Regenerating the cement mixer
Well, since this is going to be such a huge part of whatever construction we end up going with I thought it needed a wee makeover. Originally electric with a belt driven pulley between the electric motor and the gear driven bowl spinning mechanism, I have fitted it with a 6.5 HP elcheapo Honda inspired Chinese knock-off 4 stroke engine with a 2:1 reducing gearbox with centrifugal clutch. Picked that up from Paramount Browns at Cavan.
I very carefully worked out the pulley sizes so the mixer maintains its 12 RPM bowl speed while the engine is able to rev at around 2500 RPM which is where it delivers maximum torque.
This mixer is old, made by Grosvener/Carpenter in Adelaide. It’s been in our family for 25 years after Dad picked it up for a sweet $20 way back in the 80’s. I spent the weekend with a hardened steel stake and a sledgehammer smashing out the years of build up in it and knocked out 3/4 of a builders barrow of old conrete, render, lime mortar and who knows what else this machine has mixed over the years.
Packed full with slurry it will now more than fill the Kelso builders barrow with each load, which makes a mockery of the calculations I did below for the poured earth walls. I took Dad’s word for it on the bowl size and have to admit I only ever measured the output with all the crap still caked to the bowl.
Having knocked out all the concrete I am now able to attack all the rusty holes with the arc welder and patch them up. I’ve made a dolly for it to sit on when in use, which lifts it about 30cm off the ground giving the bowl more angle to make it easier to empty. A fresh wire brush and a coat of rust killer and a nice top coat of coloured paint and this puppy should still be around when my boy gets to building his own stuff.