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Friday, April 19, 2013

Homemade woodblock printing press part 2

Well after breakfast this morning I went and checked the glued in plug and found the glued dry. Time to mix up some concrete!

So I got my sawhorses clear and then laid some 2x4's over them and then put the threaded rod with washers and nut into the plug. I then used some silicone sealant to make sure no concrete leaked out the bottom.


Then I stood up both tubes on the 2x4's and then used some clamps to keep the threaded rod from falling through to the floor.



I got out a five gallon plastic bucket and started mixing up small batches of concrete by hand so that I could control the "stiffness" of the concrete. I did not want it too sloppy because that would be too much water and it would take forever to cure.

Tubes ready to be filled.

 
Here I am getting ready to dump concrete into the first tube. I used a small gardening shovel to get small amounts of the concrete into the tubes.



As the concrete is added I used a small stick to make sure that there were no voids in the concrete and that it was well mixed together. Once the tube was 1/3 filled with concrete I took the clamp off the top of the threaded rod.


Once the tube was filled I trial fitted the remaining end plug and removed a little concrete until the plug fit without any leakage. Then using the remaining washer and 5/8 inch nut I screw it down until it would not go any farther and was quite snug. I then got the square out and using a hammer adjusted the plug until it was square to the sides.  I then did the same to the other tube.


And now we wait till tomorrow when I will start on the gear section of my work.

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