On 7/31/2010 9:28 PM, Puckdropper wrote:
"J. wrote in
:


No. 21 wide by 17 deep. There's also the question of whether it gets
hot enough for good take-up. The tire doesn't just have to fit, it
has to be a little undersized when cold so that it loads the wooden
parts in compression--that's where the strength of the wheel comes
from. 500F will give about a quarter inch of expansion with low
carbon steel, red heat will give close to a half inch. The various
1800s and early 1900s blacksmithing journals suggest that the iron in
use at the time would expand more than this.

By the way, the large pizza from the big chains is 14-15 inch, the
independents may go 18.


You've got 27" to work with if you put it in diagonally.

How do you figure? If I tilt it up front to back then I've only got the
21 width. If I tilt it side to side then I've only got the 17 depth.

There's a third
dimension to be concerned about, but it's faster to try it than to work
on all the calculations.

It doesn't matter if your oven tops out before the wheel has expanded
enough, though. (But you knew this.)

Puckdropper