On Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:45:01 -0800, the infamous "Steve B"
scrawled the following:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 5 Dec 2009 19:54:28 -0800, the infamous "Steve B"
scrawled the following:

I have about six tons of "Windsor Wall" blocks, plus a few tons of pavers
I
have to set. The "Windsor Wall" blocks are about 12" wide, 6" deep and 6"
tall. There is a lip on one edge so one can stack them, and they form a
receedin taperedg wall. The pavers are about 6" x 8" x 2".

I need to cut a lot of them, either to make them fit, or cut into halves.

I cut a couple with a diamond blade on a Skil M77 saw, and they did good,
just a ton of dust, and a lot of time. Plus, blades are $20 per.

I can make a hydraulic press (I'm a welder) that will chomp these between
two blades, but first I would score a line on each side about 1/8" deep.
I
have seen blocks and bricks cut with a wide mason's chisel, and done a few
myself. It works good if you have a line scored, and make a good solid
hit
with a large hammer.

Has anyone had any experience with "chomping" these blocks/pavers between
two sharpened steel edges using massive hydraulic pressure to achieve
cutting force?

I've cut a dozen in half with the mason's chisel after scoring, as you
stated, but I've never tried to automate it. And I've broken brick
with a single tap from a flat-edged mason's hammer.

Either way, you'd have to score it first, then whap it soundly to cut.
Maybe have the top cutting tool come down to hold it, have two
sidecutters hit it at 60 degrees (scoring it), then lift the main
cutter to come down and cut it?

Try building a pneumatic setup, Steve. It should give you the quick
shattering whap you need to break brick. Anything else would probably
not work well. I think it relies on the vibrations through the brick
to help shatter it. I beleive that a slow, high-pressure chisel
against it would tend to crush it vs giving you a clean break.

Let us know what you end up with, OK?


I saw some videos of block splitters, and they were essentially very close
to log splitters. I'm going to try a couple of block tomorrow in the log
splitter, and see what comes of it. The only thing I can see is that I will
have to add a board on the base because it has two half rings welded on the
base to hold the log in place.

Hey, it will work or it won't.

Yeah, if you only have small mason's bricks to split, it might work.

I still think the hammer&chisel-like system would work better, with a
quick "whap" vs a steadily increasing force. Sonically enhanced,
knowwhatImean,Vern?

The Blockshear which Denis linked to is essentially just your everyday
press with some specific chisel shapes on it. It wouldn't take much
to modify a standard shear to work like that. Weld up a bead on a
piece of half inch plate, grind it to an arrowhead, add a couple shock
absorber bushings, and go.

It appears to use a standard 20T hydraulic jack, so the HF press
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=32879
at $250 (half that on sale) would be a cheap starter if you (or a
neighbor) don't already own one. If it's the neighbor's, you could
fab up stuff to hang on his unit or make 2 sets so he could have one,
too, if you're going to go this route.

For the log splitter, you'll need a little guide to hold 'em on while
you run in the ram, and something to catch the halves so they don't
break more from the drop, I guess.

Pics, please?

--
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson