New to me Mini Mite Muller

Discussion in 'Sand Mullers' started by Mister ED, Nov 3, 2018.

  1. Mister ED

    Mister ED Silver

    I bought this Mini Mite muller a week or so back. On Friday I took a trip around the bottom of Lake Michigan to pick it up in north Chicagoland. Cleaned up a bit of old dried petrobond, and some staining. Made up a quick batch of green sand today, seems like it worked pretty well. The sand feels very good to me.

    I got a pretty good deal on the muller. And when I picked it up, the seller kept giving me other stuff ... to the point I was feeling guilty, LOL. I took 3 pairs of tongs (one with 3' handles), 2 small flasks (one steel, one aluminum), small ingot tray, and a new #8 graphite crucible.
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  2. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Congrats! It looks to be in great shape.

    Pete
     
  3. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Nice score!!
     
  4. smithdoor

    smithdoor Copper

  5. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Oh, sure, do it the easy way...

    :D J/K, that is awesome! Just like Mr.Pete's. I like how he has his right next to his molding bench, convenient! Geat score.

    Jeff
     
  6. Mister ED

    Mister ED Silver

    Overall I think it is. It was pretty grungy on the outside from petrobond staining (I believe). That wouldn't effect the usability, but it readily cleaned up with some Naptha. There is some wear on the bottom 1/2 of the drum sides ... but I don't see me ever wearing it out. The wheel (rubber) is a little wonky, but still works fine. I will have to see if I can find a suitable replacement. I'm not sure who even makes these. The only place I have seen marketing them is Midwest Technologies ... maybe they have them made specifically for them.

    I didn't want to wait a year + for me to get around to thinking about building a muller. :D:D And, when I saw the listing at $500 ... I jumped, quick. At the typical $800-$1,000 that you see these listed, I would have never have bought one. Making one (or more :p) I can easily see investing close to my purchase price ... just factoring in for supplies and a small part of the labor.

    I had worried that maybe it would be a little of a pain being so small. But reviewing your latest build thread this morning, at 25lb capacity (11ish kg) I guess its not that much smaller than some of the cement mixer versions.

    One thing on Mr. Pete's being right next to his bench ... maybe even a slicker idea ... the original owner of this one actually had the bottom hopper off and the top mounted to 3/4" plywood (with a hole for the trap door). So, it was mounted on his bench and dumped into a bin underneath. I presume he had two bins, one for knockout and one for mulled sand. It is kinda a pain scooping the sand out of the original hopper (and you can see Mr Pete using that little ash shovel).

    I have foot surgery coming up and once recovered (early spring) I will be back on building the kitchen cabinets from hell. So, keep on the sand experiments and get a formula worked out before I get to that point.;)
     
  7. Mister ED

    Mister ED Silver

    Here are some photos for someone that asked.
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    Tobho Mott likes this.
  8. Mister ED

    Mister ED Silver

  9. smithdoor

    smithdoor Copper

    Thank you photos
    Surprise to rubber wheel look came from cart and the low tech switch

    Dave

    FYI this will protect your motor (time delay fuse)
    You may want to a have few fuses
    This type works great for motors and welders
    I use this type for my motors

    Dave
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2018
  10. Funniest thing I just bought one of those. Looks identical. They don't sell spare parts, but refer you to a guy who makes them for Midwest. He sells spares directly and I thought pretty reasonable. I'll send you his email if you like.

    Mine was damaged in shipping and I'm in the middle of claims process and am holding off repairing it until that's over.
     
  11. Mister ED

    Mister ED Silver

    Andy, is this the email that you have? Neillkroeger1@gmail.com

    I sent one earlier in the week, still no reply. It's interesting, they used to be called Kroeger Mini-Mite. I didn't realize that it was still a Kroeger making them (until I heard back from Midwest).
     
  12. That's the email. Give him some time. It's not a big company, he told me I'd have to mail him a check, he doesn't take credit cards. But his prices seemed reasonable.

    Midwest seemed to be similar. First they told me to get a price from Kroeger then tell them and they would get me the part. Then they said just deal with him. Nice guys all around.
     
  13. Nudge

    Nudge Copper

    Very nice! I would have thought it would have had a steel wheel, I guess it would be quirter with the rubber one.
     
  14. smithdoor

    smithdoor Copper

    That can be made later from steel.
    A wheel is simple to machine
    From the MFG the price will be high
    If looks a wheel from a hand cart

    Dave

     
  15. PatJ

    PatJ Silver

    Somehow I missed this post.
    Nice score.
    I have had my eye on one of those, but have not bought one yet since I have a mixer.
     
  16. Mine is set up next to my bench so I can scrape freshly mulled sand into the storage heap as soon as it is mulled (with the plywood cover removed). I haven't yet worked out a good way to break out the sand from the flask and get it into the muller. The feed chute is pretty small, I may just need a slightly smaller shovel. But it does a great job of mulling and I can actually sift sand into the flask instead of mashing it through my riddle.

    IMG_4589.JPG
     
    John Homer and Tobho Mott like this.
  17. Mister ED

    Mister ED Silver

    Wow Andy, I see what you mean about the loading chute being different between the two. In sharing emails with Mr. Kroeger, they hve changed wheel setups. The new version uses a steel or aluminum wheel. They don't have any of those rims left. I'll probably just buy the replacement setup come spring & after I heal up from surgery (just got home today). I could make something up, but his price wasn't crazy ... so I will probably switch to the new style wheel.
     
  18. I thought their prices were reasonable, not the typical spare parts pricing. Of course the new mullers are a bit much.
     
  19. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    image.jpeg I have at least 3 of these kicking around. One lives with my muller. It's just the right size and works great for "dipping".

    Pete

     
  20. My muller opening is about 3" by four inches. If that's an Army trenching tool it's way too big for mine.
     

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