Masonry Magazine August 2002 Page. 17
Water and cement wear
Water and cement wear away shaft components and reduce their life dramatically.
means that mortar will be tumbled back and forth. If the mixer's not designed properly, that golf ball will stay at one end or the other, and that means you won't get a thorough mix."
Steel or Neoprene? The choice of blade material is up to the contractor but two factors might help make that choice: Steel blades last longer on average but, with proper clearance settings, neoprene blades prevent material build-up better. Still, neoprene blades generally have to be replaced more often than steel, a cost factor.
A big maintenance expense is keeping the bearings in good condition. "Water and cement wear away shaft components and reduce their life dramatically," comments Faler. "The standard grease-fitting equipped paddle shaft bearings require periodic attention, grease under pressure applied to the fitting to push out material that has seeped by the seals."
Multiquip's Essick division offers a sealed system that requires no greasing, is extremely durable, and is "great for contractors who don't maintain their mixers," as Faler says.
Lang's new Mud Hog also uses sealed bearings for the same reasons. Another design feature that Lang worried about is ease of seal and bearing replacement. "In a mixer, the shaft should be supported from the outside, where the bearings are not up against the tub. If the bearings are up against the tub and the shaft starts wearing out right where it supports the weight, that shaft is going to wobble. The old mixers were famous for that."
He continues, "You need a system where you can change the bearings and seals without taking the drum off the mixer. It's about a half hour job. To change the seals in most mixers, it could be a half-day job for a mechanic. The mixer we're building is like the Essick's where the seals can be changed in no more than 45 minutes."
A final point: don't forget, you have to load, unload and move that mixer.
SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT
If you get a call for a repair job that requires a small amount of mortar mixed on the site, do you hook up the mixer to the truck? Grab the shovels and mortar box? Get a pail?
Maybe the folks at Quikrete, Atlanta, Ga., have a better idea. While sold for the do-it-yourself market, their Concrete and Mortar Mixer might be the better idea for your truck's toolbox.
The mixer is designed to stir up to 80 pounds of concrete without the use of strenuous stirring in a wheelbarrow or mortar box. To use, you pour concrete mix and water in the cylindrical mixer, hand-tighten the lid, lay it on its side and roll in a full circle.
Upon completing one full circle, sit the mixer upright, roll it onto its lid and back again. Repeat the process until you have rolled the mixer bucket through three complete circles. Simply open the lid of the mixer bucket and pour the mixed product into your project.
Not rocket science but then again, simple usually means easier and that's not bad. Besides, it fits easily in the back of the truck, doesn't need gasoline or an extension cord and-dare we say it seems like a fun way to mix mortar in small batches.
Give some thought to your workers in loading and unloading the mortar mix. According to Lang, his mixer offers the worker some decided benefits. In fact, that was why he got into that business in the first place. "Our unit discharges high, but you load the thing down low. There's no more lifting heavy bags of mortar and concrete up above your chest. With our mixer, you throw them in at waist height. There's no more shoveling high in the air. This is stuff I've been trying to get the mixer companies to do for years. Nobody would listen to me, so I decided we'll build our own."
As for moving the mixer, Faler says, "If highway towing is standard for your mixers, larger tires will provide less bounce and leaf springs will reduce wear and tear due to vibration. And be sure the tow bar is strong enough the stronger the bar, the safer the tow."
Mosher considers the mixer's wheels and tires, too, but in a different way. "It should be easy to remove the tire hub to enable a forklift to have better access to the mixer. In addition, I want to be able to remove a tire from a mixer easily so that it is very difficult to steal that unit."
Now that is a very practical issue considering the high cost of equipment insurance. Interesting, ease of removing the wheels never came up in talking to the manufacturers. Wonder if they ever thought of it?
Then again, Lang's Mud Hog doesn't even have wheels. It's designed to sit on a pickup truck bed and be offloaded by forklift. So maybe at least one other contractor-and manufacturer-has thought about the problem of theft.
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