BLOCKMASTER 4 Block Making Machine Installation – Senegal

We installed a semi-automatic BLOCKMASTER 4 block making machine for a customer in Senegal. During commissioning it made two products: hollow concrete blocks for walls and hourdis for floors. Hourdis are hollow floor blocks: the infill blocks placed between the joists of reinforced concrete slabs, widely used for beam-and-block floors in Senegal and across West Africa. Our team installed and commissioned the machine on site, ran the first production together with the customer's operators and trained them in operating and maintaining it.

Five hourdis per cycle

With the hourdis mould, the BLOCKMASTER 4 makes five hollow floor blocks per cycle. In the photos, the pallets lined up on the roller table in front of the mould each carry five fresh hourdis.

In one shot the customer's team inspects one of the first pallets in front of the machine. A close-up taken on the pallet trolley clearly shows the hollow side profile and clean edges of the fresh hourdis: a freshly moulded piece that holds its shape shows that the mix and the vibration settings are right.

One machine, two products

To switch products on the BLOCKMASTER 4, you simply change the mould. At this installation the machine ran with both a block mould and the hourdis mould:

• Hollow floor blocks (hourdis): 5 per cycle with the hourdis mould.
• Hollow concrete blocks: one photo shows the pallet trolley beside the machine loaded with pallets of four blocks each, made with the 20 cm block mould. According to our product record, this mould makes 4 blocks of 200x400x200 mm per cycle, about 4,000 a day.
• Other moulds: 15 cm blocks (150x400x200 mm), 5 per cycle, about 5,000 a day; 10 cm blocks (100x400x200 mm), 8 per cycle, about 8,000 a day; 150x700x300 mm curbstones, about 1,000 a day; and uncoloured pavers.

With a single hopper, the BLOCKMASTER 4 is designed for customers producing with one type of aggregate, and it is the entry model of our semi-automatic range. Making both wall blocks and hourdis on one machine means a single plant can supply a building site with the material for its walls and its floors.

From mixer to curing yard

The plant stands on open, sandy ground bordered by block walls. The line works in four steps:

Feeding

A long inclined belt conveyor carries the concrete mix from the mixer up into the machine's hopper. The conveyor frame and the machine stand on the same concrete slab.

Moulding

The BLOCKMASTER 4 fills the mould, vibrates the mix with two 5.5 kW bottom vibrator motors and compacts it hydraulically. The control panel stands right beside the machine; the first production settings were made there together with the operator.

Pallet output

Full pallets are pushed out of the mould onto a roller table next to a raised concrete platform, where yellow pallet trolleys pick them up. There is no forklift here: on a semi-automatic line, fresh products are moved with a pallet trolley.

Curing yard

Most of the photos show this part of the plant: hundreds of pallets of the blocks and hourdis made during commissioning, laid in neat rows on timber battens across a wide yard behind the machine. Aisles are left between the rows for the pallet trolley, and a water hose runs between them. In a hot, dry climate, keeping fresh products moist during their first days helps them gain strength evenly. The yard's boundary wall is built from blocks too.

Planning a similar plant?

Installation and operator training are included in every offer, and our machines carry a 2-year warranty. With more than 45 years of experience, we have installed plants in over 30 countries. One of our other installations in Senegal: the CBM 12-2 block and paving stone machine. For more BLOCKMASTER 4 plants in Africa, see the installation in Conakry, Guinea and the installation in Kolwezi, DR Congo. Message us on WhatsApp with the products you want to make (blocks, hourdis, curbstones) and your daily target, and we will send you the right moulds, line layout and price.