If you're wondering (like I was) 100,000 Ksh is about $645 usd.

People, look at where this video comes from and who it was made for. This machine was not designed for people with running water and electricity. This was designed for people to build themselves a house to live in where they have nothing. Go watch, The Boy who Harnessed the Wind, and you will get a good idea of who this machine was made for.

If you had two machines bolted to the same board, you could load both and pull the lever on both, eliminating the need for the counterbalance and getting far more efficiency from the same number of crew.

Nobody will build Africa but Africans. It's great to see content come out of Kenya that involves manufacturing products by and for the average citizen.

I have one addition to your process that I think will help the same machine and the same number of workers make many more bricks to day. I noticed in your video that soil for a brick was added from a shovel directly from the wheelbarrow where the soil was mixed into the machine with the same large shovel needed to mix the soil. I would suggest that a box or a bucket be made that holds exactly the amount of soil required for one brick when it is filled level with the top. As soil is added, the sides can be tapped to settle the soil (probably with the back of the shovel that is being used to shovel soil out of the wheelbarrow into the box/bucket). When a little extra soil has been added, then a straight metal bar or stick is used to scrap the soil level with the top of the box or bucket. This will ensure that the same amount of soil is added to the machine every time and so make bricks that are more uniform in size. Then as soon as the brick bring pressed is removed from the machine, the soil for the next brick has already been measured and is ready to add to the machine without having to take the time to make sure the right amount of soil has been added. This allows one worker to be measuring out the soil for the next brick while the two workers working with the machine are pressing a brick With the addition of two of these boxes or buckets (which can be made of wood or a metal) and a second wheelbarrow, the same 4 workers might be able to double the number of bricks they can make in a day since all four are performing their tasks at the same time rather than waiting on each other to finish a their tasks. The worker mixing the soil mixes up enough for 2 or 3 bricks and brings it over the worker filling the box or bucket. And then he leaves with the second empty wheelbarrow to start mixing the soil for the next batch of bricks. Then the worker filling the box uses a small shovel to fill the box, tapping on the sides as needed to settle the soil so there are no voids, but not compacting it. Once the soil is slightly above the top the box, the worker uses the metal bar or straight piece of wood to scrape off any soil mix that is higher than the top of the box. It would be good if the box or bucket is filled on a sheet of plywood so the excess soil is gathered up and added to the box for the next brick. Once the box is filled with soil, one of the two workers operating the machine picks up the filled box and carries it over the to machine while the other worker working with the machine takes the pressed brick out of the machine and places it with the other formed bricks. As soon as one of the workers removes the brick from the machine, the other worker can dump the measured amount of loose soil into the machine, smooth it out and makes it ready to be pressed. Once the brick is pressed, one worker take empty box or bucket back to the worker measuring out soil for the next brick in the second box/bucket while the other removes the pressed brick from the machine, and the cycle starts over again. Thus it can be seen that one worker is able to be mix batches of soil in one of the two wheelbarrows without having to wait for the soil to be measured into the machine. The person measuring out the soil can be doing that while soil is being mixed by the first worker and the third and forth workers are working with the machine to make a brick. And the third and fourth workers will have a measured box or bucket of soil ready for them to simply dump into the machine, and go through the steps to press the brick without waiting for either the first worker to mix a batch of soil or for the second worker to carefully measure out the right amount of soil directly from the wheelbarrow and shovel it into the machines.. I hope that you find this useful and I wish you great success in helping more people to build sturdy, long lasting, clean and safe houses with your simple machine yet effective machine.

I knew what this was from the thumbnail. Graham Kerr, the "Galloping Gourmet", had a project to develop hand operated machines to make "Rammed Earth Bricks" as they were called. At a small house near me the prototype machines were tested and I saw them all the time. They were intended to be used in Africa. This was about 1980.

Thanks for the video! I'm looking to build my first home and this is amazing! I'm from the US and love Africa.

The 3 moulds could be made interchangeable with 1 compression machine. Cost cutting is everything here ❤

Nice. I wanted to get into ISSB construction but life went a different path due to illness. This is the way for people to lift themselves up with minimal investment.

What a great solution! I’m amazed the soil/dry cement mixture is cured so effectively with sunlight ☀️

It appears to me that better mixing of the substrate would improve the blocks and perhaps a little more moisture, also the type of cement could improve compressive strength when hardened! An automated hydraulic press would also improve strength of the block and quality of finish! Creating a flow system for manufacturing I estimate could improve production in a factory setting and varied materials could provide for alternative colours and types! Great machine that could be taken to a higher production level of 10,000 to 15,000 blocks with one operator given the right automated setup! Great idea for simple building blocks!

Best to add some borax to keep the bugs out, at least for the first tier after the cement ground block tier.. I would recommend an air compressor to clean out the form or to have a steel spatula with a rounded out side that conforms to the rounds of the block form and for best non-mortar applications, st place the blocks in their final place soon after making them, but to check on the cure time before going more than three tiers high. The amount of portland cement needed can be as high as 12% and the soil has to be of a high sand content, if not the soil needs to be fired. Sandy soils can yield blocks with as little as 5-8% cement and still be stable and quite water resistant. True 'compressed earth' needs to be bug treated and have a surface mortar coating over it and in many venues not considered as load bearing.. Check your local building codes.

Another optimization is to rebuild the machine so the finished block can be remove by a "falling floor" in the bottom that after compression can be unlocked and opened, so the stone can be pressed out in the bottom. This would also reduce the cleanup at the pressing stamp would pass through all materials ...

Great 👍 good presentation Noma, very happy u gathered good valuable information and given to us. Appreciate, be blessed. Thank you

Great video! Love this machine! I met people in Afghanistan that would benefit a great deal from this.

Thanks you sir... That will help me realize more project in my country...

...an excellent home-made production, our brother, team!...

But I'd like to say thanks for the video it is good to know I've always wondered that about soil never really looked into it but having your video available as I scrolled through made it acknowledge all to me thank you

Thank you Nick Mwema, for sharing. A very interesting video, especially for people living here in Madagascar where laterite is plentiful.

You should look at geopolymers as a material for making bricks. If the local soil has a suitable percentage of clay, then it can be polymerized with the proper alkalizing agent, resulting in a material with the same properties as refractory concrete.

This is great!! I can imagine a funnelled slide used with a high tip area to make it more efficient. Nice thought on the counterweight too

Very cool, thank you! I live in an area with lots of clay in the soil and this looks like a great idea

you are right on guy....a good safe home is good life...but think multi brick press...you can probably make another machine from a thinner material.....mix the siol in a bucket with a power drill...put the mackine in a hole and dump the mix from the top....make more money...5 bucks a brick??? your call...enjoy some living ....have fun....keep up the good work...

In India Bricks are burnt in Kiln filled with Rice husk(we dont use firewood here), that way our process is more eco friendly(cos that husk is a by product while producing rice).

Adding sand, wood ash, and a bit of lime to the blocks could help them stand up to fire and heat.

You guys are brilliant! I love the design and idea of interlocking bricks :)

Asante, kazi mzuri sana

I need this technology very much so i thank u sooo much.

Excellent, thanks for sharing 😊

At only ~$700 each, business or no business, these machines can be worth the investment. Also could be worth researching a v2.0

Back in the 1970's we called this dirtcrete, cement mixed with the local dirt to make driveway's solid.

😮 That is very nice. Make one with two compression leavers that intertwine and counter lever helps apply even more pressure. 😊 If you increase the pressure enough, they will heat and cure from the pressure maybe? 🤗🤔

Make a fiberglass funnel to get the dirt into the machine without spilling it around the base. Buy the machine on credit and line up a 2nd buyer for when your project is done. That way, you can get almost all of your money back out of the deal when you no longer need the machine. If you can make all of your blocks in two months, the cost to you would be minimal.

Sweet idea! Could sell my off all my tailings this way.

If the use of firewood is the reason you don't want bricks so you use cement instead, I got news for you. Production of cement involves the use of fossil fuel. So you're not skipping CO2 production either.

Feed with conveyor system, many people making soil mixture (mass quantity might ensure better mix ratio and specialization of skills ensuring better quality control.) (Tread powered mixing machines on a downward slant- like medieval cranes)

this way of making bricks one by one is labour-intensive

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing

Great man great great job

Is this your machine Nick? Did you buy it and actually make bricks with it or just copy the video and put it on you tube?

You could actually Mount this to a big boulder in the ground so you don't have to have the extra work or to keep it from teetering while you apply pressure

They don't use baking but they use cement for cohesion. Then it DOES damage the environment, just not in your near vicinity, but in the area where cement materials are mined.

Avoiding burning wood to cure bricks is completely negated by using cement. Cement is also a kiln fired product. What you end up with is still not water resistant. Might as well do regular wattle and daub or plain dirt and clay mixtures.

100,000 Ksh = $650 USD. Major glossed over detail is Stabilized soil which is another video by itself. Would like to see how the finished blocks performed.

Hi Nick. I like your idea very much. I wonder if the machine design could be made easier to operate and more compact by using a cheap hydraulic bottle jack, instead of the large heavy lever. I imagine the hydraulic jack swivelling away to one side when loading the press, and clamping the free end down when pressing the brick.

Sir, do you have a US distributor? I'm located in Texas and my soil is ideal for your brick machine. If not, how much is shipping? Thanks ahead of time. Robert

Ingenious inventions. Wow. I really like this.

Good 🎉🎉

Thank you brother but I still have a question, please can you tell us on ratio a bag of cement inahitaji wilbaro ngpi ya mchanga, na inatoa block ngpi simiti moja? Secondly can I use Sand ama? Thank you

If you can, throwing lie, or cement in with the dirt as you cast it, you get waterproofing built in and maybe extra strength.

What an awesome idea and a great product thank you for sharing! I’m just curious if you can actually use cement or air Crete in this machine as well or even sometimes they’ll do a plastic-based liquid product to make a composite type brick. I’m wondering if any of these other types of products can be used in this device and still be exited from the device safely? Any information would be awesome! Thank you kindly my friend!

Gracias bro no hablo ingles pero entendí todo mil gracias saludos desde Latinoamérica

I’m not convinced that stacking bricks without mortar would have the structural integrity to withstand a moderate earthquake event……..

This is awesome!

Thanks for sharing the great information.

It looks like a great idea for fast, cheap construction. I worry about ease of repair, though. If a car hit a wall made of compressed, stabilized soil, and damaged one block only, then how could you make structural repairs without dismantling the entire wall. Leaving one block damaged compromises the strength of the whole, just as with a single weak link in a chain. I cannot think of a cheap, easy way to replace the damaged section only, not with rammed Earth, stabilized soil, or bricks. It means a patch job at best, in the event of erosion or damage. I would be wary of committing to this style of building for my house. But it does look promising for many use cases.

Interesting, I wonder how well these blocks hold up compared to bricks. That's a pretty decent idea though.

Thanks Nick Mwema, could you share more on waterproofing these blocks since this is a common challenge due they are porous. Some of us would also try fencing.

Great job Nic

burning wood is not damaging to the environment. carbon that comes from burning trees is carbon that is already IN the environment so its always a 1:1 transfer. coal and oils are carbons that have been sequestered underground for millions of years so it has no 'presence' in the modern atmosphere. thats where you start getting the problems. you can burn wood and paper, etc. all day long and youre just transferring the carbon thats already been accounted for in nature.

I was born to be a counterweight guy.

Very pratic. THANK YOU.

I know this is a pitch to buy the tools. I would not tout it being greener then using standard brick making techniques. If you're using Portland cement in the formula of the blocks then you're not accounting for the the energy in the production of it "which is significant higher" then baking bricks without it. When building taller walls do you strictly rely on weight for stabilty, or do you motar them? Are you able to reduce the amount of water usage in the manufacturing process?

To save time, I'd put chef mats down on the floor and use a pressure washer to clean the chamber instead of doing a stick/scrape.

In Rwanda blocks are made from recycled plastic using the same machine.

Instead of polyurethane, create a cartridge to be loaded. Production could be exponentially increased. Pop out the Cartridge and pop in a new as workers load and unload the cartridges.

Pro tip, this will only work in areas that have no rain

An excellent example in why such countries suffer greatly in earthquakes, hurricabes, etc. No reinforcenent, eadily breaks down and exceedingly unssfe. Building codes exist for a reason. These blocks are deaths waiting to hsppen.

Great video

How many blocks will one bag of cement produce?

This video is 2 years old. Do you have an updated price list

Very good we're in the USA I buy one

Thanks for the information

Thanks for your information

How much pressure on the brick, would be different for smaller workers?

We should all care. Kids especially

Interesting!🎉

Looking good

Thank You.

What sort of dirt will form good blocks? Do they offer a recipe for what to mix in based on soil consistency?

What's the price of this machine?

I think you can reduce the 4. worker by stapling a set of bricks instead of using him as counter weight

Great!!!

Very good video

So what keeps it from all falling down in a storm or earthquake? If there is no mortar and rebar then there is no real stability. I love people trying to think outside the box but safety needs to be addressed as well. Even a log cabin is pinned together and does not rely on gravity alone to hold it together. Maybe I just missed something.

Could be a good investment. First you build your own house and then go into business making and selling blocks.

But what about insulation properties? Maybe add some EPS beads?

Its great

So funny to see those things ... building a house with this kind of bricks without mortar .. yea yea .. go on ..

If no mortar or binding agent is used between the blocks, how do you deal with seismic events? The building would just fall down.

We could use those in the US. That's less than $1000 USD for the press. We would not bother trying to copy it for that price. An American would probably buy one to use for one project and then leave it in a shed. We pay more than that for a bicycle.

I want to be the counterweight guy.

Awsome

Seems like adding borax to the mix could make the soil more stabilized by reducing mold and other decaying processes, and using an electric drying kiln for a more consistent, uniform drying, which uses less energy than fully firing them and does not throw much smoke into the atmosphere. Why would you use firewood? Nichrome wire and other components of a drying kiln are not expensive. You could use a used oven.

Cleaning after each block would be the Kryptonite for me. Very time consuming process. Now if all you have to do all day every day is make blocks while someone else who has nothing more to do brings the mixed soil then maybe!

How do the blocks perform under seismic action?

About $800 USD for base model.

How many blocks per bag of cement for the small straight ones

Price of the machine based on dollar exchange/ Schilling February 2023 $USD 1,100.....pretty amazing price

Just wondering, is it possible to use stain on the blocks?