Electric Cement Mixer

[WVBill]

Wharv:

I was wondering what Maximizer is so I surfed on over to <A target="_blank" HREF=http://txi.smithmicro.com/default_3.tpl?id1=2&id2=17&id3=97> Their web page </A> and, hey it looks likd Bob Vila is involved with them too. Wow, our own wroughtn_harv and Bob Vila! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Thanks for the update Bill. I haven't been to that site since last week when I went looking for an email address to complain loudly and often. They've updated it since then.

I suspect they're not going to like what I'm going to tell them. But oh well, life in the city for a country boy. That post setting Maximizer won't hunt for a professional fence builder.

 

[BB_TX]

Well, Harv. Thanks for the tip, but as usual I was a day late or a dollar short. It was gone by the time I got there. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif Guess I'll keep looking.

 

[steved]

I've mixed hundreds, if not thousands, of batches of concrete and mortar in a 3 cu.ft. electic mixer. I've done a lot of stone work. It sure beats mixing by hand, when you need small batches.

But, how do you prevent buildup of contrete/mortar on the inside of the barrel over time? I've tried many things, but nothing seems to work. Yet, many other mixers I've seen seem to be nice and clean inside.

Is there some trick i'm missing, like vinegar, or acid, or virgin sacrifice to the masonry gods?

Steve in PA

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Is there some trick i'm missing</font color=blue>

If there is, I haven't found it yet. We kept my brother's rig nice and clean, but it was simply time and effort after each use; never gave it time to harden for more than a few hours. When we were building my brother's house, he rented a mortar mixer. I did the mixing and my two brothers did the block laying. And we returned the rented mixer cleaner than when we got it, and the rascals charged him a "surcharge" for not returning it completely clean with no dried mortar on it./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I guess we should have taken a picture of it before we started using it, and I suppose they make money by hitting each renter with that little extra charge.

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>how do you prevent buildup of contrete/mortar on the inside of the barrel over time?</font color=blue>

I used the same electric mixer for a number of years, back when I had time for a lot of cement-oriented projects, and managed to keep the inside clean and almost shiny. All it takes is to hose it out as best you can after your last mix, and then toss in a shovel or two of sand/gravel mix and a little clean water. No cement, of course, and just let it run for a little while. Dump and rinse. Repeat if necessary. Usually about 10 minutes total, during which time I was cleaning the other tools.

Learned that technique from a neighbor who had been using the same mixer for a couple of decades, and it was one crusty son-of-a-gun on the outside, but clean as a whistle on the inside.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I had a Montgomery Wards 3.5 CU FT electric mixer with a cast iron ring gear for 20 years or so. I used it to mix concrete for many projects. My brother-in-law and I even used it once to mix concrete for my Neice's basement floor. It was a lot of work but we got the job done. I don't recommend it for a project that size. However, if you have two people loading the mixer and two people working the concrete it will mix concrete as fast as you can handle it. I usually used a 1 2 3 mix, mixing a half sack of cement per batch. It would take a larger load but the 1/2 sack mix was easy to measure. I cut the cement sack in half with a pointed shovel and dumped it into the mixer. Used buckets to measure the sand and gravel.

I mixed a lot of concrete in my mixer and I never had a problem keeping it clean. After each use, I put a bucket of water and a shovel full of gravel in the mixer. Ran it for a few minutes, dumped the water & gravel, then hosed out the the inside.

Great tool for small jobs.

John

 

[ScottAR]

WHarv, How'd it go? Can't keep us in suspense!! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[ScottAR]

They ever figure out the problem? Just curious, I find it unique (unfortunately) that a major company would actually give a hoot these days about one complaint.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Morning Scott,

I wish I could say that I saw a solution and they implemented it. The only solution that I could see in the process would involve the bottom of the barrel employees taking responsibility for observing when the segregation of the aggregate was a problem and notifying someone who could correct it.

As we know the bottom of the barrel employees aren't hired to observe and recommend but to just keep moving.

They had improved the process a month or so prior to my visit allegedly and that should minimize but not eliminate the chances of it happening again.

I'll just have to be more involved in the buying process and check each pallet for quality product.

I have to take the adversarial position when it comes to modern business and the concept of trying to fill the bottom layers of labor with just anyone and making the machines in charge of quality control.

Now I understand that it's easier to blame labor but the reality is if the laborers don't understand the importance of quality then that's a management failure. If that level of management fails it's because the next layer of management failed. It goes that way all the way to the top of a company.

I think I'm gonna write a book on compartmentalization in society and all the ills it's caused. It'll be the ultimate finger pointing expose. Everyone will be happy. It's all someone else's fault. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ScottAR]

I hear ya on the managment problems... I observe them daily at my job... I often feel like I don't get paid to think as well, just to work, but that's for another thread and another time. You gave them a map and a flashlight, I hope they can find their fanny. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[MarkStewart]

electric cement mixer Does this look like a good deal?
Thanks

 

[MossRoad]

Did you mean this cement mixer?

 

[MarkStewart]

OOPS! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Yes that's the one I was refering to.