Looking for plans for automatic straw bale press

Thirst to build similiar to this one, which can be served by one operator, and which can be powered by small (4..6 horse power) gasoline engine, and can be moved by usual pickup.
Have found this site where blueprints are offered for $70.
But there are several questions:
1) Their baler makes 7" in thickness while I need 12" (30cm) thick wall.
2) They have already sold hunderds of balers so their investments in developing of plans seems to be returned many times. So $70 seems to be expensive for paper.
In either case electronic form is prefferable.
I think the absence of available low cost convenient balers and/or DIY instructions is a significant barrier for eco straw building becoming more popular.

Any links appreciated very much!

I think the criticism of the price of their plans is not very helpful. I am sure they are more than aware of the demand for their plans and have priced them in the manner they best see fit. If you disagree, call them up and make an offer and see if they bite.

In case that doesn't work, here are two plans for non-motorized balers:

http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html

http://www.appropedia.org/A_Hand_Powered_Hay_and_Leaf_Baler

The first link mentions being able to put out 100 bales a day. That is enough to build a 10' x 10' building. If a person can, given adequate raw materials, churn out enough materials to build a minimal home, in one day, I think that is good enough.

I would prefer to cooperate with a hundred of DIY builders from the world and spent together $70*100=$7000 to pay to semi-skilled engineer (besides, $7k is a big enough salary for such reletively simple job for Eastern Europe and Asian employees) for developing of open source plans and thus solve this task for many people for many years further, than to support mentioned above closed source team. That's what I mean when I mentioned the price.
But before undertaking this kind of social-funding I'm trying to know what already has been done, to avoid reinventing of the wheel.

open source ecology has a baler on their roadmap, maybe you can collaborate with them?

Balers are not new technology, many older designs have expired patents. You can do a google patent search to get ideas.

It really doesn't take much if you aren't worried about safety. The only complicated parts on a farm baler are the knotters.

Great! I didn't know about this intention. But it seems much more complicated and difficult to build and use than small stand-alone gas-powered press. It suitable for medium to big farm than to private housekeeping.
So the open source automatic mini baler still needed (independently of whether or no personally me will build manual one).

Not exactly plans, but these might get you to thinking...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRUPb7HBDN4

This one explains it step by step

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njU8qDZPo9M

This one shows a different way to make the transmission-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkkwouh3fs4

This one is mesmerizing for some reason:

I'd have love to have seen the finished bale. Not sure about the exact purpose or whys it's so small, but mesmerizing none the less.

Here's a better explanation of the mini-baler:

I am looking for plans to build a miniature square baler

Rick, welcome to the forum.

This link has a parts list and the explanation sounds easy enough to me:

https://www.appropedia.org/A_hand-powered_hay_and_leaf_baler


Here is another one:

https://www.instructables.com/Mini-Hay-Baler-made-from-a-re-purposed-trash-compa/

Hi Rick,

Whichever method you decide to create straw bales, make sure it will give you bales of the density required by the building code applicable to your area.  Several European countries and the U.S (and I think perhaps Australia and New Zealand?) have evolved building codes to guide the construction of structures with straw bale walls so they perform (thermally, structurally) as expected.  

In the U.S. the minimum density for straw bales used in a wall assembly must be 6.5 lbs. per cubic foot.

It's an easy calculation if you have a tape measure, a weight scale, and a moisture meter:  (1) weigh the bale, (2) measure the bale's volume by multiplying it's three dimensions (height, width, length), (3) average a few moisture readings taken with a hay moisture meter and subtract the % of moisture weight from the bale weight, e.g. a 50 lb. bale with 10% moisture content would have around 5 lbs. of water in it, meaning the bale has a 45 lb. dry weight, (4) divide the bale dry weight by it's volume ....and you'll know if the bale meets code-level density requirements.  

For example, a three-string bale in N. America might be 23" wide x 15" tall x 48" long.  That's 16,560 cubic inches, or 9.58 cubic feet (a cubic foot is 1,728 cubic inches).  If it has an 70 lb. dry weight, it's dry weight density is 7.3 lbs. per cubic foot.

While bales that are less dense have almost certainly been used in straw bale buildings since it all started back in the 1890s when baling equipment reached the Great Plains of America (this code is relatively recent, and bale buildings have been around for a long while now), testing shows that meeting the minimum density requirement results in better thermal performance, and if the bales are used structurally, a more stable wall.

Jim Reiland
Many Hands Builders

Not sure how old this post is but I'm interested in possibly  building a mini hay baler. Still looking for plans as I just can't afford the cost of the pre-made ones. Any help is welcomed