- Thread starter diggles18
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I am looking at making paper briquettes, I have seen some on youtube which use a bottle jack, but I don’t have one available. There is also a few on ebay which people have made which I will post a link to later.
Ideally i would like one which i can use a spanner or drill with a socket attachment to create the pressure, but needs to be easy to replicate the bricks.
Any ideas welcome
Ideally i would like one which i can use a spanner or drill with a socket attachment to create the pressure, but needs to be easy to replicate the bricks.
Any ideas welcome
MattF
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Section of round tube, 4" or so diameter, with holes drilled around the circumference, and then a round flat plate of a diameter to match the inner bore. You can then either use a bottle jack, a wooden framework with a hand lever or a powered screw. You just need to make a framework suitable for attaching whichever method you choose, based around the tube.
octo0072000
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brickette maker
Hi this one is also a log splitter and just works on leverage about 3 videos on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J7K219AkaY&feature=g-all&context=G2579c49FAAAAAAAAAAA
i like this one 4 bricks at once
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs0D_aVtgq8&feature=related
Hi this one is also a log splitter and just works on leverage about 3 videos on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J7K219AkaY&feature=g-all&context=G2579c49FAAAAAAAAAAA
i like this one 4 bricks at once
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs0D_aVtgq8&feature=related
I need to make one of those, that's awesome, the kids would love it although I don't think i'll let them play with the axe
Hi there,
Just thought I'd upload 2 early pics of the logpress I've made after looking at others on youtube (1 of which was a link earlier in this thread).
I've since finished the press and after several mixes I've refined my 'gloop' ratio's
I'll take some more when I'm home (as currently away for a week in the Lake District) if peeps are interested.
hillbilly234
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my dad made some paper brick makers,out of bread trays,holes in bottom,and sides,put wet paper in,then a red brick on top.worked ok.
Wendelspanswick
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Seems a lot of effort to make a damp paper block, why not miss out the wood pulp to paper to imitation log stage by burning pallets, unwanted pallets are free, firms ring me up to take away their pallets. Added bonus of usable timber as well.
grandads_shed
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Paul99
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Yeh it is a lot of work if you can get wood for free. I quite liked the idea of making junk mail into something that would be useful and as an experiment I made this a few years ago:
You can see the type of bricks it was making and TBF once dry they burn well and give out plenty of heat. It's way too slow a process as it is though and given the availability of free wood I didn't really take it any further.
Given time and effort I'm sure a hydraulic ram powered version making multiple blocks in one go could speed up the process 100fold but given the expense involved making it you may possible be better off just buying in ready seasoned wood rather than buying all the hydraulic bits and burning diesel powering it. The other option I've thought of would be to have a slip on / bolt on type affair to fit the log splitter to convert it temporarily to a briquette maker but again we're lucky to have a steady free supply of wood and so haven't yet bothered trying to work anything out.
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MattF
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Definitely. That's looking tidy so far. Be nice to see the progression of it.
I'm guessing several reasons.
1) Pallets aren't viable to transport for everyone. It's a damned sight easier to transport shedloads of paper and newspaper than pallets, and breaking pallets up on site isn't always preferable or possible.
2) The blocks, once dried, won't spit as pallet wood has a tendency to do, and they'll also burn longer and hotter.
3) It's a lot easier to get hold of waste paper than pallets, unless you happen to be in a trade or location where scrap pallets are plentiful.
Even taking the extra labour required to make them into account, I'd personally go with the briquettes given the choice. Every pallet I've come across so far has been pretty much made of scrap wood, and it ain't the best of stuff for heating unless you literally have mountains of it and an enclosed fire.
Wendelspanswick
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I made myself a pallet breaking bar, it's 5' length of 40mm tube with a large curved fork on the end, you insert the fork over one slat and under another and just pull it apart.
A lot of the pallets I get are hardwood machinery pallets which burn beautifully, I collect pallets all through the summer as well as the rest of the year so all our wood has a chance to dry out.
Some of the best pallets we get are the ones that sheets of steel are delivered on, 6 or 7 pieces of 60 by 80mm timber up to 2.5m long that pull apart really easily and have only been used once so the timber is very clean.
A lot of the pallets I get are hardwood machinery pallets which burn beautifully, I collect pallets all through the summer as well as the rest of the year so all our wood has a chance to dry out.
Some of the best pallets we get are the ones that sheets of steel are delivered on, 6 or 7 pieces of 60 by 80mm timber up to 2.5m long that pull apart really easily and have only been used once so the timber is very clean.
MattF
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Never managed to drop on a hardwood one upto just personally. I've heard they exist, but never actually seen one so far. The odd few I've tried have always been that skanky softwood which literally falls apart if you look at it the wrong way.
Hence you can likely guess why I'm not a pallet fan in general.
Wendelspanswick
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I am sure I have read about rolling up newspapers and sticking then inside a few steel rings before burning them, collecting the rings from the ashes when cool to be reused. You could slice some section off of a piece of 3" pipe to use as the rings if you can't be bothered to form rings out of bar.
DrNik
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i can get hold of loads of oak shavings and sawdust, how about squishing that with some flour and water (to bind it together) to act like glue, you need to be making 20 bricks at a time and need to be about the size of a housebrick........ what do you reckon
What are these things like for leaving ash? I've never been a fan of throwing straight paper in the wood burner as it leaves loads of ash so needs cleaning out three times as often.
Any tips on gloop ratios and preparation of the paper i.e. do you just soak it or does it need to be shredded/torn up first? How long do you need to be drying a brick sized bricquette at say room temp?
My parents are both into wood-turning and are members of a local club so I often get small hardwood offcuts but if I could make use of the shavings/dust too it would be nice as I can get it by the bag on their meeting nights.
Iain
Any tips on gloop ratios and preparation of the paper i.e. do you just soak it or does it need to be shredded/torn up first? How long do you need to be drying a brick sized bricquette at say room temp?
My parents are both into wood-turning and are members of a local club so I often get small hardwood offcuts but if I could make use of the shavings/dust too it would be nice as I can get it by the bag on their meeting nights.
Iain
Paul99
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That was one thing I was going to try (but with cement rather than flour), but never did get around to it. We end up burning a lot of shavings from the planer, saws, etc on a bomb fire and again it seemed a waste if it could be put to good use heating the house.
I did however mix some in with the paper pulp to bulk it out which works if you put in the right amount - put too much in though and the blocks disintegrate once you've pressed the water out - a binder might have solved that though.
One day when I have more time I might have another go at, as there must be some potential for free heat in it but it's behind a very long list of other things to get done first.
Paul99
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I initially pulped all the paper with a homemade blender - worked ok but took a while making a 5 gallon drum at a time. Then as an experiment I just soaked the newspaper overnight and chucked it in relatively intact - I think TBH it was better as you get more paper/ less water in the former which results in a denser block.
Adding the shavings and dust was tricky to get right I added it one handful at a time made a block added another handful made a block etc - the plan was to get rid of as much sawdust as possible but you do reach the point where the blocks will just fall apart when pressed out. At that point you just need to go back and add more paper pulp - I'm guessing the mix was something like 75% paper pulp to 25% wood shavings/dust max but that's just a guess.
As for drying time I'm not sure, I made mine and it was a few months before I thought to them - got busy with work and forgot all about them.
