How to Make Molds for Cement Blocks
Making your own concrete blocks can allow you a greater level of creativity in your projects. Instead of buying them from retailers, consider working out your own measurements and designs. Unless you are attempting very intricate work, it is not difficult to produce molds for everyday cement blocks.
For this project, you will need one of the following groups of materials, as well as measuring tape:
- A box, plastic bags/lining, and wet sand.
- Wooden boards (such as two-by-fours), a saw, and woodscrews.
- Styrene board, surgical tubing, a chisel, and glue/tape.
- Determine the complexity of the brick you're attempting. Very simple bricks that don't require a great deal of precision can be produced with a technique known as sand-casting. Bricks that require a regular dimensions but are not intricate in their appearance or shape can be cast in a wooden frame. Interlocking and intricate bricks can be made in styrene cradles.
- Produce a sand-cast. This is done simply by taking a box and lining with plastic by covering it in a bag or something similar. Proceed to fill your box with wet sand, dig out the shape of the brick you want and pack the sand tightly around this shape. Your mold is finished and concrete-ready.
- Produce a wood-mold. Take some wooden boards and cut two planks as long as the precise width of your desired bricks. Cut two more planks that are slightly longer than your desired bricks, and cut yourself a board significantly larger than the brick-size. Lay your two larger planks parallel to one another on their sides, and sandwich the width-specific boards between them. The effect is that of a raised rectangle coming out of your working board. Use woodscrews to fix the large boards together, making sure to drive it through the smaller boards as well. This will keep the apparatus tight, while allowing you to loosen it later to retrieve your bricks. The space between the four planks is your 'mold'.
- Produce a styrene mold. Capable of more intricacy than wood-molds, you can carve out your desired mold into a piece of styrene. Often, you will need two separate pieces of styrene, between which you intend to sandwich the brick. Once your mold is carved into the specifications you want, use surgical tubing or wood in the styrene itself to fix the pieces together, as well as glue and tape if you like. You can now pour the concrete straight into this styrene assembly.