| Dear Carrie To resolve this issue you need to become clear as to what you mean when you say " I have been using 4 parts water to 2 parts paper to 1+ parts cement, " Are you measuring parts by weight or by volume? If you are measuring by weight you are saying that for 1 Kg of cement, you are adding 2 Kgs of paper and 4 Kgs of water, which translates to 4 litres of water or approximately 1 galleon of water. The total weight of the mix would be 1+2+4 = 7 Kgs. Percentage wise it would be 14% cement,28% paper and 58% water. If you are using a volume consistently , say a bucket, you are saying that for one bucket of cement, you add two buckets of paper and four buckets of water to get the mix. However as paper absorbs water and cement almost dissolves in water without adding anything to the volume, it is impossible to say what your final volume will be. In fact confidently one can say that the final volume will not be 1 + 2+ 4 = 7 buckets. It will be between 4 to 5 buckets. Most hobbyists tend not to use only one measure (weight or volume) when they carry out making PC. This creates difficulty in conveying what they are doing. Typically water will be measured in volume but cement and paper will be by weight. Are you doing that? If yes we need to get another factor into the equation which is relative density of all the three materials. These are available on the internet. Also I would like you to be clear on 3 different ways to measure paper. First is dry weight or volume of paper that you use. Second, many people prefer to weigh paper after it has been soaked and shredded but before cement has been added to the mix. Thirdly some people prefer to drain the shredded paper and take into account by weight or volume shredded and drained pulp. As long as you clear say what is meant by paper, others will be able to reproduce your mix. I love to see your final write up. If you think I could help you outside the list in preparing the write up please feel to mail me outside the group. Regards Ashok What are you doing. |
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