# Forum Home Renovation Metalwork & Welding  custom made fire place

## havabeer

not sure if this belong here or in the heating/cooling section but can always move it later 
wife and I have always liked the look of the new modern hanging fireplaces and would love to get one, the issue is price, the one we like is $11,000 (not including installation)  
i'm actually wondering if there's any boily's or fabricators on here that would be able to say how hard/costly it might be to actually get one made up. normally the proper ones come with a bearing up the guts of them which allow you to rotate them, but i wouldn't need this feature as it would be placed in a corner of a room. when we looked at them in person they just seem like a orb section of 3mm mild steel, nothing overall fancy 
the other concern would be, do things like this need approval from insurance companies? obviously calling them will be the simplest way to get an answer 
some drawings and pictures of what we're chasing:

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## PlatypusGardens

Creating the orb would be the hardest part.
It would have to be done in pie sections or at least 2 halves and welded together and ground smooth... 
Unless you can source something that can be re-shaped.
The round ends of some sort of tank or large gas bottle could be used, welded together and turned in to an orb with some effort. 
Anything's possible.
You'd just have to find the right person for the job.
He'd most likely need to come out and look at the room/roof etc to make the brackets and flue to sut. 
As for the price.....
You should DEFINITELY be able to have one made for less than $11.000  :Shock:   
That's just ridiculous.   :No:

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## OBBob

Modern ... aren't they a reincarnation of something from the 60's?  
Surely you can do it PG ... you'd just have to make the flue robust enough to hang it.  :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

> Modern ... aren't they a reincarnation of something from the 60's?

    :Fisch:

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## OBBob

> ... 2 halves and welded together and ground smooth...
> ...

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## Marc

Spherical dishes are spun hot in specialised factories for pressure vessels or buoys. You can buy them in all sizes and steel gage. Work out the size and thickness you need and find a manufacturer. 
All you need after is to weld two half together and cut the openings for feeding and flue. I suggest you first check one that works and the right measurements. An open fire like that needs a lot of experimentation to get it right. Just check all the trial and error by PG and Ringtail for their heaters. 
Find a blacksmith in your area, he will probably be more inclined to take up the job of building your fireplace if you provide the spun heads. 
You could of course try your luck at finding an old compressor tank the right size and cut the ends off. Australia Pressure Vessel Heads 2011 Pty Ltd

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## PlatypusGardens

The thing with using "the ends" of any kind of "tank" is you won't get a 100% spherical....um....sphere  :Unsure:  
More like a squashed sphere....
(Although the things in Marc's link look pretty good actually) 
And yes, getting something with a big "mouth" like that to burn without smoking up the whole room will be the big challenge,
All my potbelly stove creations work well with the door shut, to heat up the flue, then you can open it up and enjoy the pretty flames without too much smoke escaping. 
I'm not sure how you'd light one of those ball things without a door and get it going without smoking up the whole room/house. 
Obviously it works, otherwise they wouldn't be as popular as they are.
That said, we had an open brick fireplace in the house where I grew up....think it has something to do with flue vents and creating updraft or whatever.   
Um....what was the topic again?  :Unsure:   
Oh yes, building a round suspended fireplace.
getting one made with a "straight" section along the middle would be a lot easier, as using the ends of gas bottles, HWS, compressor tanks etc would be an option and more easy to come by in terms of material.    :Yes:

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## Marc

There you go PG, another project for you to sell at the markets  :Smilie: 
Give it 3 legs and a short flue to have in the open. You can call it the spaceship fireplace ...  :Rofl5:

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## PlatypusGardens

Well, compared to the over-priced CRAP they're selling at Bunnings I think I offer a pretty good deal on my firebuckets   :Unsure:

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## OBBob

> The thing with using "the ends" of any kind of "tank" is you won't get a 100% spherical....um....sphere

  
But I'd already decided that fully spherical was optional.  :Smilie:  Oh, whose project was this again??

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## PlatypusGardens

:Shock:       
More designs here -> Ceiling Mounted Fireplaces - 9 coolest ceiling fireplace designs - Captivatist 
Again.....I'd be very interested in seeing how they perform and how you light them without filling your house with smoke....     :Unsure:

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## PlatypusGardens

> But I'd already decided that fully spherical was optional.  Oh, whose project was this again??

  
Hehe that one needs two big eyeballs

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## OBBob

> Hehe that one needs two big eyeballs

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## Marc

I think that many of those are purely decorative and not practical or perhaps fuelled by gas. 
Still, the original posted seems a good one but I would add a door ... a curved plate hinged at both sides of the opening like a sort of "eyelid"  
The time consuming part of that design is to get the transition to the flue at the top. Requires a large forge to heat a decent section of the top and a big anvil to shape it. 
The name of the heater "battiscafo" suggests to be shaped like one of the early mini submarines and therefore spherical. But squash shape would work too.

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## Marc

Come to think of it, a battiscafo would have a round opening with a hinged brass framed door and a glass. 
That would have the proper minisub look!

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## PlatypusGardens

> The time consuming part of that design is to get the transition to the flue at the top. Requires a large forge to heat a decent section of the top and a big anvil to shape it.

  You would look at it that way, being an ol blacksmith. 
I see lots of pie slices welded together or some sort of ductig with expanded opening welded to the sphere.  
Lots of work either way.
I would be interested to see how they actually make the sphere as seen in post 1. 
It would have to be made in at least 2 pieces then stuck together, no?
Like, two halves joined with a vertical seam.....and then the opening cut out....?     :Unsure:

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## Marc

They spin a large disc hot on a massive lathe and push it onto a mould. They can only do halves that way and weld it on the horizon. I know what you mean about the flue opening, yes, you can cut radiuses out from a center and then add sectors to the cuts. Too much work I think. Perhaps a more practical way rather than heating the top of the semi sphere would be to shape a section of a pipe in thick gage and make it into a funnel of sort that follows the shape required. That would be much easier. Even easier with a power hammer.
The welding at the top where it can get very hot and very cold constantly can be a problem. Needs to be done very well, preferably with a DC stick welder

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## havabeer

> 

  pretty sure ones like this use a bio fuel/gas to burn  
yeah i don't think this is something i could try and make (with out  looking like a home made job) out cutting up tanks and things   

> And  yes, getting something with a big "mouth" like that to burn without  smoking up the whole room will be the big challenge,
> All my potbelly stove creations work well with the door shut, to heat up  the flue, then you can open it up and enjoy the pretty flames without  too much smoke escaping. 
> I'm not sure how you'd light one of those ball things without a door and get it going without smoking up the whole room/house. 
> Obviously it works, otherwise they wouldn't be as popular as they are.
> That said, we had an open brick fireplace in the house where I grew  up....think it has something to do with flue vents and creating updraft  or whatever.

  yeah we saw one going in the shop  obviously it was lit and burning nicely, so there was no smoke, actually  couldn't smell any smoke in the joint, you can get some with a door but  i think its more for safety side of things. you might get a tiny bit of  smoke when lighting but i guess as long as your not trying to burn a  bit of the green banksia bush from out the front i can't imaging it  being that bad, as you said they probably wouldn't sell many if they  did, then again for $11K i can't see them walking off the shelves  
my theory would to build a circular one like this would be to take something large and round, not sure where you could find a 700mm diamater ball and cut say 50 - 100mm lengths of steel, bend them in the large rollers so they're curved and wrap them around the ball, cutting where it over laps and filling in the rest with weld and grinding back flush. but i'm not sure how much time that would cost compared to just buying the thing for $11k

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## PlatypusGardens

> Come to think of it, a battiscafo would have a round opening with a hinged brass framed door and a glass. 
> That would have the proper minisub look!

       :Smilie:

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## mick789

hi, i,m new on here. i,m mick. 
i,m a boilermaker/welder, 25 years experience. i think could make one of those hanging fireplaces. just need to score some spherical metal an a design. pipe ends might do it but i,m un-aware of there existence., something made of copper would look better imo. but a different manufacturing process to make.

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## manofaus

oxy, planishing hammer and English wheel to make it one piece or weld up a patchwork soccerball perhaps? Sounds like a fun project.

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## havabeer

yeah i'm thinking about looking through the yellow pages in the next few days and see if anyone would want to tackle it, my issue is i'd want it basically perfect which might mean someone would have to attempt it first

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## PlatypusGardens

Well, as said earlier, the biggest issue probably won't be finding someone who can make a sphere.
Getting it to work properly will be the trick.

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## OBBob

> ...
> Getting it to work properly will be the trick.

  Yep ... there's a bit of physics in just getting a normal fireplace to function correctly, it'll be a whole other challenge with this shape.

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## mick789

i have PM,ed you havabeer. 
mick

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## havabeer

$550 and i can get 680mm stainless steel sphere, cut a hole in the top for the flue and a mouth in the front bobs your fireplace  https://www.jalex.com.au/shop/680-mm-diameter-hollow-stainless-steel-ball.html

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## PlatypusGardens

> _Please note these balls are round and can roll away._

   :Rofl5:

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## OBBob

> 

  LOL ... mind boggles at what may have happened to make them add that little note.  :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

Anyway, a bit more research would probably be good.....how thick are they?
What will happen once you cut holes in it, suspend it and light a fire in it, etc.    :Smilie:

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## havabeer

yeah alot more questions to be answered, will have to see if i can find somewhere in australia that does the hydro forming of these round balls and get one made from 2 or 3mm steel

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## PlatypusGardens



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