Sawdust/paper press for fuel.

[dedee]

I am sure there have been threads on this type of thing before.

This link might be useful

http://www.echotech.org/technical/techn ... iquete.pdf


Andy

 

[DaveL]

Andy,

I had a press for making newspaper briquettes, back in the 70's. It was a simple metal box with a pair of levers that pressed down on the top. It was only any use in the hight of summer as the time to dry them out is a problem on anything but really hot days.

Making something that uses a car jack to compress more of the water out should improve the drying time but I gave up as I ended up with shelf of damp unburnable fuel in the conservatory that I had to throw out in the end.

 

[Losos]

but I gave up as I ended up with shelf of damp unburnable fuel in the conservatory that I had to throw out in the end.

Hi Dave,
Yes, had exactly the same experience and also gave up The write up promised the world but the product was pretty useless unless you had a way of drying the bricks.

Did yours have a red box and a perforated plate to go on top of the mashed up paper :?:

 

[Gill]

Interesting, Andy. This thread might ring bells. I actually made a briquette using maple chippings, mixing it with a flour and water paste and pressing it with the bottom of a jar in a (used) tuna can. As predicted, it took ages to dry... so I popped it into the microwave for a minute. That seemed to do the trick.

The briquette hasn't been burned yet because I haven't been able to pluck up the courage to do it.

Gill

 

[Mike.C]

We have peat rights from the farm down the road, and every May or June the old farmer knocks on the door to ask if we want any,, but we never do.
Mind you the way the cost of living is going up and up we have been thinking about getting a multi fuel burning stove with a back boiler and using this free fuel :lol:

Cheers

Mike

 

[DaveL]

Did yours have a red box and a perforated plate to go on top of the mashed up paper :?:

Yes, must of been the same one!

We have peat rights from the farm down the road, and every May or June the old farmer knocks on the door to ask if we want any,, but we never do.

Well I would be using that to heat the shop, I am currently burning a supply of broken pallets and old kitchen units, all free, I just have to reduce them into wood burner sized bits.

 

[carpenteire]

I remember my dad buying one of these paper briquette making machines in the late 70s or early 80s. As children we would tear up the piles of newspaper and soak it in buckets of water, ready for compaction and air drying. My recollections are pretty similiar to those already expressed here- the briguettes took an age to dry and I think their performance in the grate was pretty disappointing (they smouldered) even if you could dry them. I think the big downfall of the whole idea is moisture content; this is evidenced by the strict moisture content required in wood pellets and other biofuels- if the MC is too high they just don't deliver. Pity though, what a great idea......

 

[jasonB]

South london Hardwoods have changed their dust/chipping collection system from bags to a machine that makes these don't think anything is added to the waste to make the particles bond but it must use a lot more pressure, you would need to sell a lot of briquettes to make it pay :wink:

Jason

 

[dickm]

Years ago there was a guy near Bedford making what were called "Strogs", short for straw logs, from the local straw surplus. Dunno what he used as a binder, but these things came in greenish lumps about 2 inches in each direction, which looked more like horse s***t than anything else apart from the real thing. I had one on my desk as a conversation piece for a while......