>>
>>>  https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Concrete_Stove
>>>
>>>  Cheers.
>>>
>>>  (If anyone feels the urge to send some cash my way to help offset the
>>> materials cost, that would be sweet and it would likely end up spent on the
>>> next Noisebridge improvement anyway. No worries though, it was a fun
>>> project.)
>>>
>>>    _______________________________________________
>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>
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