Hi Curtis,
I’m new to PC, but not to construction. Thank you very much for your informed comments.
The pressure washer idea intrigues me. I have a 500 gal. Oil Tank that I no longer need and am thinking of turning it into a mixer and rather than go to the added fabrication needed to drive blades, your pressure washer sounds a likely alternative.
Do you have any comparison information on using clay alone or clay and cement as opposed to cement alone for fire resistance? I am under the impression that clay has better resistance to heat than cement.
One problem I can see, using this technique, is that much of the cement is carried off with the excess water. I realize the water can be reused but it seems the original batch will be missing cement. Adding a mechanical mixer and cement after excess water is removed might help with this.
I’m thinking I can use a smaller mixer in the large tank to mix additives after pulping with rotary pressure washer and draining excess water..
Any additional thoughts appreciated.
One issue with how much water to add depends on what means you are using to pulp the paper. When using a tow mixer in Arizona, the ammount of water would be somewhat different than mixing a batch in Georgia or Florida. What would remain the same is the ratio between paper and cement: 1-1 by weight. When mixing a small batch in a 5 gallon bucket you would use less water than a 200 gallon batch. But the ratio of paper to cement would remain the same:1-1 by weight. When using my pressure washer to mix a 40 gallon batch I add a 2.5 gallon bucket of cement to 25 pounds of paper. And no I do not weigh every batch because that would be anal. My measure is a stick approx 10 inches high. Tha is roughly 15 pounds of paper. the 2.5 gallons of cement weighs roughly 15 pounds. I add half the cement and some paper and turn on the pressure washer. As the paper is shreaded by the pressure washer and rotary nozzle it mixes the cement with the paper. Be careful at first or it makes can make a dust storm if you hit the dry cement. About halfway throught the process, I add the remaining the cement and paper and continue to pulp the paper with the rotary nozzle. I dont know how much water I use or really care. When it gets to the right consistancy, I stop. If the paper is pre soaked, it goes faster than if the paper is dry. BUt the water is only a medium to get the fibers all jumbeled together and the cement is a binder for the matrix. Cement is NOT required to make the material work. You can make blocks with just pulped paper. You can use clay, soil or what have you as a binder. The cement adds fire resistance to the material and the more cement you use the less flamable the material becomes. Not I said fire resistance and not fire proofing. You cant make wood fire proof and PC is a wood product. Think of the paper and binder (cement clay, etc.) as the material and water as the carrier for the composite
