Thanks for the photos Bob.
You said "The end pieces can be placed anywhere inside the form to produce any size block you need." How do you get them to stay where you want? Clamps? Certainly you don't drill new holes in the metal every time you want to place an end somewhere other than the "real" end.
Ron if you look at the photos, you will see four screws, two black 2" wood screws and two shiney metal screws. I want a 6" cavity between my blocks so I set the metal screws at 3" and put the 2x6 into the 12" red iron and hold the red iron against the metal screws and install the wood screws. This same process could be done anywhere inside the 30" form.
I read this same process but for the life of me I can't see how well it will work for those of us up here in the "not so hot zone".
I don't use the super wet mix, I don't even know if it will work with this form, I use a plain old cement mixer to mix my paper pulp (you need to pulp the paper with a hand mixer before putting it into the cement mixer less it will not turn out right) and mud (clay) and sand, I pour this mixture into my final mixing bucket and add the cement and hand mix for about a minute and then hand load the form, the mix is quite stiff I also use the shaft viberator from Harbor freight to turn the mix to plastic inside the form, takes less than 30 seconds, I just go around the inside edges.
I have stood on my bricks and squeezed water out of them and they still take 2 weeks to dry. If I used the same mix to make the T block wall. I would only be able to put a round on about once a week. My edges are still susceptible to edge crumble up to that point.
Cut down on your water and add more clay and sand, if your pouring directly into your wall forms weight don't count.
Making some forms out of wood will allow me to try it without the expense of the metal.
Wood will not work as well as the metal because of the skirt I have not shown yet, stay tuned for that later.
I will need a bunch of them because I need to leave the forms on for and hour or so before removal to hold their shape.
I recommend having about 5 or more, this will allow your mix to set up before removing the first form and moving it to the end of the train.
The real test will be when I try to put the next row on and have to tamp the T down between the blocks below. If the whole pour doesn't escape I will be surprised.
You will not have to tamp down the "T-Lock" just wait and see
Ron
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