Wood concrete production (October 2020)

List of necessary mechanisms

Equipment for the production of wood concrete blocks forms a line with which it is possible to carry out the entire list of operations provided for by the technology. The standard equipment of an industrial workshop for the production of this structural and thermal insulation material usually includes the following units:

a chipper used to grind all ingredients to the optimal fraction size;
industrial-type mortar mixers designed for connecting wood concrete components;
molding dispensers for obtaining material of a certain weight;
vibrating tables for removing air bubbles from the material;
drying for finished blocks and raw materials;
bunkers for storing bulk materials (cement and sand) used for the manufacture of wood concrete;
conveyor for feeding materials.

Material Conveyor

Manufacturing wood concrete is a profitable business

Organizing the production of wood concrete products is profitable and expedient for the following reasons:

Competition in this production niche is low. The demand for finished products is stable and constantly growing.
The technology for making wood concrete blocks is simple. Working with all types of equipment used does not require special technical knowledge and skills. To start production, you will need several people with an average salary (depending on the region) for workers without qualifications.
Production can be organized in small areas of an individual garage or suburban area and at the initial stage produce the required products with your own hands.
Possibility of starting a business with a small initial investment. A small workshop will require several pieces of inexpensive equipment. The ability to purchase ready-made wood chips eliminates the need for some types of wood chips and reduces initial costs to a minimum.
Raw materials from wood for producing wood chips, the volume of which in finished products is close to 90%, is cheap. Some regional workshops and industries will give away their woodworking waste free of charge.
The sale of finished wood concrete products is not limited in any way. The need for environmentally friendly, durable, warm, durable, lightweight and practical material is only increasing over time. The popularity of wood concrete blocks is also explained by their increased size, which speeds up construction work, low load on the foundation, good frost resistance, ease of self-laying and transportation, ease of processing and adjustment to the required size, and good fire safety indicators.
The initial financial investment is returned within a few months. A well-established business can bring up to 200%-300% profit in a year.

Chip cutters

A wood chipper is an industrial shredder that can process wood chips, straw or sawdust. Cutting materials into particles of the required size is carried out in a drum using several knives made of tool steel. The design of the wood chipper includes a hammer. It automatically feeds material when chopping massive boards or branches.

The working tools of the wood chipper are surrounded along the contour by a special drum with perforated walls. It is through these holes that the finished wood chips are poured. The outer casing made of sheet steel prevents sawdust from scattering throughout the room and performs a protective function. The efficient operation of this equipment is ensured by the presence of a three-phase motor, belt drives and starting devices.

Organizational plan

Carrying out production activities requires registration of individual entrepreneurship. It is most rational to choose a simplified taxation system, since in accordance with it you can pay only 6% of income.

Immediately after the personnel are hired, the entrepreneur must register with the Social Insurance Fund and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, since it is from this moment that he is responsible for paying insurance premiums.

A production facility with an area of 250 m2 should be operated as follows: 50 m2 - production, 100 m2 - drying area, 100 m2 - storage of finished products.

The operating mode of the enterprise can be chosen as follows: 40 hour work week, Saturday, Sunday - days off. The normal functioning of production can be ensured by:

general workers – 4 people;
accountant – 1 person;
manager whose responsibilities include sales and supply – 1 person.

Drying

The produced wood chips must be dried.

This can happen naturally or with the help of special units. The performance characteristics of wood concrete blocks depend on the quality of drying of raw materials.

To increase the efficiency of this process, industrial equipment has the following design features:

drying is a double drum with a diameter of about 2.2 m;
the outer casing of the unit is equipped with perforated walls, which ensures the penetration of warm air inside;
The drying structure contains asbestos pipes or special flexible hoses. They are designed to supply warm air;
the drum rotates constantly, which allows you to mix the wood chips and dry them evenly;
thermal energy is produced by guns, the power of which can reach 4 kW.

Depending on the technical characteristics of the equipment, in one shift it is possible to dry the raw materials for the production of 100 blocks.

Workshop organization

Before organizing a workshop for the production of wood concrete, it is necessary to develop a business plan. When drawing up a plan, such nuances as demand for finished products, their assortment, availability and accessibility of raw materials, competition in the chosen field, taxation, etc. are taken into account.

Organization of production consists of the following stages:

registration of an enterprise (you can register both a legal entity and an individual entrepreneur);
searching for suitable premises;
acquisition, installation and commissioning of a production line;
recruitment and training of personnel;
study of technological production processes;
searching for suppliers of raw materials and forming a supply of them for at least a month’s operation of the enterprise at full capacity.

The optimal taxation system is a simplified one, providing for payment of a tax of 6%. When hiring personnel, registration with the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund is required.

Financial investments in organizing a production line that produces approximately 6-7 m³ of products per shift amount to about 500 thousand rubles.

The cost of equipment (chip cutters, concrete mixers) will range from 45 to 80 thousand rubles.

Equipment with higher productivity will cost 230 thousand rubles. The set of universal automated complexes includes concrete mixers, vibrating presses, dosing hoppers, belt conveyors and receiving hoppers.

On average, such a line produces about 50 m³ of wood concrete slabs. To organize production, you will need personnel, supplies of raw materials, and large production areas.

SGS-L4 is considered one of the best production lines. In order to launch it and ensure uninterrupted operation, about 1 million rubles will be required.

Room

In order to open the production of wood concrete slabs, you will need a room with an area of about 200 square meters, on the territory of which there are:

production area;
drying zone;
warehouse area;
administrative premises;
staff rest areas.

The room must be connected to the necessary communications, including power supply, water supply and drainage systems, heating and ventilation.

Important! In the block drying area, the temperature should not be lower than 12 °C.

Equipment

To open a workshop for the production of wood concrete slabs, you must purchase the following equipment:

A chipper is a machine used to produce and process wood chips. The machine is required to obtain chips of the desired shape and size, as well as to remove foreign inclusions (for example, metal waste). Most machines can sort wood chips based on size. The cost of equipment varies from 100 to 300 thousand rubles. European and Russian machines are of the best quality. The lower cost of Chinese equipment is also due to its lower reliability.

Reference! A number of block manufacturers use multifunctional machines with additional functions, for example, allowing the production of decorative chips. The cost of such equipment is 3 million rubles.

Mills or crushers. The quality characteristics of wood chips are improved due to additional grinding. At the second stage, processing is carried out using hammer mills, shredders, disk chippers or rotary knife crushers. Equipment can be purchased for 120 thousand - 1 million rubles.
Concrete mixer costing from 75 thousand to 305 thousand rubles.
A dispenser that measures the volume and supplies the mixture. Its cost starts from 20 thousand rubles. Instead of a dispenser, you can use mixing containers at the initial stage, but they are less effective.
Stacking bunker, the cost of which starts from 500 thousand rubles.
Collapsible wooden or metal forms can be made independently or to order. The cost is affected by the material of manufacture, as well as the number of forms.

Additional equipment will be required depending on the choice of block manufacturing method:

Manually. It is usually chosen at the initial stage. The effectiveness of this method is low, since the mixture is compacted into molds manually. There is no need for additional equipment when choosing this method, but the quality of the blocks will be low.
Manually on a vibrating table. With this method, the mixture is also compacted into molds manually, but they are placed on a vibrating table. The quality of finished wood concrete blocks is higher than that produced manually. The cost of vibrating tables depends on their power and ranges from 25-90 thousand rubles.
The highest quality products are obtained using a vibrating machine. The molds are placed on the machine, and the mixture poured into them is compacted and compressed using a press. The cheapest vibrating machines can be purchased for 80 thousand rubles.

Staff

The operation of one production line can be ensured by 4 employees working in shifts of 8 or 12 hours.

The uninterrupted production process of wood concrete slabs can be ensured by hiring 8-12 workers. In this case, the work can be done in several shifts and seven days a week.

There are no qualification requirements for workers. It is enough that they are disciplined, have a high ability to work and do not have bad habits.

The remuneration system can be piecework, that is, fixed for a certain number of blocks and as a percentage of the number of products manufactured.

Mixing stations or mortar mixers

During the production of wood concrete blocks, batch mixers are most often used, and sometimes construction mixers. On large lines, where the production of material occurs in large batches, equipment with a continuous nature of operation is installed.

To meet the needs of small industries, conventional mortar mixers are mainly used, which have the following design features:

They are large vats with side loading of components and bottom unloading of the finished mixture;
the unit is equipped with a motor with a gearbox with a maximum power of 6 kW;
Special blades are used to mix the wood concrete components.

The volume of the mortar mixer is calculated based on the daily requirement for materials to organize an efficient production process.

Recommendations and reviews from experts when making blocks yourself

Amateur builders and experts who practice making wood concrete blocks leave reviews in which they recommend following the rules that help obtain high-quality products.

When using production technology, we recommend using not just large wood chips, but also sawdust and wood shavings.
The consistency of the tree is processed to remove sugar from it. The method makes it possible to prevent further swelling of the finished material, which is strictly unacceptable in the construction of a house.
When preparing the solution, it is necessary to mix it extremely thoroughly and ensure that all parts are in the cement solution. This point is important for durable and high-quality bonding of wood, as well as other materials in blocks.
When creating, you need to add aluminum, slaked lime and other components. For example, liquid glass, which is added to the composition, will not allow the finished building material to absorb moisture, and slaked lime has antiseptic properties.
Potassium chloride prevents the formation of microscopic organisms and other substances that negatively affect the material in the structure.
When mixing components, it is recommended to monitor proportionality so that the prepared mixture necessarily meets the production requirements of blocks made of wood concrete.

In addition, equipment for wood concrete blocks must be of high quality.

Forms for wood concrete

The finished mixture for making blocks is distributed into removable molds.

They are a special box made of steel. To make it easier to use, each mold is equipped with side handles and removable covers (top and bottom). The production capacity depends on the number of molds and their quality, which directly affects the profit of the enterprise.

Marketing plan

Marketing research must be carried out even before production begins. Before you begin market research, you need to select the target audience - those to whom the final product will be offered.

Wood concrete is not recommended for use in global construction, since the compression of the product has low characteristics, and the production capacity is planned to be small.

In order to gain an advantage over competitors, you can start producing blocks that do not require plastering. To do this, you need to lay the raw materials together with the plaster. Another option is to produce custom painted blocks.

The main target audience is private owners building their own houses, as well as small contracting companies taking on the construction of a cottage community.

Typically, such clients are well acquainted with all the intricacies of business, and private owners carefully study the information posted on construction forums. Therefore, a person involved in the trade of such specialized material must understand every advantage inherent in wood concrete blocks, their advantageous aspects over other materials, and most importantly, the price.

Another good marketing move is trading blocks at cost . This step will ensure the availability of finished houses in the construction of which this material was used, which in turn will increase the level of its popularity. But the effectiveness of word of mouth and communication through special forums has not yet been canceled.

Production involves the use of the following advertising methods:

Thematic booklets can be sent to several nearby construction supermarkets.
Creating a catchy advertising slogan.
Implementation of a standard dealer program and on-site incentive system.

In addition, you can consider the option of trading on the Internet.

Other block forming equipment

Heated and cleaned forms are filled with the finished solution. This process is carried out using screw-type molding dispensers. For small production volumes, distribution of the solution into molds can be done manually.

When this process is completed, tamping begins, which allows you to compact the wood concrete mixture and remove air bubbles from it. In this case, the use of hand tools is impractical. Manual tamping does not provide sufficient strength indicators for the finished blocks.

Therefore, static or vibrating machines are more often used to compact the solution.

Vibrating machines for wood concrete

The first type of equipment is found in small industries, and the second type is part of the equipment of powerful conveyor lines. Vibrating tables, which can most often be found in wood concrete production workshops, are distinguished by the following characteristics and design features:

is a steel table;
on the frame, which is part of the equipment, there is a three-phase motor with a power of 1.6 kW or less;
Eccentrics or special weights are installed on the motor axis. Their center of gravity is shifted, which allows vibration to be created.

Manufacturing technology of arbolite blocks

You can set up the production of high-quality wood concrete blocks at home or in a production workshop. These options differ in the level of equipment, automation and productivity.

But the technology for manufacturing wood concrete differs little and consists of the following steps:

Aging of waste wood pulp under a canopy is at least 30 days.
Wood crushing. To obtain the required chip sizes, the process can consist of two stages.
Soaking wood chips to remove sugar – 6 hours.
A working mixture is prepared (taking into account volume-weight proportions). Requirements for raw materials and finished products made of wood concrete are listed in GOST 19222-84. According to this document, a recipe is being developed to obtain blocks with the required characteristics. Wood chips, cement, water with the necessary additives are introduced into the mixer one by one. Calcium chloride enters the container continuously while mixing is in progress. This ensures its uniform distribution. The duration of the process is 10 minutes.
Filling the molds with the prepared composition, compacting, compacting.
Assortment of products of the required density and removal of formwork - after 1-5 days. When the press creates a pressure of 2.5-3 MPa, the molds can be removed immediately.
Technological curing in a ventilated warehouse, protected from direct sunlight. After 3-5 days the blocks can be stacked, and after 14-20 days they can be transported.

Chambers for drying finished blocks

The finished blocks, which are properly pressed, are delivered to a special room along with the molds. In it, air humidity is strictly controlled, which allows you to create the best conditions for drying the material. The blocks must be laid out on pallets and released from the molds. This facilitates air access to the material, which has a positive effect on its properties.

Wood concrete drying chamber

The mixture usually sets within 2 days. The design capacity of the material is achieved only after 18-28 days. All this time, the wood concrete must be in conditions of sufficient humidity and stable temperature.

In conditions of limited resources, drying blocks in any dark place is allowed. In this case, they must be covered with plastic film and a protective fabric awning. After a few days, such materials are transferred to a room with a concrete floor and stacked in one layer.

Financial plan

A small wood concrete production business requires a monthly capacity of at least 500 m3. Primary investments include the following items:

station mixing components - 120 thousand rubles;
several molds (minimum 30 pcs.) – 110 thousand rubles;
kit for manual tamping – 15 thousand rubles;
drying chamber – 350 thousand rubles;
metal pallets – 30 thousand rubles;
chipper – 150 thousand rubles;
cement and wood chips dispenser – 50 thousand rubles;
other expenses – 75 thousand rubles.