We’ve started another website just for the plastic block topic. I’ll find a way to make a link on here that’s permanent for those who stumble on to this site looking for information on the blocks.
We received some drawings today
These drawings are courtesy of Dr. Owen Geiger at www.GRISB.org
These are drawings for making the block box press. We have photos and a material list in an earlier post below. Continue to read will take you to more drawings by Dr. Geiger.
Posted in bottle bricks, compressed earth blocks, creating industry in the third world, recycled plastic building blocks, sustainable housing, thinking out of the box, Tips and tricks
Tagged China, Dr. Owen Geiger, Haiti, Kenya, Pakistan, recycled plastic trash, Ronald Omyonga, South America
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Another day, another compression test
I took the truck to Pearson Stone and we weighed the front axle weight. 6,800 pounds. That means 3,400 pounds per front wheel weight.
I went to the shop and put the front of the truck up on wood blocks. Then I jacked up one wheel and placed a ten pound plastic block under the wheel with a piece of steel on top of the block to eliminate the distortion caused by the tire patch only being on part of the block.
We did a compression test today
We don’t have access to an academics lab to do testing on the blocks. So I did the next best thing…
Click on the “more” for photos and more dialog..
Posted in bottle bricks, compressed earth blocks, creating industry in the third world, recycled plastic building blocks, straw bale houses, sustainable housing, thinking out of the box, Tips and tricks
Tagged China, Dr. Owen Geiger, Haiti, Pakistan, recycled plastic trash, Ronald Omyonga, South America
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All we lack is finishing up
After the camera fiasco the other day we finally found another camera.
This after noon I made another block and feel we have the one we want now. It isn’t perfect and will still need some tweeking to make it work better. But it is at a point where others can copy it and start making blocks. Their experiences along with ours will help us find the final block making machine. Bob Warner took a picture of the plastic block box machine yesterday and then put down all the measurements on the photo to make it easier for others to copy.
Click on the “more” to see more pictures and dialog about the machine and today.
One of the other ideas out there
Builders Without Borders is proposing using baled rice straw for housing in Haiti.
http://builderswithoutborders.org/HAITI/Haiti_Proposal.pdf
http://builderswithoutborders.org/HAITI/BWB_HaitiStrawbaleH2.pdf
Compare that to our plastic building blocks.
Another day in paradise
Before we bumped the table and the camera fell, fatal screw up on its part…. Continue reading
Good News and Bad News
The bad news is the original press has some issues. One of the problems is the sides are vertical and that makes getting the block out of the press difficult. Another is it is difficult to remove the trash from the press between blocks. And then there’s the wire guides, difficult to use when operating the press, too far apart, and generally awkward to use.
The good news is Continue reading
We Made Our First Plastic Block Today
Of course the very first thing we did was test it for supporting weight.
It was quite a day. Continue reading
More Work on the Block Box
I’m not sure just how much pressure we’ll be using to compress the blocks. So I’m spending extra time reinforcing the far end. I would hate to be wrapped up in making a block and have the end fall off. There’s a formula for figuring out the lineal pressure that is generated by the circular motion of the acme thread. I’ve looked at it and it makes no sense to me. Hopefully an engineer will google the formula and then send me numbers and I can pretend I’m smart. One inch ACME thread 4 threads per inch. Continue reading