Mud Brick Press Thoughts...

[MacMurphy]

I am looking at building a hydraulic mud brick press. The concept is simple enough and as per the prev post I aim to automate the process... fill, press, eject... fill, press, eject...

The material (mainly dirt) will be contained in a hopper that I can load with the FEL (CK30HST) whilst the press operates however I am unsure of the best way to move the dirt from the hopper into the mould in a measured amount.

I was thinking of having a chute from the hopper gravity feeding the mould with a flap I can automate the opening and closing of for a specified time period. This should ensure a relatively consistent amount of dirt is released into the mould each time.

I would also like to ensure that material has filled the mould to as to avoid pressing air in the event of a blockage in the hooper.

I am not convinced this is the best approach and would greatly appreciate any alternative suggestions.

Thanks

Murphy

 

[bobodu]

I'm thinking...auger feed.Time it with a controller.

 

[SPIKER]

Actually we do something similar at our foundry (or any foundry for that mater) sand (in you're case dirt) is dropped out of a hopper into the mold over filling it. then the top form slides out over the mold pushing excess dirt/sand out of the way then the lower mold/hydraulics lifts up compressing the mold/forms into the sand/dirt. using a TIME BASE will not work each time the gate is opened it does not drop same amount of material in same amount of time small blockages ect will casue more or less to fall and at different rates when there is more material on top or less.

the auger idea is a good one but it is more time consumeing to auger it in at a consistant rate as also the auger must be fed dirt at that same rate. a larger open bottom hopper with auger running through it will work if the dirt is right density/moisture content...

anyhow I'm a bit tired and will post back with other ideas for you to consider have to be at work at 5 tomarrow.

Makrm

 

[MacMurphy]

Thanks for the feedback and pointer,

I am thinking that the only way to get an accurate measure is to physically fill the mould until a level is reached as opposed to my original timing idea or a timed auger.

The downside I can see with overfilling and scraping off the excess is the amount of unused material. However even with this system there must still be some way of measuring how much material would be required to overfill the mould so once again there must be some way to measure the amount released from the hopper.

Thinking still...

Thanks

Murphy

 

[JimWalch]

This is the way bricks are made. http://www.claymachinery.com/heavy.html
Do a search for pugmills and bricks

 

[MacMurphy]

Excellent Jim and tank you very much, you learn something new everyday (at least in theory)

The main difference between my project and a traditionally fired brick is that the "Adobe" blocks/bricks are not fired but are moulded under pressure to bind the clay in the dirt.

Check out www.adobemachine.com