#video on a #mechanical machine called “Blocco Mattone”, designed by Professor Roberto Mattone, RIP, which produces #compressed-earth blocks with a Lego #construction-set appearance, but for real #construction. Two rounded studs with a lot of draft (10mm tall, 38.7mm radius at top, 39.8mm radius at base) are on top of each brick, fitting into much deeper hollows in the bottom, and there’s a tongue at one end (15mm long, 40mm wide at tip, 56mm wide at base, due to the generous draft angle) and a corresponding groove at the other. There are no chamfers on the faces of the brick. The main rectangular body of the brick is 280mm × 140mm × 95mm. The stud centers are 71.5mm from the ends of the main rectangular body, and I don’t know how that’s supposed to work, since the studs in a course of bricks ought to be equidistant; maybe the hollows are larger to allow some slop. Organic material and gravel must be removed by “sieving” (riddling, I suppose; a window screen is shown being used). 6–12% portland cement. The brick press is muscle-powered; it uses a “floating mold” which can move upwards against the fixed die along with the soil within it as the movable die is pressed into it from below. A cam mechanism gradually increases the mechanical advantage toward the end of the stroke so that from 300N input force it can produce 80kN (which works out to, surprisingly, only 2MPa). By pivoting the whole mechanism onto a different cam follower, a second cam ejects the block from the top of the mold. He demonstrates a three-point bending test for fully cured blocks. I’m not a big fan of the expensive precision cylindrical movement joint used by this design, especially in an environment with sand. But I really like the idea of the interlocking blocks.
on 02024-05-09#PrintABlok #CC BY-NC files for this snap-fit #construction-set
on 02024-05-04#CNC-Kitchen Joe Larso’s #PrintABlok #construction-set with square studs on multiple sides of the bricks. The square studs are actually spring snap fasteners! Printed as separate pieces! #video
on 02024-04-03