Changing a gas motor to electric on a mortar mixer

[Loadstar]

Seems like a lot of trouble to go about it for seldom used equipment. I have a mountain of motors but they don't cross my mind for powering stuff. Nobody wants/needs/ or has the same motor it always seems. Not the freedom of a gas engine. Look around for a messed up mixer with a drivetrain to salvage. Processed motors make good money at the salvage yard.

 

[mx842]

Seems like a lot of trouble to go about it for seldom used equipment. I have a mountain of motors but they don't cross my mind for powering stuff. Nobody wants/needs/ or has the same motor it always seems. Not the freedom of a gas engine. Look around for a messed up mixer with a drivetrain to salvage. Processed motors make good money at the salvage yard.

Yes, I guess you are right about the trouble but I am in survival mode here and have to do the best I can with what I have. If my world was perfect I'd just do like Capricious suggested and buy a new engine for $300 or $400 bucks and be done with it. My world is far from perfect around here and from the way it looks it's going to stay that way for a couple more years anyway then things may be different.....hopefully so anyway.

 

[Capricious]

"..but I am in survival mode here ..."



Been there. Done that.

Doing better now, but then I see these posts about guys buying new diesel pick-ups, or "just bought a home in the country; what new tractor should I buy..?" Not my reality.

Anyway, If I was in your position and did not need the thing to be running right away, I would set the mixer aside and watch for a deal on a used gasoline engine. Would be a lot handier around a work site if one did not have to drag power cords and/ or a generator around. Would bring more @ resale as well.

The tractor PTO possiblity also sounds interesting. With a 6 to 1 reduction these things would be running @ about 600 RPM max, so a 540 PTO would be close. Also easier to move around a work site hanging off a 3-point hitch.

As someone else already mentioned, I would process the motors for scrap on a rainy day, and turn them into some cash.

 

[mx842]

Why not make it PTO powered and run it off your tractor?

I was thinking about that and that still might be an option. Of-course I don't really have a tractor with PTO in a practical sense but I could run it off the mule drive on my 520H Wheel Horse if I could figure out a pulley setup that would get the right speed to turn the paddles.

I was looking just yesterday for a box of pulleys I have packed away somewhere to see if I have something that would work. Now that you mentioned it I'm thinking this may be my best option until I can find a good cheap engine with gear reduction.

 

[Loadstar]

Understand doing the best with with what you got. If I had a mixer that needed a drivetrain, I would look at my motor pile briefly then begin, yanking bolts, tossing ends, pulling rotors, splitting shells, and fire roasting cut stators. I probably have everything to do what you want in my scrap pile, but would still chose gas/pto for what you desire. Yes, I am frugal, yes I will rig up some contraptions, but overall practicallity must be justified. Better solutions can be found in my opinion.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I understand the 'make do with what ya got' way of life... the name of the company I work for is ThistleDew Farm... for 'This Will Do'. As the maintenance man, I get asked to cobble together a lot of stuff with what us on hand.

Good luck on making your mixer useful...

 

[mx842]

Understand doing the best with with what you got. If I had a mixer that needed a drivetrain, I would look at my motor pile briefly then begin, yanking bolts, tossing ends, pulling rotors, splitting shells, and fire roasting cut stators. I probably have everything to do what you want in my scrap pile, but would still chose gas/pto for what you desire. Yes, I am frugal, yes I will rig up some contraptions, but overall practicallity must be justified. Better solutions can be found in my opinion.

Actually the electric motor idea was going to be a temp fix anyway because the guy I got the mixer from says he may be able to come up with a engine for it sooner or later. He gets the junkers from the rental place he works at. I was just trying to put something together so I could mix a couple hundred bags of concrete I have in the shed before it gets hard on me. I already had the electric motor setup sitting in the corner that I got off an old compressor. I rigged up the phase converter and had it all wired up and working because I was going to use that setup on a hydraulic power unit I was working on. That project is way down on the projects list and figured I could use it here.

I'm thinking now that I may try to use my Wheel Horse to power the thing......If I could just find that box of pulleys.

 

[LD1]

Do you need gearing?

The old electric mixer we have has a belt and pulley. The motor pulley is ~2" and the mixer pulley ~10". So theres a 5:1 reduction.

The 10" pulley drives a 5 tooth (maybe) pinion gear that in turn drives the ring gear on the mixer. Which is ~3' diameter, so 100+ tooth gear?

It has plenty of reduction already.

As to using the motor, rather than hastle with a rotary or static converter, have you considered a VFD? There are some "foreign" ones that can be had for ~$200-$250 that will run that motor nicely. And you can adjust speed and change direction at the push of a button.

Or you could get a name brand drive like AB, danfoss, hitachi, etc for double that. But the cheap ones work well for non-industrial uses.

 

[mx842]

Do you need gearing?

The old electric mixer we have has a belt and pulley. The motor pulley is ~2" and the mixer pulley ~10". So theres a 5:1 reduction.

The 10" pulley drives a 5 tooth (maybe) pinion gear that in turn drives the ring gear on the mixer. Which is ~3' diameter, so 100+ tooth gear?

It has plenty of reduction already.

As to using the motor, rather than hastle with a rotary or static converter, have you considered a VFD? There are some "foreign" ones that can be had for ~$200-$250 that will run that motor nicely. And you can adjust speed and change direction at the push of a button.

Or you could get a name brand drive like AB, danfoss, hitachi, etc for double that. But the cheap ones work well for non-industrial uses.

As I said before I was just trying to use what I already had on hand since this is only temp anyway. The gear reduction reduction on the motors that are used for these things is 6 to 1. The pulley on the motor and the pulley that turns the pinion gear shaft are the same size. I haven't measured the size of the pinion gear and the ring gear or counted the teeth that turns the paddles but hope to be able to look at this thing today to figure out what can be worked out. I've had a trailer from way down under in the shop for the past week and I finally have it to where I can pull it out so I have room to work on the mixer.

Hopefully I'll know more this afternoon so I can figure out which way to go.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'd rather have a mixer with an electric motor than listen to a gas engine. You just need to figure out the proper pulleys to maintain the correct operating speed.