[GSBN] Hand Compressed bales

Fri Nov 11 06:48:19 UTC 2011

Hi Derek

Thanks for the lead on the jacks.

Please see Habib's response about them..and a warning about its dangers,
which I have cut and pasted below.

Has this been your experience, or is he talking about a different one?

Not sure why he is not on the GSBN listing?

Thanks

Andy

Hello Andy:

There were two possible sites overseas where the Tillers International hand
baler may have been useful. In both instances the projects never
materialized so I did not get a chance to build one. If more compression is
needed, the frame can be strengthened and a long pipe handle extension or
"snipe" can improve leverage and bale density.

The truck jack mentioned is affectionately known in western Canada as a
"Jack-All". It is useful to lift all manner of loads, just be careful the
locking pins are clean and in good repair. If not, they can slip under load
and swing the pipe handle swiftly at your head (anywhere else the damn thing
would have killed me.)

All the best,

Habib

*****************************************
SUSTAINABLEWORKS
Habib John L Gonzalez
RR#1, S-4, C-12
Crescent Valley, BC
Canada V0G 1H0
250-359-5095 
780-438-0821
www.sustainableworks.ca
***************

  _____  

From: Derek Roff [mailto:derek at unm.edu] 
Sent: 10 November 2011 07:02 PM
To: Andy Horn
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Hand Compressed bales

Hi, Andy,

A few more details on the Hi-Lift style of jack.  Please pardon me if you
are already familiar with it.  It's design is able to handle mud and sand
without serious problem.  Cleaning can be done, when needed, with water of
varying purity.  With or without soap or solvent.  A little oil or grease of
almost any type will make the functioning a bit smoother, but I have seen
many owners/users who do no maintenance at all for years at a time.  The big
advantage of this type of jack is that it doesn't have the tight-tolerance
precision surfaces that are easily damaged or clogged in other types of
jacks.  There are large steel pins that move in and out of large holes in
the steel bar.  None of the tolerances are critical, and the jack only has
about 12 parts, each of which can be replaced, if needed.  

In the United States, at least, they are not terribly expensive.  The first
link below is to a new 48"/1200mm lift jack (a good size for baling) on eBay
for $60.  The second link is to the Hi-Lift company.  Their patents must
have expired years ago, so there may be a South African manufacturer of a
similar design.  

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HI-LIFT-JACK-48-JACK-CAST-STEEL-HL484PC-/18071769722
3?_trksid=p3284.m263
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/HI-LIFT-JACK-48-JACK-CAST-STEEL-HL484PC-/1807176972
23?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BF
ICS%26otn%3D21%26pmod%3D330630829946%26ps%3D54#ht_2737wt_907>
&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BFICS%26otn%3D21%26pmod
%3D330630829946%26ps%3D54#ht_2737wt_907

http://www.hi-lift.com/hi-lift-jacks/index.html

By the way, Darcey is a woman.  I will be interested to hear your
impressions, comparing her design to the one that John Habib sent you.
Would you mind forwarding that file to me?  The fulcrum/lever designs that I
have seen and tried had the problem that to get high pressure, the lever arm
moved a lot, while the compression stroke was very small.  This was
problematic for producing bales.  

Best wishes,

Derek

On Nov 10, 2011, at 8:44 AM, Andy Horn wrote:

Dear Martin

Thank you so much for your detailed and informative reply.

Given the extreme cold experience (there are only 3 frost free months there
a year), I would tend to stay with the thicker bales, but was particularly
thinking of the smaller ones for some of the internal walls.

Indeed we have found that the local straw in Lesotho has a value locally,
particularly for its use as roofing thatch. Luckily we have the co-operation
of the local chiefs to hopefully control prices from escalating once people
see a new use for it. So there is already an established price which we have
discussed with the chiefs. It is sold in bundles, which is oriented in one
direction for thatching. This means the laying of the straw end to end
alternately is the way we would need to go when loading up the baler. In any
case we have wheat straw, which is pretty brittle, so I have my doubts for
how a random style would work. However, I have also seen big stacks of it
unbundled for use as animal bedding. I did not get right up to it and see if
it was any less thick and tough. But it is worth investigating especially if
it is more readily available and less expensive. Straw certainly has uses in
Lesotho and does not look like it ever gets wasted. I have not seen it
burned in the fields, though they do burn their stubble. Incidentally in the
Cape there is massive amounts of straw burnt causing massive pollution
problems in the summer. Soil erosion in Lesotho is chronic and part of what
we do around food security issues will need to take this into account. 

I have also done urine separation toilets before and as the locals are used
to long drop toilets this may not be such a jump for them as our city folk.
Apparently if you also add in some half rotting leaves as well as dilute the
urine min 1:5 with water it makes an excellent fertilizer ..the leaves are
supposed to improve the diluted urine.

I am still awaiting Darcey's detailed plans for his compactor and I would be
interested to understand how it compares to the fulcrum type that Habib sent
me. It would certainly appear to be less physically demanding. 

Clearly one of the issues with the car jack will be how one keeps it clean
and well oiled, so I imagine regular cleaning and re-oiling is a critical
part of making sure one does not mess up the jacks.

I am looking forward to experimenting with it all and will be going up
during December and look forward to more lively discussion and input from
this group. Be sure that I will also feed back my experiences.

Many thanks again  

Kind regards,

Andy

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Derek Roff

derek at unm.edu

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