Plastic fence post maker...

beenthere · Aug 2, 2004

To reconstitute anything to compete with natural wood from trees is difficult, and more expensive, at best. The tree grows itself into a tough material and, at little mfg. cost to shape it to the dimension wanted, doesn't take extra electricity, oil, or gas to make a product. Wood fibers grow much stronger than anything that is melted or pressed together. Plastic deck boards need more joists to support the same load and reduce the elasticity (bouncy feeling) when walking on it. Pressed (extruded) plastic fence posts would likely bend (but maybe not break) when under load or over a period of time.
I have wood posts still up in a fence line that were put in in 1965. They were sawn on four sides, which took a minimum of energy to produce. They are near the end of their life span and will need replacing soon.

mrcaptainbob · Aug 2, 2004

You have a good thought there, Dixie. I think you should try it. Do just a small bit of reading up on some of the different types of plastic, though. There are some plastics that won't mix with others, and there's also some plastics that break down at their particular temps and won't 'come-back-together'. Some Will get brittle if overheated. Don't let any of this scare you off from experimenting, though! It's just helpful info!! You're right about the heat issue, but you're going to need a LOT of pressure. Would be neat to push that soft stuff into a mold and cool it down. Have a number of the molds ready to go and cycle them....Be wary of what pressure you exert on the mold so as to not burst it. Molten plastic under high psi is just as dangerous as steam or hydraulics....

rambler · Aug 7, 2004

These folks have been in business for several years, have heard pretty good things about their product. _Not_ for corner posts, as they mention. As you can staple an electric wire directly to it, saves the cost of an insulator if you are doing several runs of hot wires - can help save some money that way. Their price is not out of line compared to wood posts. I assume they get paid to take the particular plastic they are using, which helps defray the post cost.

http://www.foreverpost.com

--->Paul

fenneran · Aug 25, 2004

A good friend of mine has the patent on the process and machine that he invented to turn platic (mostly grocery bags and the like) into fence posts. He had a great business going, but then lost out to a major firm who cornered the market on the raw material. it used to be they would pay him to take it, then it was free, then he had to pay. Finally, it was too expensive to get and he had to shut down the operation and sell the equipment.

For those interested, Here is a link to his patent.

-Frank