archived-brick-dev

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfWBhNhZuzY

Al Jazeera English

Colombia's Lego Homes - earthrise (lead)

Joseph

https://youtu.be/EPmZmUBFryY

he's great

️

Ikr

what's the plan? massive aluminium mould?

The Brick-dev Work Group is coordinating a Precious Plastic project studying the feasibility of a recycled plastic bricks workspace in Nigeria

The Dutch Government is organizing a series a R&D projects in African countries to help replace imported construction material with locally sourced material. What a more local material than the plastic picked up in the streets. We decided to respond to their call and got the green light! Goals

Analyze the already existing recycled plastic bricks in the world, and what are their advantages and limitations.
Analyze the target price and production targets for our recycled plastic brick
Analyze the regulations on building material that needs to be covered by the brick design and manufacturing.
Help bring our current 1.0 brick model to its next step with ideas on how to improve the process to make it easier, faster, cheaper !

‍♀️Steward The current steward of this channel is @Yann

How it works 1. The steward coordinates the group to achieve our goals 2. @Contributors support with brainstorming on the different goals 3. Smaller teams will be formed to work specifically on some detailed documentation goals (can be Gdrive, Notion…). The steward will post a document to be completed, a DM needs to be sent to request editor access to the document. 4. During summer (July / August) a Precious Plastic + discord @Contributor will go to Nigeria to confirm assumptions and figure out the next steps of the project.

Rules Same rules as One Army apply so let’s just be nice and respect each other Have fun

(edited)

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3

Precious Plastic pinned a message to this channel. 4/27/2022 5:12 PM

I just realized that Victors wife (GIVO partner in Nigeria) is a market researcher

Givo mafia

Interesting vid here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k55UR4ykaeQ&ab_channel=MihirKamani

Mihir Kamani

Edison Manufacturing Unit (Plastic Waste Paver Blocks)

hey people! I'm starting to do some I+D with a client here in Tenerife, Spain, we want to make a brick partially based on plastic, the above video is one of 3 we have seen that has interesting info.. of the other 2, 1 is about PP brick , although not sure if this guy was with you to develop them..? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbZKP4UAtL8 and this is a cool paving stone type brick, although don't see how they heat and mix the plastic, only how they compress the brick with the molten mix.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbZKP4UAtL8 (edited)

UN Environment Programme

Plastic bricks in Kenya - NZAMBI MATEE - Young Champion of the Eart...

Got this group through the Instagram Messages. They are from Argentina working with recycled materials to make bricks https://easy-brick.us

Jona Raminger

EasyBrick

Sistema constructivo a partir de ladrillos de plástico reciclado

2

Interesting read https://www.guardianconstructors.com/2017/05/every-thing-youll-need-to-know-about-sandcrete-blocks-production-in-nigeria.html

1:27 PM

"Cement, as a binder, is the most expensive input in to the production of sandcrete blocks......The use of alternative cheaper local materials as stabilizer will greatly enhance the production of sandcrete blocks with the desired properties at low cost. It will also drastically reduce the cost of production and consequently the cost of construction works. A survey by raw materials research and development Council of Nigeria on available local building materials reveals that certain building materials deserve serious consideration as substitute for imported ones." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306119841_SANDCRETE_BLOCK_AND_BRICK_PRODUCTION_IN_NIGERIA_-PROSPECTS_AND_CHALLENGES (edited)

Masterthesis__Plastic_Upcycling_Brick_Test.pdf

5.38 MB

2

Some studies about recycled plastic tiles and UV resistance : https://www.waste.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Plastic-waste-recycling-heroes_FINAL_03022022-layout-1.pdf

I have a ~$1000 budget to invest in a brick mold. We are a new space building in Las Cruces, NM USA. I'm building a v2 extruder, but getting budget for larger (v4?) to push brick and beam molds. If our small budget will help the effort count us as the first customer for a mold. Because of US building standards, we are thinking we can sell for use in yard walls, dog houses, garden planters, storage sheds, and other low risk, low load constructions. (edited)

Jon Simmons

I have a ~$1000 budget to invest in a brick mold. We are a new space building in Las Cruces, NM USA. I'm building a v2 extruder, but getting budget for larger (v4?) to push brick and beam molds. If our small budget will help the effort count us as the first customer for a mold. Because of US building standards, we are thinking we can sell for use in yard walls, dog houses, garden planters, storage sheds, and other low risk, low load constructions. (edited)

I would reccomend you start with beams

12:49 PM

The bricks are quite difficult to do make with our current design

12:49 PM

That's why we want to work on a new design

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these guys make bricks with pp machines https://community.preciousplastic.com/u/sinan

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This paper good for cost analysis https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306119841_SANDCRETE_BLOCK_AND_BRICK_PRODUCTION_IN_NIGERIA_-PROSPECTS_AND_CHALLENGES

Speaking of bricks, I'm testing to make bricks using an extruder Pro with PET for a customer. Quite challenging. Drying is critical, my proces somehow makes the PET pretty brittle after cooling. Has something to do with crystalinity caused by the cooling proces. The mold is an old V4 prototype mold. Releasing the product is hard due to the lack of release angles. I think temperature control of the mold is important with technical polymers. Just wanted to share

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2

Brick_Presentation.pdf

2.1 MB

Geert's report here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ajsjq_SNaKdWefV1s2M65VLpaa3SWYK4 (edited)

Joseph

https://youtu.be/EPmZmUBFryY

I am working over in Ghana, this is very inspiring@

7:20 PM

!

Extrude the volume then press it into shape (edited)

Another brain fart, Been reading something about using sheep wool as a fire retardant in plastic. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359836814003138. I heard there a surplus of sheep wool (at least in Netherlands). Composite of wool and plastic maybe?

Extruded short wool fibre composites: Mechanical and fire retardant...

Polypropylene (PP) and wool composite sheets were fabricated by continuous extrusion. Increases in mechanical properties of the composites, such as te…

I think in contemplating products we have to make some decisions to move forward:

Is the intended product to be re-recyclable or are we comfortable with the resultant being an "end state" for the plastic (mixing sand, carbon black, or something else to UV stabilize the plastic then becomes an OK thing)

If it's not acceptable to mix in an inexpensive stabilizer then we need to learn a lot more about UV stabilizer additives, I think looking at/learning about plastics and additives used in automotive manufacturing would be a suitable starting point

Or we become comfortable with the idea that we're going to generate microplastics on the surface of our parts, that this resultant was inevitable with the initial creation of the plastic - IE: given the abysmal recyclability the only possible outcome for this material is abandonment to "rot" into small pieces OR burning and trapping emissions in power generation - returning it back to our industrial function of the original energy in the oil. If we're OK with microplastics then we don't need to worry about any of the above

(edited)

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4:13 AM

^ these things, or we accept that our bricks/blocks/product can only be used buried in earth, used indoors away from UV sources/degradation, or sandwiched between layers of protective materials

I agree. Because the end goal is to END plastics in general, and hopefully transition to other sustainable materials, I think adding things like sand, carbon black, etc is a suitable idea.

Following the event, the feasibility study of a recycled plastic brick in Nigeria is officially on ! As explain, we will conduct this study in 4 main sections : 1a : Nigeria brick market study 1b : What recycled plastic bricks currently exist worldwide 2 : Brick regulations in Nigeria 3 : Precious Plastic brick model 2.0 For sections 1a and 2, we delegated the research to local companies in Nigeria, as they are the one having the best field knowledge. But you can follow the progress on these two research topics : https://community.preciousplastic.com/research/nigerian-brick-market-study https://community.preciousplastic.com/research/brick-regulations-in-nigeria Now we need the power and the knowledge of our awesome community to figure out the two other sections (#1b Which recycled plastic bricks currently exist, and #3 what Precious Plastic brick model 2.0 should be) ! And to have a perfect knowledge of where we need to go for the new brick model, we should focus first on discovering and analysing the existing ways plastic waste is currently incorporated into construction material (#1b). We are trying to look as wide as possible, so it can be companies compressing plastic, making pavement, mixing with concrete... Anything is worth being documented at this stage as long as some plastic waste is incorporated in the process. The research will be regularly updated on the research topic : https://community.preciousplastic.com/research/what-recycled-plastic-bricks-currently-exist-worldwide And we will try to answer these questions for all alternatives we find : 1- General description of the brick and the manufacturing process 2- Pure plastic or mix ? 3- Self locking or piling ? 4- Need additional material to link the bricks ? 5- Need additional structure to hold the walls ? 6- Need additional material to cover the bricks ? 7- Size(s) of the brick(s) ? 8- Weight(s) of the brick(s) ? 9- Price per brick ? 10- Price per kg ? 11- Price per wall ?

11:00 AM

It would be most helpful if you could answer each example with the above complementary information or link us to other alternatives that you found. You can do it by commenting on each step in the research topic or here on this Discord channel. But also feel free to drop here any other relevant information that you found about this research, like an environmental study about sandcrete block impact, a cool brick factory video or any ideas that come to your mind !

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Did Geert make it into this channel?

Yann pinned a message to this channel. 6/3/2022 11:38 AM

I am interested to know how the cost of building per sq meter is calculated? Would be nice if we have a standard excel document to reference and plug in different options to compare for this project

Joseph

Did Geert make it into this channel?

Hi, I did!

GTalsma

Hi, I did!

Nice bro!! glad to have you here. Do you have an excel sheet to calculate the cost of the building per square meter?

I have an excel sheet to calculate the cost per square meter of wall for the plastic brick. I will make a presentable version of it after this weekend and share it.

GTalsma

I have an excel sheet to calculate the cost per square meter of wall for the plastic brick. I will make a presentable version of it after this weekend and share it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsEmWXkVsP8&t

WasteAid

How to recycle waste plastic into paving tiles - WasteAid

1:54 PM

Video/Process Rory was mentioning during the meeting last week

1:55 PM

Also nice vid here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX3x0lbLACI

Gjenge Makers Ltd

How to make building paving blocks from plastic waste.

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Thanks for sharing

Joseph

Also nice vid here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX3x0lbLACI

What are the biggest set backs to that design? Of course, besides that fact that you need sand?

Interesting website to find data about innovation : https://www.engineeringforchange.org/

6:40 PM

Example with ByFusion brick : https://www.engineeringforchange.org/solutions/product/replast/

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TechDaddyTomerts

What are the biggest set backs to that design? Of course, besides that fact that you need sand?

I feel most of the set back comes from the sand. Aside that it is a scarce ressource, as not all type of sand are suitable, sand is also a very abrasive material, that could wear the extruder very quickly. I don't find much data on how regularly extruder parts need to be changed in these systems.

hmm. I see

7:48 PM

that makes sense

Hello all, I started adding some existing brick or pavement incorporating plastic waste : Ramtsilo Byblock (Byfusion) Unibrick Conceptos Plasticos (and older names : Bloqueplas & Blockarp) Planetary Ecologist and similar (Plastcam / Gjenge Makers / Zecoplast) Wasteaid and similar (FSK) You can follow that on the research topic : https://community.preciousplastic.com/research/what-recycled-plastic-bricks-currently-exist-worldwide If you come across other existing alternatives or if you find other interesting information about these presented above, please write under or comment the research topic ! Thank you !

GTalsma

I have an excel sheet to calculate the cost per square meter of wall for the plastic brick. I will make a presentable version of it after this weekend and share it.

Hey @GTalsma any update on this

Yes, my apologies. I have been very busy the last couple of days. I will have some time tomorrow to fix the excel sheet. Next week I'll have some time where I will look at other bricks.

Cool mate just checking no worries !

People: the thing we need to think about is: Are bricks the BEST way to recycle things? Or maybe a different building product? I believe in order for recycling to actually work, we need "REAL" products. Not just hair brushes and soap containers. Although, those are a great learning experience.

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4:03 PM

Bricks very well could be the best, but maybe not...

4:03 PM

any other ideas?

4:03 PM

If they are, we NEED to go FULL FORCE into developing these things! I know we all are!

4:03 PM

Thanks!

Would it be worth trying to develop a "Brick maker"?

What do you mean by a brick maker ? A whole specific machine for making bricks you mean ? I think it could make sense, either fully separate machine or working in combination with existing one (sheet-press / extruder).

5:07 PM

"Is bricks the best product ?" is a very holistic question, as it depend on a lot of factors varying depend where you are in the world or what are your beliefs. In my opinion, it is not necessarily the best, it is definitely a good one for various reasons : building is a very polluting industry, but also very demanded as world population increase and bricks can recycle a lot of plastic, an potentially dirty one. But we should still think about downsides : What to do with them in the future ? Are they as long lasting as concreate ? What to do with their constant UV degradation into microplastic ?...

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Joseph

Hey @GTalsma any update on this

Here is the excel sheet. Hopefully, it is understandable. Let me know if you have any questions.

Brick_Calculations_RPB1And2.xlsx

23.07 KB

Yann

"Is bricks the best product ?" is a very holistic question, as it depend on a lot of factors varying depend where you are in the world or what are your beliefs. In my opinion, it is not necessarily the best, it is definitely a good one for various reasons : building is a very polluting industry, but also very demanded as world population increase and bricks can recycle a lot of plastic, an potentially dirty one. But we should still think about downsides : What to do with them in the future ? Are they as long lasting as concreate ? What to do with their constant UV degradation into microplastic ?...

Ok, yes. Or maybe we develop a building material man has never known?

(edited)

Yann

What do you mean by a brick maker ? A whole specific machine for making bricks you mean ? I think it could make sense, either fully separate machine or working in combination with existing one (sheet-press / extruder).

Yes, that is what I mean

Not sure it may be functional for plastic but i believe could be a good point of start to think about plastic bricks. The path should be : 1) remove CEB soil grate; 2) add an heat element to melt plastic before press it in to the mould. https://opensourceecology.dozuki.com/c/CEB_Press It may be oversized so all machine could be scaled to 1/4 in my opinion (so maybe the melted plastic cool down faster with smaller bricks).

CEB Press

A high-performance Compresssed Earth Block press. Compresssed Earth Block building is the highest quality natural building method.

Looks great

Hey guys, does anybody know of a machine where you "put in flakes, and out comes a UV resisant brick, that is as strong as concrete and is 50% the price?"

4:20 PM

if not, let's build one

4:20 PM

I know that it will be VERY hard, but I love a good challange, it will take years, but why not start now?

4:20 PM

I'd be willing to team up with some people...most likly via the intenet

4:20 PM

I am from U.S.A Minesota

GTalsma

Here is the excel sheet. Hopefully, it is understandable. Let me know if you have any questions.

@GTalsma I felt like spreadsheeting today and I made another version

see what you think!

6:04 PM

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZGa_Kmqg5giRUttIwY7GobwPYsTGz0K_2zuD1TEgw5Y/edit#gid=1940976387

Brick Cost Calculations

Overall Assumptions Assumptions,Low Estimate,High Estimate Labour Labor Cost (Per Hour), € 1.20 , € 1.75 Material Cost of Plastic (Per Kg), € 0.15 , € 0.50 Rent Rent per month, € 300.00 , € 500.00 Extruder Cost of Extruder, € 7,000.00 , € 9,000.00 Hours before small repair,2000,3000...

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Maybe some nice inspiration https://en.waterweg.co/home they build bricks with the waste of waterways.

Waterweg | Circulaire waterpasserende bestrating van baggerspecie |...

Cool.

Can someone please tell me why we can't replicate this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmZmUBFryY&ab_channel=WODEMAYA

WODE MAYA

How A Ghanaian Man Is Building Affordable Homes With Waste Plastics!

5:02 PM

He uses 30% plastic to sand, but it's better than noting

5:03 PM

This guy started with 10X less money and resources than I had...

TechDaddyTomerts

Can someone please tell me why we can't replicate this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmZmUBFryY&ab_channel=WODEMAYA

I think we could!

6:52 PM

@GTalsma I'm interested in how this "bricks per m2" is calculated. I see that 1000000 number in the forumla but I'm not sure where it comes from

6:53 PM

Joseph

I think we could!

What's your view on burning plastic / trash for electricity? (Obviously removing the fumes) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S758wEniU0c&ab_channel=BusinessInsider (edited)

Business Insider

What Happens To NYC’s 3.2 Million Tons Of Trash | Big Business

Joseph

Click to see attachment 🖼️

It is 1m2 in mm2. So it is 1m2(in mm2) / ( Length(mm) * Hight(mm))

7:41 PM

Th excel sheet looks great! The pie charts give a great view of where the costs come from.

7:43 PM

Do you know how much the labor and plastic costs in Nigeria? Would be interesting to see how much the brick would actually cost in Nigeria with today's prices

GTalsma

Do you know how much the labor and plastic costs in Nigeria? Would be interesting to see how much the brick would actually cost in Nigeria with today's prices

Yes the labor is about 1-2 USD per day I believe for minimum wage

7:55 PM

Plastic depends on type/ quality of course but it's similar prices to Europe actually

7:55 PM

I can easily get exact numbers though

TechDaddyTomerts

What's your view on burning plastic / trash for electricity? (Obviously removing the fumes) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S758wEniU0c&ab_channel=BusinessInsider (edited)

Not a fan! Waste of resources.

Joseph

Not a fan! Waste of resources.

ok. could you get me some of that same info (Nigeria) for Ghana?

7:56 PM

Thanks

7:56 PM

I know the minimum wage is 1-2 dollars per hour in Ghana

Minimum wage in Nigeria is 30000 naira a month. Which comes closer to 3 to 4 euros/dollars a day (but nothing suggest brick layers are minimum wage people, in a lot of countries, they are not). (edited)

4:04 PM

Also current research about brick and construction in Nigeria suggest people are not paid par hour or per day in this industry, but per brick laid. Sometime, you buy brick/block, and the laying is included in the price.

4:05 PM

Still working on getting these exact values.

TechDaddyTomerts

Can someone please tell me why we can't replicate this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmZmUBFryY&ab_channel=WODEMAYA

Cool, that is another brick alternatives, I will add to the research topic ! This is definitely something possible, as well as other technics.

4:12 PM

I also see that in the video that don't use any fireproof or UV coating. And from the research a lot of people using this sand/plastic mix, often claim their product is fire and UV resistant, would you agree with these claims @GTalsma ?

4:19 PM

Plastic prices this is what I found for Nigeria, for PE and PP Picker to collectors : NGN100 per kg (0,23€/kg) Collectors to processors : NGN170 per kg (0,39€/kg) Shredded by processors : NGN280 per kg (0,64€/kg) Pelletized by processors : NGN500 per kg (1,14€/kg)

4:19 PM

But this is from end 2021, so it might be more now already.

Yann

I also see that in the video that don't use any fireproof or UV coating. And from the research a lot of people using this sand/plastic mix, often claim their product is fire and UV resistant, would you agree with these claims @GTalsma ?

I haven't researched it. We will have to find research to back up those claims. But I don't think it has that much effect. The sand is a filler/binder, and there is still plenty of flammable plastic in that mix. Flames can still get in direct contact with the plastic. Same for UV, to prevent microplastics you have to shield the polymers from UV radiation, which does not happen with a mix. It might be better than nothing, however, I don't think it solves those issues. But, that's what I think, we will have to find some research to confirm it.

I looked at a couple of research papers on fire resistance (a quick search and scanned the papers/conclusion). But they either say it fails the fire resistance test, or that it is a point that has to be researched further (not enough research has been done on the subject). I found nothing (yet) that says that the bricks are fire-resistant, or fire-resistant enough.

@Yann I can further back @GTalsma points on fire resistance. Adding sand does not protect from UV or Fire. However it does reduce the flames rate of burn due to less fuel:oxygen ratio. Although this is no where near enough to pass any building standards. For UV resistance you only need a few microns to block the UV, but sand alone is not enough. Plastic is purely used in this case to be the replacement for cement. The binder. If the binder is not protected then it will have the same fate as a fully plastic brick. Adding carbon however works at addressing both these issues to varying levels.

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1:43 AM

It's also important to note most building materials can catch fire. It's their rate of burn that defines if they pass or fail, and how they are integrated into the building as a whole. This is why foam insulation (PS) is located behind masonry walls and a thin aluminium layer. Alone it burns well and with toxic smoke, but it always takes more than 30min for that object to catch on fire in a normal house fire.

1:45 AM

In general, PP is much more flammable than other plastics used in construction such as PVC. PVC is inherently a self-extinguishing fire retardant material due to the abundance of chlorine in its formulation, with burning characteristics closer to that of paper, wood and straw. In contrast, PP can more closely be viewed as a solid hydrocarbon fuel and is very combustible, with burning characteristics closer to jet fuel and gasoline, as can be seen in the test results shown below. (edited)

1:46 AM

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Thank you Rory and Geert ! I assumed this was some bold claim from companies but wasn’t sure neither

I finally had some time to add on to the existing bricks research. I looked into the Recycled Plastic Brick 1.0 and 2.0 EcoBricks EasyBrick (edited)

1:28 AM

Existing_bricks_research_GTalsma_21-06.docx

19.29 KB

1:30 AM

Not sure what is the easiest. To send a .doc or to copy paste everything into discord? What do you prefer?

A .doc

GTalsma

I finally had some time to add on to the existing bricks research. I looked into the Recycled Plastic Brick 1.0 and 2.0 EcoBricks EasyBrick (edited)

Great job !! I will add them to the research module on https://community.preciousplastic.com/research

Precious Plastic Community

A series of tools for the Precious Plastic community to collaborate around the world. Connect, share and meet each other to tackle plastic waste.

4:28 PM

I also convert your document to a Gdoc, so it is easier to access : https://docs.google.com/document/d/10xkxpawJWs0-t3_XkGpIWytFY7pHPS3XmS-vDR9MyGY/edit?usp=sharing

What recycled plastic bricks currently exist worldwide

Recycled Plastic Brick 1.0 General description of the brick and the manufacturing process The recycled plastic brick is the original plastic brick designed by Precious Plastic and Recycle Rebuild. The brick is made by extruding plastic into a mould. This is done with the precious plastic extrusi...

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4:29 PM

People can read and comment, and for anyone wanting to edit, send me a message with your e-mail adress, I will add you as editor !

At first glance, the cost per square metre seems to kill the whole idea. Beyond a few "token" environmental projects, the mainstream construction industry will want to stick with proven, conventional materials that allow multi-storey buildings. Land availability is after all, a big issue for the low-cost housing backlog. So, in Africa, specifically, the target market should be considered carefully. In the shanty towns, you're basically trying to provide a better (possibly more cost-effective) alternative to wood and corrugated iron sheets. If the people had better or more cost-effective alternatives, they probably would be using it already. Offering better fire protection could be a game-changer. But then, land availability is again the main problem. The main reason fires spread so quickly and do so much damage is because the shacks are always built ridiculously close to each other. That won't change. So, the main questions are: A) Can we make it significantly cheaper? B) Can we provide practical fire retardation?

We would all like waste plastic to be used for this, but if plastic is genuinely not the best solution, so be it. A truck-mounted, clay 3D-printer can make a standardized, six-room house in 24 hours. And we are literally talking about tens of millions of households. At least I hope we are. (Assuming we're really serious about this.)

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZbHv3oN77/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Looks interesting. Instagram doesn't allow visitors to see user bios. Where are they based?

In Malawi apparently.

https://www.ramtsilo.com/ This is the company that supposedly got approval from the South African Bureau Of Standards (which is like CE certification for the Southern African region) and distribution through Builders (a major hardware store chain) for their plastic bricks. Their site says it's "fire retardant." No specifications listed. No prices either. Worth looking into.

Plastic Brick | Free State | Ramtsilo Manufacturing & Construction

Home of the Plastibrick. Brick Manufacturers, including cement bricks in stock and maxi as well as interlocking and bevil pavers. Ramtsilo manufacturing and Construction has it all

Yes, they are one of the first one I found looking for plastic brick makers. It seems they are mixing 30% or mixed shredded plastic into classic aggregate.

Does the compression strength of industrial machines used make a difference to the load-bearing capacity of the bricks? That kind of determines if micro-manufacturing is viable. All of which influences the price, with or without government / NGO subsidies.

P.S.: (And I say "supposedly" because I've heard contradictory things about certification. And business ethics is pretty abysmal in South Africa. So, excuse me for being sceptical. That being said, I think safety and quality standards in our construction industry are relatively good, compared to other parts of the World. Over here, apartment buildings and shopping malls that spontaneously collapse are very rare occurrences. Unlike some other places I know about.)

Hey guys, I read all the massages in this channel. Thanks for all the documents and researched shared.

Yann

Hello all, I started adding some existing brick or pavement incorporating plastic waste : Ramtsilo Byblock (Byfusion) Unibrick Conceptos Plasticos (and older names : Bloqueplas & Blockarp) Planetary Ecologist and similar (Plastcam / Gjenge Makers / Zecoplast) Wasteaid and similar (FSK) You can follow that on the research topic : https://community.preciousplastic.com/research/what-recycled-plastic-bricks-currently-exist-worldwide If you come across other existing alternatives or if you find other interesting information about these presented above, please write under or comment the research topic ! Thank you !

http://pedregal.co.cr From Costa Rica has a wide range of plastic bricks, pavers, and similar products.

7:41 PM

For example their EcoBlock technical sheet reads: "A 60 m2 house consumes approximately 545 kg of recycled plastic."

The company shown in the YT video a bit up this channel : http://www.nelplastgh.com/

nelplastgh

Home

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11:36 AM

[The company currently employs 79 workers as direct employees] !!!

Their website is really slow - at least for me.

2:48 AM

I can barely get through the website

2:48 AM

But great link! Thanks!

Does a 3D model of the Precious Plastic Brick exist? I'd like to experiment with 3D-printing it for landscaping. (I don't have an injection molding machine, and I do have recycled printer filament.)

Same!

If anyone who makes the bricks can measure and send me dimensions or photos from each angle on a cutting mat or similar graphing, I can build a model and share it here for 3D printing - that would be a decent standardized product for large-scale pellet printers using recycled stock,

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I don't have bricks yet

@Smarterer - sorry, I have it as an obj. Is that ok?

3x1-brick.obj

15.53 KB

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That should work great for most 3D print slicers, I believe. . @Green Ellipsis @TechDaddyTomerts What do you think?

Hello, I watched the same videos from Africa and o can't figured out how they use sand + plastic and the screw don't get destroyed. Also does anyone know if instead of sand I use PP to build beams they can be resistance? I need to make bricks and beams (2mts 12cm 12cm)

Smarterer

That should work great for most 3D print slicers, I believe. . @Green Ellipsis @TechDaddyTomerts What do you think?

I think that should work.

3:08 PM

thanks

Oscar Cornejo

Hello, I watched the same videos from Africa and o can't figured out how they use sand + plastic and the screw don't get destroyed. Also does anyone know if instead of sand I use PP to build beams they can be resistance? I need to make bricks and beams (2mts 12cm 12cm)

Yes, it makes more sense to continue the discussion here

3:14 PM

"How do you plan to use them ? PP has slightly better tensile strength than HDPE, but is also slightly more rigid (and then brittle). Compression wise, from testing that have been done on bricks, PP has better properties (around 200 N/mm2 for PP to 80 N/mm2 for HDPE) But this will vary a lot depending on your source, cleanliness, process etc..."

3:16 PM

From the value you gave in the other channel, it seems that you reach 14 N/mm2 in compression for your HDPE+sand beam, which seems much lower than pure HDPE, but that might also be the beam making process. Did you compare it to pure HDPE beams ? (edited)

Smarterer

That should work great for most 3D print slicers, I believe. . @Green Ellipsis @TechDaddyTomerts What do you think?

It will work for ultimaker for sure.

Yann

From the value you gave in the other channel, it seems that you reach 14 N/mm2 in compression for your HDPE+sand beam, which seems much lower than pure HDPE, but that might also be the beam making process. Did you compare it to pure HDPE beams ? (edited)

If I make then from full of HDPE the beam won't bend? Cause it should be strong enough to carry a entire plant of dragon fruit

4:05 PM

Those are the bricks I've made manually

Do you intend to have only compression on your beam or also bending ? I could see sand improving compression properties (but not sure), though I am pretty sure it decrease traction properties and bending is a mix of traction (outside the bend) and compression (inside), then the weakest between the two will determine the rupture point. If you put sand, you can expect your bending properties to be very weak, and any pure plastic type will be better.

1

4:15 PM

If you do bricks to pile them, then it can be different, as you will have only compression on each individual bricks, and then you can compare how much better compression properties the sand is giving to the brick (we intend to do some samples on that), and compare it to how much heavier the whole wall will be (as sand will increase the weight of each individual brick).

4:26 PM

The beam need to replace this

Yann

Do you intend to have only compression on your beam or also bending ? I could see sand improving compression properties (but not sure), though I am pretty sure it decrease traction properties and bending is a mix of traction (outside the bend) and compression (inside), then the weakest between the two will determine the rupture point. If you put sand, you can expect your bending properties to be very weak, and any pure plastic type will be better.

Thanks Yan, I will upload a photo of a mini beam and a brick soon

4:36 PM

4:37 PM

There was some test with compression but 75% sand and 25% of HDPE

O have also a small factory in Peru so of you have any questions about how to wash the plastic and dry it, o may can help ;)

4:46 PM

Oscar Cornejo

Click to see attachment 🖼️

Cool to see!

1

Guys I made a brick 100% plastic, I will let you know I it went with the pressure and tomorrow I will make a beam 2mts x 12cm x 12cm, does anyone has an idea of how strong they are?

11:00 PM

Oscar Cornejo

Guys I made a brick 100% plastic, I will let you know I it went with the pressure and tomorrow I will make a beam 2mts x 12cm x 12cm, does anyone has an idea of how strong they are?

Amazing, I am really interested to know how the sand is changing compression properties !

11:05 PM

Saying how strong they will be is very difficult. We made some tensile test on extruded HDPE and PP beam, and we could expect between 60% and 80% of virgin plastic properties, as it will depend a lot how dense your beam is.

11:06 PM

But roughly I would say a 12x12cm HDPE beam section might be as strong as a 8x8 pine beam section (if that is a comparison that helps ?).

2

That was the thesis of my friend

11:08 PM

"Mechanical properties of 1/10 scale brick made from recycled plastic type HDPE (high density polyethylene) and coarse sand", which objective was to determine the mechanical properties of brick at 1/10 scale made of recycled plastic type HDPE (high density polyethylene) mixed with coarse sand, being a descriptive research and experimental design, with a sample of 16 units, which concluded that among the 1/10 scale bricks made with base of recycled plastic type HDPE (high density polyethylene) with coarse sand, with 25% has a resistance of 74.34 (Kg / cm2), 50% with coarse sand 85.14 (Kg / cm2) and 75% with coarse sand with a resistance 97.32 (Kg / cm2)

11:08 PM

Those outcomes

Oscar Cornejo

Guys I made a brick 100% plastic, I will let you know I it went with the pressure and tomorrow I will make a beam 2mts x 12cm x 12cm, does anyone has an idea of how strong they are?

great job!

Oscar Cornejo

"Mechanical properties of 1/10 scale brick made from recycled plastic type HDPE (high density polyethylene) and coarse sand", which objective was to determine the mechanical properties of brick at 1/10 scale made of recycled plastic type HDPE (high density polyethylene) mixed with coarse sand, being a descriptive research and experimental design, with a sample of 16 units, which concluded that among the 1/10 scale bricks made with base of recycled plastic type HDPE (high density polyethylene) with coarse sand, with 25% has a resistance of 74.34 (Kg / cm2), 50% with coarse sand 85.14 (Kg / cm2) and 75% with coarse sand with a resistance 97.32 (Kg / cm2)

This is really good data, thank you so much for sharing that !

9:51 AM

Do you know if this is a public thesis and if it is possible to read it somewhere ? (even if that is in Spanish or another language)

Mortar Art (Melb, AU)

Click to see attachment 🖼️

Can you tell us more about this ? Is is a mould you created to make bricks ?

Yann

Can you tell us more about this ? Is is a mould you created to make bricks ?

Yes. I made it mostly from off the shelf plate metal from a local supplier.

10:17 AM

You could replicate this with a drill press if you're able to get plates cut to length, with square ends.

1

10:18 AM

As the image suggests, I'm also heating the mould internally, and plan to compress it mechanically. Using compression was an original requirement for me because I want very smooth outer surfaces for the bricks, so that when I use them as formwork, I get smooth concrete when I demould the building.

1

I was also wondering why there was concrete in the middle of the bricks, but it make sense if you want to use them as formwork. I guess you plan to use the bricks as it would be more reusable than wooden frame ?

10:22 AM

And how do you put the plastic into the mould ? Is it coming from an extruder or you are melting the flakes directly in the mould ?

Yann

I was also wondering why there was concrete in the middle of the bricks, but it make sense if you want to use them as formwork. I guess you plan to use the bricks as it would be more reusable than wooden frame ?

Yes. Formply is one of the biggest waste products in the construction industry.

10:27 AM

And there's a global shortage of timber.

Yann

And how do you put the plastic into the mould ? Is it coming from an extruder or you are melting the flakes directly in the mould ?

I've so far just placed waste 3D prints, including shreds, into the mould.

10:28 AM

I have access to an extruder, and plan to extrude into the heated mould as well.

10:29 AM

But for early experiments, simply compressing plastic in the mould works. I also am implying with the design that you could make it taller ... so as to basically use it like a bin.

2

10:30 AM

With a compression function.

10:30 AM

To reduce the bulk of onsite recycling.

Yann

Do you know if this is a public thesis and if it is possible to read it somewhere ? (even if that is in Spanish or another language)

It's not Public, but I will ask my fella if he can send me his thesis. Here is the link from the University, is in Spanish. http://repositorio.upao.edu.pe/handle/20.500.12759/5638

Mortar Art (Melb, AU)

As the image suggests, I'm also heating the mould internally, and plan to compress it mechanically. Using compression was an original requirement for me because I want very smooth outer surfaces for the bricks, so that when I use them as formwork, I get smooth concrete when I demould the building.

So, when you use mechanical compression it helps you only to get smooth or it build a better and stronger brick?

Oscar Cornejo

So, when you use mechanical compression it helps you only to get smooth or it build a better and stronger brick?

I'm not sure about strength. Possibly it would. Mechanically it may produce a stronger formwork, as it would result in tighter tolerances between the bricks so less deflection from the liquid mass of concrete.

5:13 PM

It also allows you to produce bricks without a shredder or extruder.

2

5:13 PM

Just put whole plastic parts in the box.

Mortar Art (Melb, AU)

It also allows you to produce bricks without a shredder or extruder.

I may have missed something, is it possible to build a brick without a shredder or an extrusion? Just one "hot box"??

2:02 AM

That would be amazing

TechDaddyTomerts

I may have missed something, is it possible to build a brick without a shredder or an extrusion? Just one "hot box"??

Yes.

4:05 AM

Though it's not efficient with my current tool.

4:05 AM

If you had denser plastics, it would be.

4:06 AM

Or a separate receptical to heat the plastics in, before transferrring them to the mould.

4:06 AM

My implication is that you could make the tool taller, and therefore put more plastic parts in it.

4:06 AM

The taller portion could be a thinner steel plate because it more or less is a funnel.

ok, cool.

4:21 AM

i'lll think about that

You could do the same with the laser cut / welded design as well.

4:29 AM

But I'd suggest that if you're intent on rapid production it may not be the most efficient method.

Ok, what do you think would be the more effecient way to mass produce bricks?

Well it depends on your budget really.

1

8:10 AM

But I think the fastest way would be a high flow extruder filling pre-heated moulds, with an automatic (pneumatic?) ram ready to compress the bricks.

8:10 AM

And about a dozen moulds so you could have a bunch of them heating and cooling at the same time.

8:11 AM

But I've not got to that point in the project so I haven't really tested my theories yet.

8:12 AM

However, alternatively, if you could distribute a bunch of "no tool" moulds to sources of waste plastic and provide instruction to on site staff on how to use the tool, you might be able to get the bricks made for you.

8:12 AM

By "no tool" I mean no shredder / extruder.

great ideas. Thanks!

Hello everyone do you think that i extrude a beam with a hole inside it can be as strong as one without a hole?

6:22 PM

It Will reduce resistance?

Hello everyone, I wonder if PVC has the same strength and porperties as PP, because the beam made of HDPE and Pp was extremely strong same as the brick

10:41 PM

10:42 PM

PVC I think can be tricky to work with due to fumes.

https://blockto-plus.fr/

admin5855

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Oscar Cornejo

It Will reduce resistance?

Having a hollow beam will definitely reduce your resistance for compression and shearing, as you have less material. Hollow section are interesting when bending is involved as only the material on the outside is stressed and this makes the beam lighter (therefore less stress due to its own weight). Hollow section are also harder to produce as they could shrink around your inner mould piece, for your application I believe full section makes more senses.

1

Oscar Cornejo

Hello everyone, I wonder if PVC has the same strength and porperties as PP, because the beam made of HDPE and Pp was extremely strong same as the brick

PVC should have a similar resistance as HDPE, as well as generally better UV properties, but as Mortar Art said, this is very toxic to melt.

Mortar Art (Melb, AU)

PVC I think can be tricky to work with due to fumes.

Thanks

so I shouldn't use PVC?

Yann

Having a hollow beam will definitely reduce your resistance for compression and shearing, as you have less material. Hollow section are interesting when bending is involved as only the material on the outside is stressed and this makes the beam lighter (therefore less stress due to its own weight). Hollow section are also harder to produce as they could shrink around your inner mould piece, for your application I believe full section makes more senses.

Thank you very much Yann and Mortar, i should take care of PVC because of the fumes, thanks a lot

Hello everyone

, I've been extruding some beams til yesterday that we had an accident because we tried to build beams out of PET and it was quiet dangerous (so be careful). I have plenty of HDPE, so we are going back to a safe material. Do you know the exact speed that should have the screw? My engine has 10kw, 1750rpm, its pulley 4 inch, the gearbox 40/1 and it's pulley 9.5 inch, so the speed of the screw is 18.4rpm. is that ok? Because we think that the process is to slow

Oscar Cornejo

Hello everyone

, I've been extruding some beams til yesterday that we had an accident because we tried to build beams out of PET and it was quiet dangerous (so be careful). I have plenty of HDPE, so we are going back to a safe material. Do you know the exact speed that should have the screw? My engine has 10kw, 1750rpm, its pulley 4 inch, the gearbox 40/1 and it's pulley 9.5 inch, so the speed of the screw is 18.4rpm. is that ok? Because we think that the process is to slow

I do not know the answer to your questions. But could I ask what made it dangerous?

the plastic flew out with a lot of pressure and i almost got burn.

oof

2:35 PM

ok

2:35 PM

do you know why that happened?

Apparently the temperature and the pressure were too high.

ok

2:37 PM

is PET not easy to use?

2:38 PM

did you dry it before hand

How faster is your screw bro? I didn't dry it, could be that

2:38 PM

Oscar Cornejo

How faster is your screw bro? I didn't dry it, could be that

I do not have an extrusion

2:39 PM

lol

Oscar Cornejo

How faster is your screw bro? I didn't dry it, could be that

Ah yes, could've been caused by gases (water vapour) expanding in the screw.

9:11 AM

Blocked out my basic design for a brick pressing tool.

2

1

9:11 AM

I intend for this to be able to attach and detach to the mould very quickly.

https://polycare.de/en/products/polyblocks

Polyblocks

A new way of building that everybody will enjoy. Polyblocks are designed specifically for Empowerment, Sustainability, Affordability and Livability.

Guys, how do you do to take the beams out of the molds but in a smooth way, cause it take a lot of time for me

3:07 AM

Oscar Cornejo

Guys, how do you do to take the beams out of the molds but in a smooth way, cause it take a lot of time for me

have you tried making shorter beams? i know its not ideal but its generally easier

Carolina

have you tried making shorter beams? i know its not ideal but its generally easier

I've tried with smaller ones and it's way much easier

Oscar Cornejo

I've tried with smaller ones and it's way much easier

Since you have bigger machinery you could look into continuous extrusion

1

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ci3xh5SjjJY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Carolina

Since you have bigger machinery you could look into continuous extrusion

I was thinking about that but it seems to be much more complicated

Very interesting video https://youtu.be/EPmZmUBFryY

WODE MAYA

How A Ghanaian Man Is Building Affordable Homes With Waste Plastics!

3

2

Carolina

Very interesting video https://youtu.be/EPmZmUBFryY

They made a full house with their bricks using extrusion and an hydraulic press also the tiles outside are made using the same method! They use 70% sand in their process

where do they get the sand?

1:28 AM

I have watched the video muiltiple times...but I do not know where they get it

I don't think they extract it themselves, then you can buy it in pretty much every construction material shop/distributor.

ok

https://instagram.com/stories/thecarbon_fusion/2944509410518490361?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

Sand is widely used in construction. In concrete mixes, as a bedding for a foundation etc.

Carolina

They made a full house with their bricks using extrusion and an hydraulic press also the tiles outside are made using the same method! They use 70% sand in their process

Thanks for sharing, I would never have thought of mixing with sand. Is anyone at Precious Plastic seeing enough value in it so as to add pavement tiles to the existing product line so far?

TechDaddyTomerts

Would it be worth trying to develop a "Brick maker"?

I am actually working on a classic concrete brick block/pavment machine in order to convert it to a prototype of sand + plastic machine, (or any substitute for sand). Once the classic machine will be finished we will try to find some solutions for using only recycled products. If you have any suggestions we can try and give you the feedbacks.

3

TechDaddyTomerts

any other ideas?

Machines for roof tales with sand + plastic have been requested from few customers from Africa. It’s a good alternative for brick, easier to produce, and less constraints

10:42 PM

I should be able to find the videos he sent me

ok cool

https://youtu.be/ckWqR1JD158

Earth Titan

6 Roof and Pavement Tiles from Plastic Waste

2

thanks

hi, I am new here so I would like to ask you some questions (if possible)

4:46 PM

can your machines recycle every kind of plastic?

fecarian

https://youtu.be/ckWqR1JD158

is this one of the open source machines, that precious plastic sells?

4:52 PM

which machine should I buy to recycle plastics used in construction? Or to simply create filaments to resell to manufacteurers?

Sora_KH

which machine should I buy to recycle plastics used in construction? Or to simply create filaments to resell to manufacteurers?

If your plastic is in big pieces a shredder will be required, then regarding to what you want you should get also informations about the extruder

Ziad

Thanks for sharing, I would never have thought of mixing with sand. Is anyone at Precious Plastic seeing enough value in it so as to add pavement tiles to the existing product line so far?

i remember from some years now, reports of sand being mixed with plastic in order to create structural material, the skepticism/criticism toward this direction being the non recyclability of the final product. It is not possible to recycle plastic again if mixed with sand. So the plastic actually kinda "bonds" with the earth/environment, as i understand it similarly as microplastics are part of the ecosystem as they can be found everywhere on earth. I understand the usability of this process i am skeptical myself though if it is a "good" way to go on...

spiros nik

i remember from some years now, reports of sand being mixed with plastic in order to create structural material, the skepticism/criticism toward this direction being the non recyclability of the final product. It is not possible to recycle plastic again if mixed with sand. So the plastic actually kinda "bonds" with the earth/environment, as i understand it similarly as microplastics are part of the ecosystem as they can be found everywhere on earth. I understand the usability of this process i am skeptical myself though if it is a "good" way to go on...

It kind of makes sense but then do we really need to recycle roof tiles if they can last like forever? We might want to recondition pavement tiles by adding a new layer on top where they tend to wear out but that's about it as far as I can tell. Anyway, it is not just about getting back the plastic but about re-purpose rather. If the plastic-sand material can be molten again then it can be molded into new shapes and reused as new pavement and roof tiles if need be. Else, if that's not possible then I wonder why.

I think this technique might be better than what we have now https://youtu.be/pvBY0IfgeYo

Business Insider

How Bricks Made From Milk Cartons Can Help Typhoon Victims | World ...

It seems a tought one, when It becomes a bigger and bigger equipments situation

Mattia

I think this technique might be better than what we have now https://youtu.be/pvBY0IfgeYo

it requires way bigger machinery than what we have, starting by the machine that "blends" and creates this pulp that separated the plastic+ aluminium from the cardboard, lets not even talk about the washing and the extruder they use, its a complete different scale (edited)

If you want to make bricks at scale, probably the best is a rotary table with cooling at each station that rotates ~12moulds around all the time and extrudes into one, while the other 11 have time to cool down the bricks. Just needs like a 30-50kW cooling unit ;D

Good idea Fritz !

We are building a rotary brick machine as you describe but we will use a heat press instead. We will use a variety of plastics with diff melt temps. The way ours will work is an operator loads a weigh amount of shredded. The pile is compressed in a mold then gets manually rotated between heated plates. The final spot on the rotation is a cooling fan and the brick drops down our bricks need some texture as they will be covered in mud or stucco to build homes in Kenya.

1:30 AM

Plan is 2 bricks per minute with a single worker

1

fecarian

https://youtu.be/ckWqR1JD158

oh please not that machine again. that is made here in the Philippines. As I have posted before my experience with it. It smells awful, uses a full tank of LPG gas 15 kilos per batch, and the result is a rubbery, greasy stinky block. My sample piece smelled so bad in the car after I picked it up, we had to dispose it in a roadside rest area trash can.

https://youtu.be/4yziZQjEY4w 3 piece brick mold with the quick connect. the bottom groove is nearly impossible to release on a 2 part mold. so we have the bottom slide out when we punch the brick out of the mold and here it is. 90 seconds to de-mold the first attempt. With practice it could be faster.

Precious Plastic Philippines

recycled brick plastic

Fritz @easymoulds

If you want to make bricks at scale, probably the best is a rotary table with cooling at each station that rotates ~12moulds around all the time and extrudes into one, while the other 11 have time to cool down the bricks. Just needs like a 30-50kW cooling unit ;D

Fritz I’ve tried to do bricks in big scale but my team failed, cause we had to compete against the price of the normal brick

we’ve made extremely strong beams, I will upload the photos and videos if you want. (edited)

Fritz @easymoulds

If you want to make bricks at scale, probably the best is a rotary table with cooling at each station that rotates ~12moulds around all the time and extrudes into one, while the other 11 have time to cool down the bricks. Just needs like a 30-50kW cooling unit ;D

also, the best way to produce bricks in scale is using an inyection machine: (edited)

https://youtu.be/23f0onxQ4TI

Noticias Caracol

Caleño crea emprendimiento que convierte residuos de plástico en ca...

3:04 AM

You can take a look

Oscar Cornejo

Fritz I’ve tried to do bricks in big scale but my team failed, cause we had to compete against the price of the normal brick

we’ve made extremely strong beams, I will upload the photos and videos if you want. (edited)

No idea if bricks form plastic would make any sense economic/ecologic tbh - just adding technical ideas here^^

not sure if this is the right place I actually have a PP question. Has anyone tried to extrude a 80/20 style t slot from PP instead of aluminum? I am looking for a unique take on building a CO2 laser cutter frame, and some woodworking supports, from recycled plastic. Also is there a good place in North America to get lot cost PP or HDPE that can be shredded? Have people bought full hoppers from recyclers?

hurlman81

not sure if this is the right place I actually have a PP question. Has anyone tried to extrude a 80/20 style t slot from PP instead of aluminum? I am looking for a unique take on building a CO2 laser cutter frame, and some woodworking supports, from recycled plastic. Also is there a good place in North America to get lot cost PP or HDPE that can be shredded? Have people bought full hoppers from recyclers?

Not that I'm aware of but alternatively one might be able to route out the slots from an extruded beam. But extruding a profile like this is a bit risky for things getting stuck

3:45 AM

The first time I saw the quick connect for the Bricks I thought it was really great, but then I observed someone attempting to make a brick and it started overflowing from the quick connection and then caused the process to fail. Heres what I use for a connection. It doesn't leak and keeps the plastic from leaking from the nozzle. It might cost a little more to do but it's good for peace of mind.

I'm not sure if I should bother posting this but for whoever is reading, this might be a gem. Here's my extrusion times with materials. There's a bit of time savings when you stick in some LDPE. For this process, LDPE was placed in hopper and run until it's low and can almost see extrusion screw and then place in HDPE. This is mostly to give a gradient effect for coloring. Why stick in LDPE? Honestly, the caps are labeled as HDPE but I say they are LDPE because the material moves and feels like LDPE. HDPE is sourced from PET water bottle caps (aqua if you're in Indonesia) and the LDPE is from water jugs (aqua galon). Typically water jugs use LDPE, but like I said, they label it as HDPE.

2

How to get a brick mold? (´ ω `♡) Nvm internet searches are a blessing (edited)

adrianna

How to get a brick mold? (´ ω `♡) Nvm internet searches are a blessing (edited)

Well, you can buy one or build one. You can go here and download the files: https://community.preciousplastic.com/how-to/brick-mould You can buy from the Bazaar. You can bring the files to a laser cutting or cnc shop and cut the pieces and then weld it together or have someone else weld it for you. So there's some options.

Brick mould

Recycled plastic has the potential to replace more conventional and wasteful building materials such as hollow blocks. In this How-to, you will learn how to assemble the mould for the extruded plastic brick, ready for production. This brick was developed with the Extrusion Pro machine. Learn here how to build it:

1

Ben - Precious Plastic Ciledug

I'm not sure if I should bother posting this but for whoever is reading, this might be a gem. Here's my extrusion times with materials. There's a bit of time savings when you stick in some LDPE. For this process, LDPE was placed in hopper and run until it's low and can almost see extrusion screw and then place in HDPE. This is mostly to give a gradient effect for coloring. Why stick in LDPE? Honestly, the caps are labeled as HDPE but I say they are LDPE because the material moves and feels like LDPE. HDPE is sourced from PET water bottle caps (aqua if you're in Indonesia) and the LDPE is from water jugs (aqua galon). Typically water jugs use LDPE, but like I said, they label it as HDPE.

Thanks for sharing so valuable information, as always We aré about yo sent to láser our first kid of moulds for bricks, and for the information that i come accross, i see there Is a twiks that fan be Made for the moulds, so 1-I see a tolerance of .5 mm to the láser files, would you considered to be the most acurrate to the welding part? Im using 3/16 metal 4.76 mm and adjust to the current tolerances We aré considering your system to clap the mould instead of Easy release nozzle 2- i see some Pagés that advided that some parts should be modified to have a better flow of the Plastic into the brick, have you come accross with this modification or have any advice? ( I just would like to work on our first versión with best results, prior to make our own revisión of mold when the second batch come up) Thanks in advance Open to hear any other opinions of the subjet

Ruben

Thanks for sharing so valuable information, as always We aré about yo sent to láser our first kid of moulds for bricks, and for the information that i come accross, i see there Is a twiks that fan be Made for the moulds, so 1-I see a tolerance of .5 mm to the láser files, would you considered to be the most acurrate to the welding part? Im using 3/16 metal 4.76 mm and adjust to the current tolerances We aré considering your system to clap the mould instead of Easy release nozzle 2- i see some Pagés that advided that some parts should be modified to have a better flow of the Plastic into the brick, have you come accross with this modification or have any advice? ( I just would like to work on our first versión with best results, prior to make our own revisión of mold when the second batch come up) Thanks in advance Open to hear any other opinions of the subjet

I welded this up, I'd put a bit more space for welds among the tabs. Other than that, scaling it down by 0.2 would help extruder issues.

Ruben

Thanks for sharing so valuable information, as always We aré about yo sent to láser our first kid of moulds for bricks, and for the information that i come accross, i see there Is a twiks that fan be Made for the moulds, so 1-I see a tolerance of .5 mm to the láser files, would you considered to be the most acurrate to the welding part? Im using 3/16 metal 4.76 mm and adjust to the current tolerances We aré considering your system to clap the mould instead of Easy release nozzle 2- i see some Pagés that advided that some parts should be modified to have a better flow of the Plastic into the brick, have you come accross with this modification or have any advice? ( I just would like to work on our first versión with best results, prior to make our own revisión of mold when the second batch come up) Thanks in advance Open to hear any other opinions of the subjet

I ordered my brick moulds already welded (also missing all the reinforcements!!!) I thought the builder knew what they were doing but it seems an employee in charge took off mid job. There are some flow issues but I am trying to find a happy medium because of how my moulds are not reinforced, this is something i need to fix soon. If they were reinforced, I could probably extrude more into the mould to help fill things out.

lovebird

I welded this up, I'd put a bit more space for welds among the tabs. Other than that, scaling it down by 0.2 would help extruder issues.

Ty Let see how It responds

Ben - Precious Plastic Ciledug

I ordered my brick moulds already welded (also missing all the reinforcements!!!) I thought the builder knew what they were doing but it seems an employee in charge took off mid job. There are some flow issues but I am trying to find a happy medium because of how my moulds are not reinforced, this is something i need to fix soon. If they were reinforced, I could probably extrude more into the mould to help fill things out.

I'll try going from learning with single size, and size It Up slowly

Ruben

I'll try going from learning with single size, and size It Up slowly

Good idea. Single is a good start point and easy to dial in. Later if you do continuous production, you'll need 3 of the triple moulds. Just two is cutting the time a bit close. I have one of each moulds, so I go between double and triple mould and end up waiting because triple takes a little longer to cool down. I say 3 triple moulds because if you don't, you'll find yourself rushing quite a lot.

great space to work on them from 1 to 3 triples

Here's some layout designs I came up with. I told the client design 3 would take me almost twice as long to produce than designs 1 or 2. They ended up going with design 1. This is for a 1.5 x 2m wall

1

2:16 PM

Red - single Yellow - double Green - triple

would a wooden mold work for making plastic/sand bricks. has anybody tried?

Rj

would a wooden mold work for making plastic/sand bricks. has anybody tried?

I think I've seen some videos of someone using wood moulds. It definitely won't work if you're trying to make the precious plastic style bricks.

https://youtu.be/kB-_BBMCq1g

Insider Business

How Bricks Made From Trash Help Build Schools In Ivory Coast | Worl...

Mattia

https://youtu.be/kB-_BBMCq1g

what mixture or plastic would make a good brick with enough structural integrity to build a safe building? right now thats my biggest worry.

Rj

what mixture or plastic would make a good brick with enough structural integrity to build a safe building? right now thats my biggest worry.

This is the tricky part and is avoided by saying that these bricks are not structural. When you take this into consideration, you will find that there are plenty of architectural solutions to this, however, it might not involve plastic for the structure. So, how do you use Precious plastic bricks and build a wall for a house? There are several veriables for this, but let's say you want a plastic house in the middle of nowhere. You can use wood for beams and columns, these would be your structure, the walls are not meant to be load bearing so you would use them to simply fill the empty parts of your walls between the load bearing parts of the house. Where I live, framing is almost always reinforced concrete columns and beams and the walls are some sort of low density brick material that are covered with a layer of concrete and plaster.

4:00 PM

So now is here I mention Block Solutions. They appear to have a similar product that they produce. Interlocking recycled plastic bricks that have a very similar installation method as the precious plastic bricks. I've heard them say it can be used for load bearing, so you can build up walls and attach a roof to the top without having to worry about columns and beams. This is what I understand, but I will find out more... I'll be checking out their factory in Jakarta sometime soon.

4:03 PM

If your concern is the structural integrity of the Bricks, then you need to do testing. You need to have a production that is consistent and you can't be changing the plastic mixtures or quality a lot. Consistency will give you a more uniform product and that uniformity will help with the testing process. You can get the testing done in a lab. This is probably too much for most people, most of us here I assume just want to make cool stuff and find solutions for the things we make that might be a bit too sketchy.

I forgot to share my update in this sub-channel; https://discordapp.com/channels/586676777334865928/603882168934203412/1088362349573976064

Ben - Precious Plastic Ciledug

This is the tricky part and is avoided by saying that these bricks are not structural. When you take this into consideration, you will find that there are plenty of architectural solutions to this, however, it might not involve plastic for the structure. So, how do you use Precious plastic bricks and build a wall for a house? There are several veriables for this, but let's say you want a plastic house in the middle of nowhere. You can use wood for beams and columns, these would be your structure, the walls are not meant to be load bearing so you would use them to simply fill the empty parts of your walls between the load bearing parts of the house. Where I live, framing is almost always reinforced concrete columns and beams and the walls are some sort of low density brick material that are covered with a layer of concrete and plaster.

Hi Ben! Have you seen my project, to use bricks inspired by the Precious Plastic design as temporary formwork for concreting? It's the only legal way to use them in construction in Australia, as any material that remains in the actual structure has to pass some kind of certification.

Mortar Art (Melb, AU)

Hi Ben! Have you seen my project, to use bricks inspired by the Precious Plastic design as temporary formwork for concreting? It's the only legal way to use them in construction in Australia, as any material that remains in the actual structure has to pass some kind of certification.

Hey hey! Yep I saw it. I take it you can't build a house out of mud in Australia?

Block Solutions has a project going on in Indonesia. I'm pretty sure there's some sort of specifications for building material classifications here, finding them is another matter. It's just PP that they're using from what I understand, plus a big injection machine. I might be mistaken. Their bricks have much tighter tolerances but still use threaded rods to keep the Bricks together. The more interesting bit? They're also used structurally. Typical construction has load bearing columns and beams, it seems they don't do this which makes it interesting, now I'm not saying they make two story buildings, if they did I'm sure they'd change their method.

We can ... via performance based solutions.

5:24 AM

What that involves is testing the mud to demonstrate that it matches the performance in the standards.

5:24 AM

You have to do that on a site by site basis which is annoying.

5:25 AM

One detail you might be interested with my bricks is I had a big emphasis on tolerances in the tooling. It's why I used compression moulding. But I saw that you had some bricks.

5:25 AM

Some regular PP bricks already.

5:25 AM

That means you could build a small concrete structure. All you'd need is some very thin sheets from the sheetpress to go inside the formwork.

https://www.instagram.com/dalton_home_of_science_ (edited)

https://community.preciousplastic.com/how-to/modular-interconnecting-formwork

Modular Interconnecting Formwork

This tutorial will explain, in general terms, how to use bricks to build a formwork for construction with concrete. Formwork functions as a mould for poured mediums in the construction sector, and in this case, the bricks function as a removable and reusable tool.

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