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Suggestion for DIY cement mixer

IanD | Posted in Tools for Home Building on May 4, 2007 06:54am

We are down to the finishing stages of a kitchen and bath remodel on our home. Getting ready to do a slew of concrete countertops for the sink, an island, a buffet and bathroom vanity. My next door neighbor, the cabinetmaker, built the cabinets knowing what would sit on top. I just got back from taking the workshop at Cheng Design (www.concreteexchange.com). I’ve gathered all my tools except for a cement mixer.

Looking at rental rates, I’m wondering if it makes sense to purchase a samll, DIY mixer, and if so, which one would the pros suggest? I won’t need to mix/pour more than 3 cu. ft. at a time. I’ve seen electric units ranging from $200 (Harbor Freight) to $730 (Belle Minimix 150). Which one(s) do you guys like?

After the countertop project is done I’m building a deck following the recent article in FHB so I’ll be pouring my own piers. Mybe it makes sense to just purchase one even if I sell it after and consider the difference from what I paid for it as rent (as I’m doing with the grinder/polisher I’ve bought for the countertop project).

Thanks for your input.

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Replies

  1. DustyandLefty | May 04, 2007 07:46pm | #1

    I've got a no-name electric one for small pours for deck building and setting playground equipment.  Yes, go ahead a buy one if you've got room in a shed somewhere to keep the motor out of the weather.  I learned very quickly that you must start the drum turning on these little mixers BEFORE you dump in the mix and the water; mine is too weak to spin up to speed if I've put the ingredients in first.  Try and see how easy it will be to tip the drum's contents into a bucket or wheelbarrow without pouring the concrete all over your shoes.

    (mostly) Dusty and Lefty

  2. JMadson | May 04, 2007 08:57pm | #2

    View Image

    “The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds..” – Hume
    1. DoRight | May 04, 2007 09:07pm | #3

      Been there done that!  How many mixes did you say you needed?

      1. user-53014 | May 04, 2007 09:42pm | #4

        Go for it! Buy it! You can own a nice one for the cost of renting one for like 7 days or so.I bought the Kushlan from Northern tools over 5 years ago (for $400 I think) and it is always there when I (or a friend) needs it.I HATE renting tools! Money down the drain I say.As my father says "better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it".Alan S

        Edited 5/4/2007 2:50 pm ET by alan sullivan

      2. JMadson | May 04, 2007 10:48pm | #6

        I recall some jokes about this approach recently, I was just adding some humor to the mix. ;)“The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds..” – Hume

        1. Hiker | May 04, 2007 11:36pm | #8

          Jeez, you forgot the rake

  3. brownbagg | May 04, 2007 10:46pm | #5

    the harbor freight one is ok, if you burn of the motor a new motor will still be cheaper

  4. JohnSprung | May 04, 2007 11:20pm | #7

    Watch out for what you can expect as a batch size.  I got one of those HD plastic ones that says 3.5 cubic feet.  The drum would hold that much if you laid it on its back and filled it all the way full.  It'll actually mix at most one cubic foot.  It's bogus numbers, like shop vac horsepower or amplifier watts.

    A mixer that small is almost a waste.  You'd be better off mixing by hand if you only need 3-4 batches.  It does help when you need half a dozen to a dozen.  Beyond that, you'd be better off getting half a yard delivered. 

    I finally traded the little mixer for a little air compressor. 

     

     

    -- J.S.

     

    1. frenchy | May 05, 2007 02:49am | #16

      John Sprung

       Please read my post to Ian.

         I love my electric mixer from Home depot.. (IMER minuteman) 

        It's nearly 5 years old and has worked every single time I turn it on.. Not a dime spent thus far on maintinace!

       winters it sits outside in the snow. Spring is here I get to tip the drum  and dump out the chunk of snow/ice that collected in it during the winter..

       Look at the pictures of my house,, see the stone on the walls?  all mixed with the electric mixer.  It's allowed me to work at my pace and mix the mortor perfectly to what I need.  I did find out that the best way to clean the tub is mix a bunch of concrete.  That knocks all the mortor loose that had collected and leaves the drum cleaner..

       I'm doing the south wall as we speak.   Each timber framed square takes me about 3 hours or so to do and some nights I get home too late to do and some times (weekends)  I can do two squares in a day.. It takes me about 120 pounds of mortor mix to do each square and about 1/2 ton of stone.  

          The mortor is quietly mixing as I lay out the pattern I'll be using and then I dump a tub of it and move it over to the wall. 

       It's very peacefull and quiet and I enjoy the steady pace required of doing good stone work..

  5. bolanger | May 04, 2007 11:37pm | #9

    stow porto mix - electric.  great machine

  6. QCInspector | May 04, 2007 11:46pm | #10

    Would this work for you?

    http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=10338&cat=2,2180,33222&ap=1

    1. caseyr | May 05, 2007 12:06am | #11

      I was just going to suggest the "Oddjob" mixer. I just dug mine out today to mix a small batch. I have only used it a couple of times but it certainly worked well for non critical jobs (such as fixing the sidewalk section that caved in under the manlift...)

  7. User avater
    draftguy | May 05, 2007 12:54am | #12

    Have a Red Lion (electric) that i've gotten a lot of use out of. Only thing i don't like is the lack of a start button (it turns on immediately once it's plugged in). I try to limit it to about two and a half 80# bags, although it'll do more.

    Have used it to pour several fence post foundations, steps and sidewalks. It's become a favorite toy. A word of advice: try to mix outside if you can. Once the drum starts rotating the dry mix will cover you and everything within 10' in a fine gray dust.

  8. TJK | May 05, 2007 02:11am | #13

    Rentals where I live are $35 a day for a real, gas-powered, no plastic, four 80-pound bags at once mixer. And with a rental you don't need to store it or fix it when it breaks. IMO the toy concrete mixers sold at HD and Lowes are a waste of time. I suppose if you needed a mixer more than once a week it might make sense to buy or lease one.

    1. joeh | May 05, 2007 02:37am | #15

      Those 80# bags are too much for an old fart to hump up into a mixer.

      60s are much easier & cost is within pennies usually.

      I have used one of those red plastic low to the ground mixers, sure is easier to fill.

      Joe H

  9. frenchy | May 05, 2007 02:34am | #14

    IanD

     I've got an electric one and have used it for many many jobs thus far in the construction of my home..

      Don't buy the cheapy ones.. they won't last,  are weak, and will be junk quickly..

      I bought mine at Home Depot I paid about $400 as best I can remember..IMER minuteman made in Italy!    but I've used the heck out of it and it's never given me a moment of trouble..

      I bought concrete for a section of the floor that would have cost me nearly $800 to pump if I'd called the ready mix place.. It cost me $180 in bags of concrete and one saturday..

     MY walls are stone and by using my own mixer I've saved thousands in rentals and worked at my own pace..  (plus I'll bet that I've saved well over $40,000 by doing it myself rather than having a contractor do it for me) 

       

  10. junkhound | May 05, 2007 02:52am | #17

    Go with the guys who advise investing in a good solid mixer.

    From your title I thought you were going to DIY the mixer itself, which is also an option. A couple of pulleys, an old car flywheel and starter shaft and some steel is all it takes (plus a welder, lathe, and a bakcyard full of old cars)

    That out of the way, I paid $187 for a cast iron mixer in 1971, that's like near $1K equivalent now. . It has paid for itself many times over.

    Here is my mix method. 

    1. Buy 'reclaim' at the yard and 94# bags of cement.  The reclaim is typically washed out concrete from returning truck with too much to dump at the side of the road.

    2. Best to get the reclaim in a small dump truck, but a regualr pickup works too, just harer to shovel out the last bits.

    3. Dump 4-5 bags of cement into a 6 cu ft wheelbarrow set up next to the mixer.

    4. back the truck up to a convienient shovel distance from the mixer.

    5. Spray a  gallon or so of water into the mixer, 5. Using a flat shovel, I alternatively by ratio throw in 10-12 shovelfulls of reclaim and 2 or 3 shovels of cement (depending on what mix I want)

    6. A hose on fine spray keeps the cement from billowing out.

    7. add water till the desired slump is obtained - e.g how far the mix rides up the side of the mixer,

    8. Dump into place or transport wheelbarrow, put #5 into the mixer and let it mix while you place the wheelbarrow load.

    9 When the pile in the truck is pat the end of the shovel, raise the dump bed slightly.

    Have mixed literally hundreds of yards this way.  Yield is about 1-1/2 yards an hour, more if you can just dump straight out of the mixer, not counting transport of materials from the yard. My truck only want to easily carry 1-1/2 yards of reclaim anyway.

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