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-   -   DIY Sawdust pelletising presses (https://www.diybanter.com/woodworking/128134-diy-sawdust-pelletising-presses.html)

Andy Dingley November 6th 05 03:36 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.


Sam November 6th 05 04:16 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
I don't know what a pellet press looks like but maybe you can rig
something up with a hydraulic jack and some pipe. Sam


nospambob November 6th 05 08:24 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
DAGS for subject on alt.home.repair NG.

On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 14:36:52 +0000, Andy Dingley
wrote:

Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.


Robatoy November 7th 05 01:18 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:

Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.


I found that pressed sawdust logs are invariably mixed with some sort of
binder. I'm trying to understand if it is even possible to get sawdust
to stay together after a shape has been made from it...pellet, log,
whatever.
If one is going to have mix it with a binder, is a lot of pressure even
needed or can it be done passively in say, a muffin tin-like form?
Can some information be gleaned from the folks that make feed pellets?

Just mulling things over..

Is applying 'work' to the making of a pellet of sawdust in the hope of
it yielding energy when burned going to give you a positive yield?

BB November 7th 05 01:50 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 

"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:

SNIP

I found that pressed sawdust logs are invariably mixed with some sort of
binder. I'm trying to understand if it is even possible to get sawdust
to stay together after a shape has been made from it...pellet, log,
whatever.
If one is going to have mix it with a binder, is a lot of pressure even
needed or can it be done passively in say, a muffin tin-like form?
Can some information be gleaned from the folks that make feed pellets?


I believe that no binder is used in "presto-logs" - many years ago(when I
was in elementary school) I visited the Weyerhaeuser factory where they
made them - at the time they said that no binder was used only about a
teaspoon of oil to lubricate the log so it would be pushed out of the mold -
did use thousands of pounds of pressure to form them however. . .

BB



[email protected] November 7th 05 03:41 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 19:18:03 -0500, Robatoy
wrote:

In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:

Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.


I found that pressed sawdust logs are invariably mixed with some sort of
binder. I'm trying to understand if it is even possible to get sawdust
to stay together after a shape has been made from it...pellet, log,
whatever.


I think I'd start with parraffin wax.


If one is going to have mix it with a binder, is a lot of pressure even
needed or can it be done passively in say, a muffin tin-like form?
Can some information be gleaned from the folks that make feed pellets?


feed pelletization might involve some accessible technology.
definitely worth a look.




Just mulling things over..

Is applying 'work' to the making of a pellet of sawdust in the hope of
it yielding energy when burned going to give you a positive yield?



probably. there's quite a bit of energy in the sawdust, and when you
consider that this processing is saving you the work of otherwise
disposing of the stuff, you're coming out ahead- as long as the
pelletization process isn't terribly inefficient. making them one at a
time in a hydraulic press would probably count as being terribly
inefficient :)

NorthIdahoWWer November 7th 05 06:35 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
This subject was posted here last week. I had replyed that while in Germany
this summer, I toured a woodshop in which the sawdust was sent downstairs
via a central dust collector. There, it was compressed into biscuits the
size of a breakfast biscuit... about 3" dia by 1 1/2 to 2" thick. No binder
was used, only the pressure that the machine used to make them. He had a
huge pile of these and shoveled them into a wood burning stove system which
then heated the whole shop. It was a fascinating shop. I'll get around to
posting the pics on a webpage one of these days. I even brought one of the
sawdust biscuits home with me.

Will



Robatoy November 7th 05 02:40 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
In article , s
wrote:

On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 19:18:03 -0500, Robatoy
wrote:

In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:

Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.


I found that pressed sawdust logs are invariably mixed with some sort of
binder. I'm trying to understand if it is even possible to get sawdust
to stay together after a shape has been made from it...pellet, log,
whatever.


I think I'd start with parraffin wax.


I was thinking some kind of animal fat. I don't think you'd need a lot of it
either.


If one is going to have mix it with a binder, is a lot of pressure even
needed or can it be done passively in say, a muffin tin-like form?
Can some information be gleaned from the folks that make feed pellets?


feed pelletization might involve some accessible technology.
definitely worth a look.




Just mulling things over..

Is applying 'work' to the making of a pellet of sawdust in the hope of
it yielding energy when burned going to give you a positive yield?



probably. there's quite a bit of energy in the sawdust, and when you
consider that this processing is saving you the work of otherwise
disposing of the stuff, you're coming out ahead- as long as the
pelletization process isn't terribly inefficient. making them one at a
time in a hydraulic press would probably count as being terribly
inefficient :)


The size the of pellet would enter into this equation, eh?

Robatoy November 7th 05 02:41 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
In article pxxbf.21456$ip6.12279@trnddc07, "BB" wrote:

"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:

SNIP

I found that pressed sawdust logs are invariably mixed with some sort of
binder. I'm trying to understand if it is even possible to get sawdust
to stay together after a shape has been made from it...pellet, log,
whatever.
If one is going to have mix it with a binder, is a lot of pressure even
needed or can it be done passively in say, a muffin tin-like form?
Can some information be gleaned from the folks that make feed pellets?


I believe that no binder is used in "presto-logs" - many years ago(when I
was in elementary school) I visited the Weyerhaeuser factory where they
made them - at the time they said that no binder was used only about a
teaspoon of oil to lubricate the log so it would be pushed out of the mold -
did use thousands of pounds of pressure to form them however. . .

BB


No binder at all would be cool. I just assumed that something had to hold them
logs together...I will snoop around a bit more.

Andy Dingley November 7th 05 03:45 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:40:13 -0500, Robatoy
wrote:

I was thinking some kind of animal fat. I don't think you'd need a lot of it
either.


I can't face the paperwork involved with animal fats! Tallow is no
longer usable as a heating fuel (even by meat processors) it's now
regarded as chemical waste.


--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

Robatoy November 7th 05 06:23 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:40:13 -0500, Robatoy
wrote:

I was thinking some kind of animal fat. I don't think you'd need a lot of it
either.


I can't face the paperwork involved with animal fats! Tallow is no
longer usable as a heating fuel (even by meat processors) it's now
regarded as chemical waste.


Shows you what I know. I would have thought of animal fat as a 'green' product.

Andy Dingley November 7th 05 07:29 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:23:06 -0500, Robatoy
wrote:

I would have thought of animal fat as a 'green' product.


Tell that to the UK government 8-(


Odinn November 8th 05 03:09 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On 11/6/2005 7:18 PM Robatoy mumbled something about the following:
In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:


Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.



I found that pressed sawdust logs are invariably mixed with some sort of
binder. I'm trying to understand if it is even possible to get sawdust
to stay together after a shape has been made from it...pellet, log,
whatever.
If one is going to have mix it with a binder, is a lot of pressure even
needed or can it be done passively in say, a muffin tin-like form?
Can some information be gleaned from the folks that make feed pellets?

Just mulling things over..

Is applying 'work' to the making of a pellet of sawdust in the hope of
it yielding energy when burned going to give you a positive yield?



After doing some digging around on google, I've found this much out
about pellet mills.

Sawdust is run through a hammermill to bring it to some uniform size
(whatever size that is supposed to be), run through a drum dryer to
bring it down to about 10% RH. Steam heated to some specific temp that
I can't find, then pressed through a die creating 1/4in (6mm) diameter
pellets ranging from 1/2in (13mm) to 1 in (25mm) in length. They are
then cooled and screened and vacuumed before being heat sealed in bags.
No binders used at all.

Fuel cost comparison

Premium Wood Pellets Per Ton Per mm BTUs
8200 BTUs/lb. $180.00 $13.71
80% efficiency

Propane Per Gallon Per mm BTUs
90,000 BTUs/gallon $1.80 $30.80

Electric Per KWH Per mm BTUs
3415BTUs/kwh $0.10 $30.80
95% efficiency

Oil #2 Per Gallon Per mm BTUs
138,000 BTUs/gallon $1.80 $16.29
80% efficiency

Natural Gas Per MCF Per mm BTUs
100,000 BTU $1.60 $20.00

--
Odinn
RCOS #7 SENS BS ???

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never
worshiped anything but himself." -- Sir Richard Francis Burton

Reeky's unofficial homepage ... http://www.reeky.org
'03 FLHTI ........... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/ElectraGlide
'97 VN1500D ......... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/VulcanClassic
Atlanta Biker Net ... http://www.atlantabiker.net
Vulcan Riders Assoc . http://www.vulcanriders.org

rot13 to reply

Andy Dingley November 8th 05 01:59 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:09:06 -0500, Odinn
wrote:

Sawdust is run through a hammermill to bring it to some uniform size
(whatever size that is supposed to be), run through a drum dryer to
bring it down to about 10% RH. [...]


There seem to be two processses. If you're a "pellet factory" you do it
this way. If you're a sawmill or machine shop looking for disposal you
do it on the cheap. The milling is replaced by a simple screening (if
that) and the moisture/ temperature control is replaced by a few % of
wax or heavy oil binder. This puts up the price per pellet, but reduces
the capital costs. Some presses are also using recycled hydrogenated
vegetable oils (cheap) as a binder.



Odinn November 9th 05 02:45 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On 11/8/2005 7:59 AM Andy Dingley mumbled something about the following:
On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:09:06 -0500, Odinn
wrote:


Sawdust is run through a hammermill to bring it to some uniform size
(whatever size that is supposed to be), run through a drum dryer to
bring it down to about 10% RH. [...]



There seem to be two processses. If you're a "pellet factory" you do it
this way. If you're a sawmill or machine shop looking for disposal you
do it on the cheap. The milling is replaced by a simple screening (if
that) and the moisture/ temperature control is replaced by a few % of
wax or heavy oil binder. This puts up the price per pellet, but reduces
the capital costs. Some presses are also using recycled hydrogenated
vegetable oils (cheap) as a binder.


I don't think you could use such things in a pellet stove though, which
is what I thought the OP was looking for.

--
Odinn
RCOS #7 SENS BS ???

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never
worshiped anything but himself." -- Sir Richard Francis Burton

Reeky's unofficial homepage ... http://www.reeky.org
'03 FLHTI ........... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/ElectraGlide
'97 VN1500D ......... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/VulcanClassic
Atlanta Biker Net ... http://www.atlantabiker.net
Vulcan Riders Assoc . http://www.vulcanriders.org

rot13 to reply

Andy Dingley November 9th 05 02:51 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:45:41 -0500, Odinn
wrote:

I don't think you could use such things in a pellet stove though, which
is what I thought the OP was looking for.


I (I'm the OP) don't know much about pellet stoves - we don't have them
in the UK, nor a large pellet supply chain to feed them. I'm looking at
improved storage for sawdust, then selling them off as bagged wood fuel
to be hand-fed into manual woodstoves.

Uncompressed sawdust is a pain to burn in a stove (low heat output) and
I'm hoping the pellets will be easier to store too.

Morris Dovey November 10th 05 02:10 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
Andy Dingley (in ) said:

| On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:45:41 -0500, Odinn
| wrote:
|
|| I don't think you could use such things in a pellet stove though,
|| which is what I thought the OP was looking for.
|
| I (I'm the OP) don't know much about pellet stoves - we don't have
| them in the UK, nor a large pellet supply chain to feed them. I'm
| looking at improved storage for sawdust, then selling them off as
| bagged wood fuel to be hand-fed into manual woodstoves.
|
| Uncompressed sawdust is a pain to burn in a stove (low heat output)
| and I'm hoping the pellets will be easier to store too.

Andy...

You might spend a bit of time looking at DIY cigarette-making
machines. I found one that has a tobacco-packing mechanism that (I
think) could be adapted for pellet production.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html



Odinn November 10th 05 02:28 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On 11/9/2005 8:51 AM Andy Dingley mumbled something about the following:
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:45:41 -0500, Odinn
wrote:


I don't think you could use such things in a pellet stove though, which
is what I thought the OP was looking for.



I (I'm the OP) don't know much about pellet stoves - we don't have them
in the UK, nor a large pellet supply chain to feed them. I'm looking at
improved storage for sawdust, then selling them off as bagged wood fuel
to be hand-fed into manual woodstoves.

Uncompressed sawdust is a pain to burn in a stove (low heat output) and
I'm hoping the pellets will be easier to store too.


Ah, yes, you were the OP, my mistake, I was just glancing through and
didn't pay much attention (one of the problems with working 50-60 hrs a
week with a 1.5 hr commute each way).

For a normal woodstove, I would think that a small amount of paraffin or
bees wax mixed in with it and compressed would make something similar to
those fake logs (made to burn in a fireplace) I see at WalMart.

--
Odinn
RCOS #7 SENS BS ???

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never
worshiped anything but himself." -- Sir Richard Francis Burton

Reeky's unofficial homepage ... http://www.reeky.org
'03 FLHTI ........... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/ElectraGlide
'97 VN1500D ......... http://www.sloanclan.org/gallery/VulcanClassic
Atlanta Biker Net ... http://www.atlantabiker.net
Vulcan Riders Assoc . http://www.vulcanriders.org

rot13 to reply

Andy Dingley November 10th 05 01:32 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 19:10:45 -0600, "Morris Dovey"
wrote:

You might spend a bit of time looking at DIY cigarette-making
machines.


boggle

We have those in the UK.
They look like this:
http://www.roll-ups.co.uk/ishop/879/shopscr3088.html


I've actually worked on commercial fag making machines. They were huge,
ran extremely fast, but they didn't have much real compression to them.

Swingman November 10th 05 01:58 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
"Andy Dingley" wrote in message

"Morris Dovey" wrote:

You might spend a bit of time looking at DIY cigarette-making
machines.


We have those in the UK.
They look like this:
http://www.roll-ups.co.uk/ishop/879/shopscr3088.html


I've actually worked on commercial fag making machines. They were huge,
ran extremely fast, but they didn't have much real compression to them.


Damn ... that brought back memories. Ready rolled were so expensive in
England that when I worked at Heston Aircraft in the early 60's we all
rolled our own cigarettes (I made 13 pound ten shillings a week starting out
as a "Progress Chaser" on the factory floor (Expediter, here) and a _half_
pack of Players cost half a crown - you could also buy them one at a time at
a kiosk).

I had two cigarette rollers, both smaller than the one pictured above, but
one was too big to carry around and was for use at home, the other would fit
in a tobacco tin. It was a nightly thing to sit down at the kitchen table
and roll up a batch for the next day with the bigger roller.

The "cool" thing for us factory workers back then was to take a small
tobacco tin down to the factory paint shop and have it coated to your spec
to use as a shirt pocket container for tobacco, papers, and the smaller
roller for when you ran out during the day.

How times have changed ...

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/05




Morris Dovey November 11th 05 01:27 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
Andy Dingley (in ) said:

| On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 19:10:45 -0600, "Morris Dovey"
| wrote:
|
|| You might spend a bit of time looking at DIY cigarette-making
|| machines.
|
| boggle
|
| We have those in the UK.
| They look like this:
|
http://www.roll-ups.co.uk/ishop/879/shopscr3088.html
|
|
| I've actually worked on commercial fag making machines. They were
| huge, ran extremely fast, but they didn't have much real
| compression to them.

DAGS for "Premier Supermatic". I think these are made in Canada - and
if you overload 'em and use real muscle, they'll produce a cigarette
so solid that it won't burn.

These are 'compress and inject' machines that insert a cylindrical
pellet of tobacco into a manufactured paper tube - not the same
approach as that taken with the 'roller' machines.

I don't suggest using a cigarette-maker as a fuel pellet producer -
but think that once you take a look at the mechanism, you'll see how
to make a simple (automatic, motorized) machine for making sawdust
fuel pellets. If you can't find one to examine locally, drop me an
e-mail and I'll send some pictures (but better that you should examine
one first-hand).

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html



[email protected] November 11th 05 02:39 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 

Andy Dingley wrote:
Anyone have experience of bulk sawdust disposal? I'm looking into the
possibility of a pelletising press as a way of turning useless sawdust
into a storable and possibly saleable pellet fuel. However all the
pellet presses I've seen have been huge and expensive, intended for use
by a pellet-making plant, rather than just intermittently disposing of
waste from a small timberyard.

I also note that meat-packing screw presses are cheap and commonplace
S/H, but sawdust pellet presses are anything but. Anyone heard of a DIY
conversion process ? I'm expecting that hard-facing the screws would be
needed, but a little engineering work is no problem.


There was a product called "woodettes" made in australia during the
1960-1970 era.

These were compressed sawdust about 3" in diameter and although
cylindrical in form would break apart in about 1" thick sections.

These seemed to be just sawdust, steamed and compressed.


Luigi Zanasi November 11th 05 07:47 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:27:16 -0600, "Morris Dovey"
scribbled:

Andy Dingley (in ) said:
| I've actually worked on commercial fag making machines. They were
| huge, ran extremely fast, but they didn't have much real
| compression to them.

DAGS for "Premier Supermatic". I think these are made in Canada - and
if you overload 'em and use real muscle, they'll produce a cigarette
so solid that it won't burn.

These are 'compress and inject' machines that insert a cylindrical
pellet of tobacco into a manufactured paper tube - not the same
approach as that taken with the 'roller' machines.

I don't suggest using a cigarette-maker as a fuel pellet producer -
but think that once you take a look at the mechanism, you'll see how
to make a simple (automatic, motorized) machine for making sawdust
fuel pellets. If you can't find one to examine locally, drop me an
e-mail and I'll send some pictures (but better that you should examine
one first-hand).


Andy, if you can't find one, I've got two or three around somewhere. I
could send you one.

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...ct_Woodworking

[email protected] November 11th 05 11:58 PM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:27:16 -0600, "Morris Dovey"
wrote:

Andy Dingley (in ) said:

| On Wed, 9 Nov 2005 19:10:45 -0600, "Morris Dovey"
| wrote:
|
|| You might spend a bit of time looking at DIY cigarette-making
|| machines.
|
| boggle
|
| We have those in the UK.
| They look like this:
|
http://www.roll-ups.co.uk/ishop/879/shopscr3088.html
|
|
| I've actually worked on commercial fag making machines. They were
| huge, ran extremely fast, but they didn't have much real
| compression to them.

DAGS for "Premier Supermatic". I think these are made in Canada - and
if you overload 'em and use real muscle, they'll produce a cigarette
so solid that it won't burn.

These are 'compress and inject' machines that insert a cylindrical
pellet of tobacco into a manufactured paper tube - not the same
approach as that taken with the 'roller' machines.

I don't suggest using a cigarette-maker as a fuel pellet producer -
but think that once you take a look at the mechanism, you'll see how
to make a simple (automatic, motorized) machine for making sawdust
fuel pellets. If you can't find one to examine locally, drop me an
e-mail and I'll send some pictures (but better that you should examine
one first-hand).



another machine that might serve to provide some inspiration but isn't
likely to be directly convertible to a pelletizer is a ceramist's pug
mill.

[email protected] December 9th 05 02:54 AM

DIY Sawdust pelletising presses
 
Hi, one guy locally used to make wood pellets for the stoves. He was buying
shavings from the sawmills that were dressing kiln dry lumber. He had to
run them through a hog to get them finer. Many were too dry to work
properly so he would wet them down a little with a garden hose. He had an
old feed pellet machine. Many feed mills have some old ones in the corner
but when the dies get worn out, the holes are too big thus reducing the
space of solid metal between the holes and they will break easy. These are
a drum full of small holes with a roller on the inside at the bottom which
squeezes the wood particles through the die. If I remember right the dies
were worth around $6,000 10 yrs ago. He did not use any additive and he did
not heat the wood particles, just the heat created from compression was
enough to melt the resins so binding would happen.

We did have a sawmill that had built a log plant, they used the hardwood
chips from their sawmill, hog them, dry them and then press them in a die.
It would compressed around 12 inches of fine wood particles into 1/2" and a
lot of heat was created from this compression. The outfeed was about 40 ft
long to allow cooling so they would not break up. There was no additives of
any kind. If you broke the logs into the 1/2 inch pieces they worked fine
in a barbecue and burned very clean. If the particles were too wet the
pressure in the die head would get so high that the head would fly apart (a
safety feature) and it sure would scare the hell out of you.

One has to factor the wood species in too. Pine has a lot of resin so it
would bind easy. Many small briquette machine were sold in the US and I
believe these were made in Finland. The market was for fireplaces in the
winter and campfires in the summer.

Have fun
Eric


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