I just removed the blades and use this heavy pinion gear. I have a long pole with a flat bent end I use as a plow after all the clumps get broken up and I slowly drip water in with a two liter. I can get a little more than a 14x15 and a 4 inch drag and 6 inch cope mold a batch. Takes 10 to 15 minutes a batch and about five minutes of that is manually plowing it to make sure it's getting turned over enough. I will eventually do more upgrades but this actually works quite well.
I am thinking about this route, keeping any newly-acquired mixer dual purpose, as I may have some concrete work in my future... Field stones were also mentioned as a mixing payload. Is they key to get something 'about that big' in reference to the size of the mixer?
Not sure size is the key as much as weight is. I think it has to be heavy enough to actually compress the sand and break lumps apart, but I think the size of it will affect how it acts inside the drum. My best case scenario is one that the ball or gear in this case stays in position while spinning around inside the drum. Every attempt I made sampling rocks, bowling balls and cast iron media was unsuccesful due to the ball eventually being caught in the drum and just spinning with it instead of rolling inside of it while staying in place. My next upgrade would be to mount in place so that it can spin but with a plow on the opposite side.
