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I should say that the following has come from a colleague of mine Otto Ruskulis.

A series of building materials leaflets, focused on concrete products has been produced by SKAT - the Swiss Centre for Appropriate Technology.

https://www.skat.ch/publications/prarticle.2005-09-29.1982292338/skatpublication.2009-09-30.0248134508

Practical Action also produced a brief manual on a concrete vibrating table / press and moulds and concrete product fabrication in Kenya about 15 years ago. The attached is in draftC:\fakepath\Vibrated Concrete Products.pdf and was never finalised. As the market for building materials at the time in Kenya was very depressed very few producers showed interest in buying the vibrating table and the development of the project had to be stopped.

Use of a vibrating table or plate or poker is recommended to consolidate the concrete ensuring that large air bubbles are forced out of the concrete and do not become a source of weakness. However, without the mechanical vibrator it can still be possible to get some degree of consolidation of the concrete using manual tamping with a flat plate or board and manually shaking the concrete in the mould, if the mould is not too heavy.

Moulds can be of wood, plastic or steel. Wooden moulds are usually the cheapest and can be made by any carpentry workshop. The problem with them is that they become worn very quickly, perhaps after only a few uses. Plastic moulds can be used at least 50 times and with care perhaps a few hundred times. Small-scale fabrication of plastic moulds is not really feasible and they have to be made at a specialist plastics factory or imported. Glass fibre reinforced plastic moulds may be fabricated on a smaller scale using more basic equipment. However, the epoxy resins used are hazardous to health so workers need to use proper protective clothing and equipment and be trained in their use. Steel moulds are the most durable, can last for years and be fabricated by a well-equipped local engineering or metalworking workshop, but they are also the most expensive.

There is now quite a lot of information on the internet about small-scale casting of concrete products for the homeowner or as a business opportunity. Using the following search terms together - do it yourself concrete casting mould, for example gives a number of relevant results. However, I do not have the time available to go through some pages of the entries and evaluate the information

I should say that the following has come from a colleague of mine Otto Ruskulis.

A series of building materials leaflets, focused on concrete products has been produced by SKAT - the Swiss Centre for Appropriate Technology.

https://www.skat.ch/publications/prarticle.2005-09-29.1982292338/skatpublication.2009-09-30.0248134508

Practical Action also produced a brief manual on a concrete vibrating table / press and moulds and concrete product fabrication in Kenya about 15 years ago. The attached is in draft C:\fakepath\Vibrated Concrete Products.pdf and was never finalised. As the market for building materials at the time in Kenya was very depressed very few producers showed interest in buying the vibrating table and the development of the project had to be stopped.

Use of a vibrating table or plate or poker is recommended to consolidate the concrete ensuring that large air bubbles are forced out of the concrete and do not become a source of weakness. However, without the mechanical vibrator it can still be possible to get some degree of consolidation of the concrete using manual tamping with a flat plate or board and manually shaking the concrete in the mould, if the mould is not too heavy.

Moulds can be of wood, plastic or steel. Wooden moulds are usually the cheapest and can be made by any carpentry workshop. The problem with them is that they become worn very quickly, perhaps after only a few uses. Plastic moulds can be used at least 50 times and with care perhaps a few hundred times. Small-scale fabrication of plastic moulds is not really feasible and they have to be made at a specialist plastics factory or imported. Glass fibre reinforced plastic moulds may be fabricated on a smaller scale using more basic equipment. However, the epoxy resins used are hazardous to health so workers need to use proper protective clothing and equipment and be trained in their use. Steel moulds are the most durable, can last for years and be fabricated by a well-equipped local engineering or metalworking workshop, but they are also the most expensive.

There is now quite a lot of information on the internet about small-scale casting of concrete products for the homeowner or as a business opportunity. Using the following search terms together - do it yourself concrete casting mould, for example gives a number of relevant results. However, I do not have the time available to go through some pages of the entries and evaluate the information