CEB Press Performance Data Collection

Compressive Strength

Compressive Strength Results - data collection from 2010 - [1]

Block Uniformity

Data taken 4/2014 -

Block uniformity data - measurement of dimensions of bricks produced with CEB Version 6. Method: examining height of 4 corners of block to test how uniform each block is in terms of height over the brick corners.

DATA

1500 psi

• 2.96 back left
• 2.90 back right
• 2.86 front right
• 2.82 front lest
• 1/7th inch

Brick 3

• 2300 psi
• Front left - 3.55
• Front right - 3.6
• Rear left - 3.55
• Rear right - 3.64
• 1/9" difference

Brick 4

• Fl - 4.04
• Fr - 4.08
• RL - 4.11
• R&R -4.18

After 5 shims for 1/9

• Fl - 3.83
• Fr - 3.76
• Rl -3.87
• Rr- 3.77

B6

• Rl 4.23
• Rr 4.18
• Fl 4.19
• Fr 4.17

B7

• Fl 2.16
• Fr 2.16
• Rl 2.22
• Rr 2.19

B8

• Fl - 3.94
• Fr - 3.90
• Rl - 3.95
• Rr - 3.87

B9

• Fl 3.60
• Fl 3.62
• Rl 3.58
• Rr 3.65

B10

• Fl 3.77
• Fr 3.82
• Rl 3.76
• Rr 3.81

B11

• Fl 2-5/8
• Fr 2-5/8
• Rl 2-5/8
• Rr 2-11/16

Fuel Consumption

• One tank of gas, 1 gallon - lasts 1 hour on the 27 hp Power Cube, with 300 blocks produced in one hour (6 blocks per minute).
• Fuel cost - 1 cent per block assuming $3/gallon gas.

Brick Production Cost

Mechanized

• 1 cent per block for CEB press, 1 power cube - $3/hour
• 2 cents per block for tractor fuel, 2 power cubes - $6/hour
• Labor - $15/hour for tractor operator, $10/hour for brick stacker.

Total - $34 for 300 blocks - 11 cents per block

Total Labor per block - 8 cents per block

Total fuel per block assuming tractor loading - 3 cents per block

Manual Production Cost

• Total labor assuming manual digging - would require 8 people at $10/hour - $80/hr
• Total labor - 1 person stacks block on pallets - $10/hr
• $3/hour for fuel to run brick press

Total cost of producing block if using a large work crew without tractor - 31 cents/block

Conclusion: Usage of tractor loader reduces the cost of brick production by a factor of 4 compared to loading the machine manually