Home Made Concrete Mixer Pictures

[Pooh_Bear]

Here are some pictures of the Concrete Mixer I built
using a 55 gallon polyethylene drum.

Here is the mixer itself. You can also see the sand/gravel mix
that I get from down at the river to make concrete with.

Here is a front view of the mixer. The battery you see hanging there
is a counterweight to help me dump the drum when it is full.

Here is a close up view of one of the paddles inside the drum.

Here is part of the drive system for the mixer.
A 1725 RPM 1.5HP motor drives a 50:1 RA gearbox via a LoveJoy coupler
and the gearbox has a 3 inch sprocket on it and drives a 4.5 inch
sprocket on the drum shaft using a #50 roller chain.
Gives me a final drum speed of about 23 RPM.

Here are some of the paving block molds I have poured.
They are 12inches by 12inches x 3.5 inches thick.

And here is what I have been doing with them so far.
Making a walkway from my parent's house front steps to their driveway.

So far this thing works great.

Pooh Bear

 

[schmism]

are those off the shelf replacement paddles for a simular type mixer?

 

[DieselPower]

That's a very ingenious and interesting setup you have there. How much do you estimate you can make at one time?

 

[Pooh_Bear]

The paddles were cut from a big piece of flat metal.
They are bolted in place using L brackets from the hardware store.
And they are not angled. Just straight with the drum.

I mix about 1.5 cubic feet per batch.
20 shovels of sand/gravel and 5 shovels of concrete.
Just enough so that one batch makes 4 paving blocks.
Any more than that and it gets too heavy to dump.
If I was strong enough I could probably mix 3 cf per batch.
Max capacity is just over 4 cubic feet.

Those mixers you see at Lowes and Home Depot and Tractor Supply,
they have 3.5 CF drums but will only mix about 1.5 CF of concrete.
A CF of concrete is about 150# and it says on the box "will mix up to 220#."
So don't be fooled by those 3.5 CF drums.

My mixer is not very portable. Unless you have a forklift.
The base of it is made out of old pallets.
I can use the tractor to drag it around the yard by a chain.
I figured for just making paving blocks it can just sit in one place.

Pooh Bear

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Pooh Bear,
Very ingenious ! And budget oriented also ! Thanks.

 

[DMF]

Holy smokes that's a great idea! I've been thinking about some way to mix potting soil easily...I think I just found it!

 

[tlbuser]

Pooh Bear

Neat! Step aside MacGyver, Pooh Bear's taking over !

What could you make with a pack of bubble gum, a soda can and the spring from a ballpoint pen ?

 

[IH3444]

That's a great setup you engineered there Pooh. Impressed with you utilization of resources..... You are a thinking man!

 

[Swisher]

Holy smokes that's a great idea! I've been thinking about some way to mix potting soil easily...I think I just found it!

DMF for potting soil.

Get your self a snap ring drumb and put the matieral in it, then lock the lid, lay it on its side and push it around for a few minutes till it is mixed. I mean push it with your tractor.

 

[TobyH]

Pooh, I really dig the battery counterweight! I think rednecks just got themselves a new king! Very ingenious.