[Stoves] Calculation help in brick making

[frank at compostlab.com]

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:16:30 +0800, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote
> <snip>
> Yeah...pack the bricks in the way your, then test them.  You could 
> make your own OMC tester with a brick layer's plumb bob and a device 
> to hold it straight.  Compact the sample in the regular brick-making 
> way, then add water.  Correlate the different penetrations to your 
> other test method.  You would soon have a line marked on the plumb bob.
> 
Sounds good - but I wonder if the optimum line on the bob will differ with
different soils? But once it is established on one soil it makes it easy for a
field test on site as the bricks are being made.  

> Because you are only doing this once you might as well continue with 
> the toilet rolls, though I think they are too long (shouldn't be 
> higher than the diameter).

I hope to do this a LOT more than once. I plan to experiment with the
procedure on this adobe building that is close to the lab and with the help
from the group fixing it and 'experts' from southern Calif. Thanks again for
the info regarding the height being equal or less than the diameter. Having
shorter cylinders could, I suppose, increase the lb/in sq. 


> 
> Hey...how about this.  Test your samples immediately with the plumb bob
> method, adding water until you get to a predetermined penetration. 
>  You do this immediately after compaction.  You should be able to 
> get useful info from the total moisture content needed to get that 
> penetration.  The more needed, the stronger it is (because it was 
> more compacted).  You have to be patient with the drops of water to 
> give them a chance to wick in properly.
> 
> Then test the densest in your paper tube method, proving it is the
> densest/strongest, them move to the whole brick test.
> 
I like this. The hammer test takes a lot of time with the type of simple
equipment I have. If the bob calibrates well I can use it to rough it in. 


Best
Frank



> Regards
> Crispin
> 
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--
Frank Shields
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