Have we thought of cost Vs benefit?
I would imagine at times a short build time would be somewhat critical, say in an area that has a short dry season in which to build, or even conversely a short rainy season to provide the moisture to help with making the blocks stick together.
At what point does the cost or materials make it worth while to spend the money? As a former mechanic I had no problem spending 500 dollars on a specialty tool if it saved me 2 hours on a particular job, the ROI was usually a matter of a few weeks or maybe a month or two at the outside.
While I do like the idea of being able to build out of materials lying around, as they are usually cheap or free, the benefit of being able to crank out bricks at a much faster pace would pay for itself if you can find yourself doing other projects with the time, Sepp's use of excavation equipment while making a post and beam root cellar for example.
Anyway, the ratchet strap got me thinking about all of this, I would imagine it would work quite well in holding the two pieces together, but would be ungainly to attach and remove for every brick. There must be a rectangular beam that is the size necessary to make bricks. cut in 3-4 inch heights an 8 foot section would build a lot of CEB machines. and it solves the corner strength issue.
It still doesn't solve the ever present problem of getting the brick out of the mold, but I'll sleep on it and try to come up with something that works with the current design constraints.
my .02 cents, probably not even worth the good all copper ones either.
