Monday, November 10, 2008

Re: [papercreters] Re: Compressed Blocks

The 5 year old design we have is based on the CINVA press.  It has a few personal tweaks but it is based on a center vertical pull lever operating a piston in a sleeve - the arm is 16 feet.  There are several commercial units sold in the US - but shipping solid steel is a bit high.  That is why we were asked to create a paper design for a group of Presbyterian missionaries.  The first paper designs were emailed as PDF's for $20 followed by a lot of questions in English as a far removed second language - so we made a mock-up of MDF and offered that with the paper design.  All questions stopped!  We even made a few mockups out of 3/8" foam core and shipped to the Philippines through Open Door. 
 
The cost factor varies from $500 to $1200 for a standard commercial press.  I was given an historical CEB book that was hopeless to dig out a design.  I am not sure what the book cost.  So I drew it and built a mockup and charged $35 plus shipping.  A bunch of them were bought and hand carried to different parts of the world.  Once the mock up was assembled local metal shops, mechanics and welders adapted the design idea to available materials.
 
This is DIY at its best.  The point is to make blocks not make a machine and sell it.  Once you have a grasp of the mechanical concept - you can build it out of reinforced concrete or wood - any available materials and of course a consistent brick size is the goal!  For me the fun was emailing "friends" around the world as they played with our "new" toy!  If you throw money at a DIY project you will get stung.  The point is DIY.
 
My wife has promised to find the original design PDF - the picture below is the original mock up! My wife uses this to press paper mache mask.
 
s! 
 
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Janoahsh
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 1:37 PM
Subject: RE: [papercreters] Re: Compressed Blocks

I have used levers to compress things before.  A pipe or bar that is fastened to a hinge or pivot at one end so the other end can be raised or lowered while the hinged end remains stationary can be fitted with a hanging bar with a flat plate  that is lowered into the mold.  By lengthening the pipe so that the distance from the hanging bar and plate to the end not attached is greater than the distance from the hanging bar to the opposite hinged end will give a mechanical advantage in multiples directly proportional to the difference.  For example a 3 foot bar will give a mechanical advantage of 5 if the hanging bar is 6" from the pivot.

From: papercreters@yahoogroups.com [mailto:papercreters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Curtis Stewart
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 9:48 AM
To: papercreters@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [papercreters] Re: Compressed Blocks

I just use a 8 X 8 hand plate tamper to compress the PC. It needs to drain at least 15 -20 minutes before compressing. I cannot say it makes a better or worse block, only it makes it a little more uniform when it dries. The compressed ones TEND not to have the 20 degree angles on the sides, but occasionally they do. I am not trying to make a PC equal to clay CEB's. My form is the 12 X 12 X 24 made with  2 X6 lumber. I let it drain, compress it with the tamper, pull the form, let it set for a little while depending on the temp then edge it for final drying.

 

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.0/1778 - Release Date: 11/9/2008 2:14 PM


No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.0/1779 - Release Date: 11/10/2008 7:53 AM
__._,_.___

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

at 2:42 PM