Abstract: The present invention is a device to produce manually compressed soil-cement blocks faster and more efficiently than previous devices of this type. The apparatus consists of a rectangular box connected to partially slotted supports, a cover to hold the mixture in the box during compression, a sliding plate to do the compression and a toggle linkage to create mechanical advantage necessary to convert human energy input into useful work. The toggle linkage is connected to toggle-connecting bars which are joined to wing pieces which connect to a lever actuated by a handle located on one side of the machine. Downward swinging of the handle causes the mechanism to move the sliding plate up and compress the soil between the fixed cover and advancing sliding plate.