Which Block Machine Suits the Iraqi Market: A Selection Path by Product Mix
18 October 2026 · 6 min read
Quick answer
The machine follows the product, not the country. A hollow 390 x 190 x 190 mm block on a QST6-15 runs 6 per mould on a 980 x 680 mm pallet at 34.4 kW, which covers 8,640 to 11,520 blocks in an 8 h shift. Put pavers or kerbs in the plan and the answer moves to a static press rated 31.5 MPa.
Which block machine suits the Iraqi market is not a question about the country. It is about four numbers from your own site: the block you will sell, the pieces a pallet must carry, the power the line delivers, and the ground you can give to curing. Answer them in order and the ladder narrows by itself, from a QST6-15 at 34.4 kW to a QST1800 at 104 kW, or sideways to a static press rated 31.5 MPa. Start with a model number and you spend the next year working around a decision made in one afternoon.
Which block size will you sell first?
The first answer is a block size, not a machine. Three products cover most of the work: a hollow block 390 x 190 x 190 mm, a solid block, and a paver 200 x 100 x 60 mm. Each one fixes the mould, and the mould fixes the pallet. A QST6-15 carries a 980 x 680 x 20 mm pallet and puts 6 hollow blocks of 390 x 190 x 190 mm on it per cycle. The 240 x 115 x 51 mm standard brick quotes 32 to 36 pieces on the same mould area.
Pallet area is fixed by the machine, so a product that needs more pieces per cycle needs a wider mould, a wider mould a bigger pallet, and a bigger pallet a bigger frame. Write the block you will sell in month one with its dimensions in millimetres, and keep the second product for the second mould. A buyer who names three products before naming one has not made this decision.
How many pieces per pallet does your daily volume need?
Take the daily target in pieces, divide it by the shifts you will really run, and compare it with what one mould carries. On the QST6-15, 6 hollow blocks per mould on a 980 x 680 mm pallet at a 15 to 23 s dry cycle gives 8,640 to 11,520 blocks in an 8 h shift. If the market absorbs fewer than 8,640 hollow blocks a day, one machine on one shift is enough and the second shift is spare capacity.
Above that band there are two routes. A wider pallet carries a larger mould: the QST1200 runs a 1,350 x 880 x 25 mm pallet and the QST1800 a 1,400 x 1,400 x 30 mm one. The other route is a static press, where a QS1000 bidirectional puts 10 hollow blocks per mould on a 1,100 x 850 mm moulding area at an 18 to 22 s cycle, against 6 on the QST6-15.
- QST6-15: 6 hollow blocks per mould on a 980 x 680 mm pallet.
- QS1000 bidirectional: 10 hollow blocks per mould.
- QS1500 bidirectional: 12 hollow blocks per mould.
What power does the site deliver, and for how many hours?
Installed capacity is the figure you compare with the site, not with other machines. The three rungs differ by a factor of three: the QST6-15 draws 34.4 kW, the QST1200 57.6 kW and the QST1800 104 kW. Add the cuber, quoted at 3.0 to 3.7 kW on the QST machines, plus the mixer and the batching load, before you hold the total against the supply.
The question is not only how many kW arrive at noon, but for how many hours a day they arrive. A site holding 34.4 kW for one shift and a site holding 104 kW for two are two different plants. Write down the supply you have, the hours you get it, and the largest motor you can start. If the answer is a generator, the generator joins the machine decision instead of arriving after it.
Curing yard or racks: what does the land allow?
A curing yard is laid out around pallet count, not block count. Every pallet takes its footprint plus an aisle, and the stack limit belongs to the cuber you pick: 1,400 mm on the QS-1200A, which stacks 1,000 to 1,200 mm square and sets 18 standard hollow blocks per layer. Multiply that by the pallets one shift produces and you have the ground needed.
Where the land is short, the answer is a rack line rather than a larger yard. A QSDJ rack-curing line lifts pallets vertically on a lifter and a lowering machine, so the same ground holds more pallets, at the cost of conveyors and a control system. Settle this before the machine, because the cuber footprint, 12,000 x 3,000 mm on the QS-1200A, has to sit inside the site plan beside the yard it feeds.
Are pavers or kerbs part of the plan?
This question moves the buyer to a different machine family. Pavers, kerbs and a 250 x 250 x 60 mm square are pressed on a static hydraulic press rated 31.5 MPa, on a 20 to 25 s cycle unidirectional and 18 to 22 s bidirectional. The mould counts show why: 16 paving bricks of 200 x 100 x 60 mm on a QS600, 24 Holland bricks on a QS800 unidirectional, 32 on a QS1000 unidirectional and 40 on a QS1500 unidirectional.
A vibration machine rated 25 MPa does form a 200 x 100 x 60 mm tile, and the QST6-15 mould list quotes 21 to 24 pieces of it per mould. The dividing line is what you sell, not what a mould can form. Once pavers become the product you quote by the square metre to a contractor, price the press family first. While they are a side line, one mould on the block machine covers the order.
Which model does each set of answers point to?
Hollow only, one shift, 8,640 pieces a day and 34.4 kW available: QST6-15 on a 980 x 680 mm pallet, a 12 t frame on a 9,450 x 3,300 x 2,700 mm footprint. Hollow with a wider mould and a target past 11,520 pieces a shift: QST1200 at 57.6 kW on a 1,350 x 880 mm pallet. Volume that carries 104 kW and 34 t: QST1800 on a 1,400 x 1,400 mm pallet with 280 kN of vibration force.
When the pallet fleet or the pallet yard is the constraint, the rung is QSMT1000: pallet-free, a 1,150 x 1,100 mm moulding area at 21 MPa, wet cross-cubing to a 1,100 mm stack of 10 standard brick layers, and no pallet fleet at all. When pavers or kerbs are in the plan, it is QS800 static at 70 kW, or QS1000 static at 105.4 kW for 10 hollow blocks per mould. No rung is a preference. Each is the consequence of a number you measure at your own site.
The rule, once: fix the block and its dimensions, count the pieces a pallet must carry to reach the shift target, measure the kW the site delivers and the hours it delivers them, measure the ground you can give to curing, then decide whether pavers or kerbs belong in the plan. The first model that clears all five is the one to quote. A model number chosen before those five answers is a guess with a delivery date on it.
Frequently asked questions
Which block size should the first mould produce?
The hollow block 390 x 190 x 190 mm, because it is the size the product data quotes across the range and it gives a known piece count. On a QST6-15 it runs 6 per mould on a 980 x 680 mm pallet. A solid block or a paver is a second mould, bought after the first one has proven its cycle on your mix.
How many hollow blocks does a QST6-15 make in one shift?
Between 8,640 and 11,520 blocks in an 8 h shift, with 6 hollow blocks of 390 x 190 x 190 mm per mould and a 15 to 23 s dry cycle. The span comes from the cycle, not from the machine being unreliable. A target under 8,640 pieces leaves the machine idling, and a target above 11,520 needs a second shift or a wider pallet.
What installed power should I hold against the site supply?
The machine figure plus everything that runs with it. The three main rungs draw 34.4 kW, 57.6 kW and 104 kW, and the cuber adds 3.0 to 3.7 kW on the QST machines. Add the mixer and the batching load, then compare the total with the supply you hold for a full shift, not with the peak you see for an hour.
Do I need a curing yard, or can racks replace it?
Racks replace ground when land is the scarce item, and they cost conveyors and a control system. Layout runs on pallet count either way: pallet footprint plus aisle, under the stack limit of the cuber, which is 1,400 mm on the QS-1200A. Measure the pallets one shift produces before you measure the yard.
When does a paver order force a static press?
When pavers or kerbs become the product you quote by area, rather than an occasional line. That family is pressed at 31.5 MPa, from 16 paving bricks of 200 x 100 x 60 mm on a QS600 to 40 Holland bricks on a QS1500 unidirectional. A QST6-15 mould list does include a 200 x 100 x 60 mm tile at 21 to 24 per mould, for the side order.
Can one machine cover hollow blocks and pavers together?
Only while pavers stay a side line. A pallet machine rated 25 MPa forms the 200 x 100 x 60 mm tile, and a second mould makes the switch in a shift. The moment pavers carry the plant's output, the piece counts and the 31.5 MPa press take over, and the block machine becomes the second machine rather than the only one.
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