Making a hydraulic briquette press

Full plans with DXF's for the laser cut parts and electrical diagrams along with a full write up and explaination of all the workings will be on my patreon page- www.patreon.com/newyorkshireworkshop

If someone would have told me that I would sit and watch a 40 minute video that had zero spoken words, would have me glued to the screen in amazement as a 1 part engineer and 1 part wizard made an ingenious machine from scratch and out of the depths of his own mind all the while making me realize just how truly dumb I am, I would not have believed it! Well, I doft my cap to you sir because this video not only kept me entertained and wishing I could apprentice under you, it showcased your "makers" soul and the power of the engineers mind. Great vid, you earned a new subscriber.

Woodworking, metal working, turning, welding, hydraulics, electronics... There's no end to your skills. My deepest respect, Sir!

When I saw the thumbnail I though "that's something I'd like to do". Thirty seconds in it was "ok, never mind". What a remarkable young man!

It was in this moment that I knew my powers of workshop wizardry was so far surpassed, I wept a little. This man has understanding of both mechanical and electrical engineering that I will never have. I wonder if he’s self taught or formally educated

The craftsmanship, ingenuity and blatant disregard for heath and safety is what truly makes the British craftsman the best in the world! 🇬🇧

I was Designer/PM on the build, delivery and running of an industrial version of this producing but with 12" square Polystyrene bricks from fluff (cut up polystyrene). The silo was 20M tall 3M diameter and the compactor 10M in length. Yours is a fantastic job. Just some tips, PUT IN A TEMPERATURE CUT OFF RELAY. buy a cheap temperature clixen (click out at a certain temp, say 85C) and run it through a relay to shut everything down if your feed end reaches 85C. You will seriously regret it if you don't, machine wear, ambient temperature and material variation could easily push the exit temperature up to ignition temperature for the dust. Trust me, running a system like that with a fixed size outfeed will generate heat over time. Don't forget you installed this in winter, how hot does that loft get in summer? Also, this may be overkill but we used a hydropneumatic accumulator instead of fixed dimension on the exit end. This works like a spring, pump it up to the required pressure in the oil end and the air compressed to keep a constant pressure. In other words, we exerted constant pressure, not a constant gap size. This reduced the ram pressure and kept the temperature from climbing in the compression tube as the gap could open ever so slightly if the material started getting hot. You could try a cylinder and maybe an old mini sphere? Possibly overkill given the diameter. You don't need your agitator to sit under the whole pile of sawdust. Put a baffle plate in the hopper pointing downward towards the open inlet you only need to agitate the hopper feed not the whole weight of the silo. Instead of using compressed air you can fit a vibrator (a motor with an offset weight securely connected to the hopper) on a timer which only runs for a few seconds attached to the baffle plate which will move the material down. Good luck.

This is true engineer that had a problem for a while. It finally pissed him off so he decided to fix it once and for all. Took his time and thought through every part of the process and fixed his problem for good.

My mom and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and the commentary was fun to read :) This is an absolutely great idea, but it’s not complete without a slide down to ground level, instead of having to lug the buckets down haha

When I saw the title I thought "Oh great.... a nice little briquette maker. I will watch this closely so I can make one and use them on my open coal fire in my lounge." After viewing the opening sequences showing you unpacking your pre cut steel and the size of the hydronic ram I rather quickly revised my ideas and decided this project was going to be just a little above my pay grade and to just simply enjoy watching the video and learning a few things for future reference.

The craftmanship of "my mechanic" combined with amazing amounts of creativity, planning and steady execution. Love this project, very inspiring!

I would add a mist injector that would puff a small spray of liquid paraffin over the wood chips as they fell into the compression chamber. This would help with ignition, repel moisture, and more importantly lubricate the pressed chips as they pass through the compression tube.

Hi, Russ. Commenter "NoWokeSpeak" (below) literally took the words out of my mouth. I know very little about machining, welding, hydraulics, electrical systems, etc., yet I was RIVETED by every minute of this video. In addition to being astounded at your skills, knowledge, and instincts, I was truly impressed at your positioning of the camera, which captured so effectively the complex process involved in this build. Russ, watching you work was a privilege, and I'm VERY grateful. All the best, Chris (Maine, USA)

I first though "oh, yet another briquette press !" but it's not a press, it's a factory at legendary level lol you only forgot the robot that feeds the stove... nice job

This needs to become a product, every wood processing workshop with dust extractors should have one of these. Love your work mate!

Stumbled onto this last night, love these type of videos, no annoying music just the sound of someone working, quite funny in parts. Great video.

I used to work at a presto-log factory in the early 80's. The sawdust was forced through a die with a screw, it created tremendous heat and pressure. You had to be careful not to stand in front as sometimes log pieces would fire out like a cannon.

This is a man who believes in his heart that if something is worth building, it's worth overbuilding.

What a heroic build! Your problem solving approach is truly commendable. It's nice to see the waste being turned into energy instead of going to landfill.

This is excellent. You’re a talented dude: metal fab, hydraulics, electronics, wood working. Thanks for putting this together!