Sand Mullers

Bought a grout mixer: sand muller lookalike

invalid@example.com (Mark's castings) — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 02:58:28 +0000

I was at the local dump recycle shop when I walked past this yellow machine and almost gave myself whiplash as I did a double take: It's called a "Forestwest grout mixer" and looks identical to a small green sand muller minus the wheels to break up the lumps. I bought it for $50 Australian or about $30 US. Interestingly the inside may be a bit rusty, but the machine shows no sign of ever having been used as the paint on the center column is intact as well as the corners of the barrel...

Bought a grout mixer: sand muller lookalike

Please post pics/vids of your current mullers

invalid@example.com (Rob Hall) — Sun, 05 Oct 2025 14:16:49 +0000

Most of these threads are years old, and I just know you guys change equipment more often than that.

I am going to be looking at building a muller and wanted to see what kinds y'all are using these days.

While I had good success with the "Tarp Stomp" method, I wanted to build something and try to reinvent yet another wheel (pun intended). Thinking of getting a 55 gallon drum to start. WAY overkill for a hobby operation, but I do exist to make sure the word OVERKILL gets used more often...

Please post pics/vids of your current mullers

Am I in too deep?

invalid@example.com (Luke Reuter) — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:24:02 +0000

I' just starting. a friend gave me a furnace for my birthday two years ago I'm getting ready to try it.

Have I started out too ambitious? I wanted to create my school logo (Washington State University cougars) in aluminum to top my new flag pole. Right now I'm just trying to mull my first batch of green sand from aquarium sand and kitty litter (pulverized in my coffee grinder). First batch was too wet, but I fried it and I'm sneaking up on the moisture content. But am I trying for too...

Am I in too deep?

Paddle Wheel Muller or Lugged Wheel Muller

invalid@example.com (Melterskelter) — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 13:28:57 +0000

I have been toying with changing the wheel I've been using on my muller from a flat-faced steel 4" wide by 8" diameter wheel to a lugged face wheel like the following drawing. This would not be a hard part to cast in iron, but the work involved in making a pattern and flasks would be many times greater than making a weldment. So, a weldment it shall be. As presently conceived it has an OD of 10" and mounts on a common 4 on 4" diameter bolt-on trailer axle hub.
View attachment 21916 ...

Paddle Wheel Muller or Lugged Wheel Muller

George Vontorne's muller

invalid@example.com (bmac2) — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 03:48:02 +0000

Ok let’s get this out of the way. The Vontorne sand muller small but for me casting is purely a hobby. I only have about 150-175 lbs of green sand so I don’t need a large muller nor do I have space for one. Up until now I’ve been mulling my sand in a 5 gallon pail with a paint mixer and it works but.

I’ve had the plans for the George Vontorne's muller for a couple of years and had the time and materials so I thought it was time to build one.

I used what I had around I came up with some 1in...

George Vontorne's muller

Thinking About Switching To Tumbler Muller

invalid@example.com (Swiftsure 33) — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 21:30:28 +0000

Been with my homemade rotating-drum muller for about a year now. It works just fine, and I've probably put an average of about 100lbs of petrobond through it per week with little issue, aside from having to continually add tape to the drive pulley to account for the axle slowly shifting under pressure. Here's some images of how she's looking these days....

Thinking About Switching To Tumbler Muller

New to me muller...

invalid@example.com (DavidF) — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 23:25:38 +0000

Just picked up this Mifco ML250 muller yesterday and I'm getting ready to drop the motor out and see if it can be wired to 230V vs the 460 it currently is... But have a question..
Is this on the lower right a type of soft start?? And if so I'm assuming I would need to swap it out to one for 230 V ???
I'm keeping it 3ph, just need to drop voltage.
Or I could wire my step down transformer backwards and step up the voltage. Just not sure if it would handle the amps.....

New to me muller...

Portable Sand Muller Rebuild

invalid@example.com (HotRodTractor) — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 14:50:50 +0000

Over the weekend I went and picked up my sand muller purchase. It's been sitting outside on its side in the mud for a few years, but up underneath protected from rain there is a relatively new Baldor single phase 3hp motor. The gearbox seems to be in good condition and spins very freely, but the main shaft that goes up through the tub appears to be locked up. I know one of the muller wheels spins freely, the other is either locked up or pressing hard down onto the tub... TBD when some warmer...

Portable Sand Muller Rebuild

Another cement mixer muller

invalid@example.com (Melterskelter) — Fri, 06 May 2022 00:50:51 +0000

View attachment 2048 View attachment 2049 View attachment 2050 View attachment 2051 View attachment 2052 Someone in another thread recently said they wanted to see pics or video of the muller I made last Fall. So here is a short video I made this afternoon. And also included are a few stills. The basic mixer is a vintage Lion I bought in Canada. It is pretty skookum with a cast iron ring gear and cast iron backbone. I seems...

Another cement mixer muller

Ball Muller

invalid@example.com (Mach) — Thu, 05 May 2022 23:04:29 +0000

Has this been posted? Its interesting for simplicity. Looks like it works for green sand. Would it work for petrobond?

http://millerstockwell.com/gallery/sandmixer.html

Simple way to mull

invalid@example.com (Billy Elmore) — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:53:31 +0000

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...

Simple way to mull

Vontorne Muller

invalid@example.com (Jim Edgeworth) — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 23:06:01 +0000

View attachment 14633 View attachment 14632 I built a close clone of George Vontorne’s muller, just for conditioning 10Kg batches of green sand. Seems to work well with light loads but my ex golf trolley gearmotor isn’t butch enough. I might change it out for a 1.5HP that I have lying around spare, trouble is it’s 2750rpm so it will need about an 80:1 reduction gearbox to get it down to a more manageable 35 rpm.

simpson muller (intensive mixer) from 1946

invalid@example.com (thomas o'brien) — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 12:35:07 +0000

I just bought a super old simpson muller from 1946, its a Model 1 with two crusher wheels, very large 3 phase 1.5 HP 1700 rpm motor. I converted it to 220 single phase with a vfd and it runs and works great.

The whole unit is so heavy i can't budge it if i try to lift a corner (moved it with a forklift) the mixing bin is about 18". I spent a day cleaning off caked-on petrobond and layers of sodium silicate sand from decades of use.

after a bit of use, the wheels get pushed up and don't...

simpson muller (intensive mixer) from 1946

Muller Wheels?

invalid@example.com (dennis) — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 02:31:25 +0000

How does this one look? (Other than expensive-seeming.)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4GCFW...olid=2LOMF9SUEPNK4&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I'm suspecting that It's a good one, for the following reasons:

1) large(er) bearing shaft, e.g. 20 mm/0.78 inches. This means an easily-easily-weldable grade of steel can be used which will be strong/stiff enough to work well, and (hopefully!) keep on working.

2) urethane "tire/tyre" - just like what Mifco is...

Muller Wheels?

BEARDSLEY & PIPER MULBARO MULLER

invalid@example.com (Planebuilder) — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:09:28 +0000

Do any of you know anything about the B&P Mulbaro Mullers? I was going to start building a muller, I like building stuff, but it always takes longer than planed, and so I looked for a used one to rebuild. These "Mulbaros" started popping up, they must have been successful there are lots of them out there. It looks like you lift the top section up with a hoist, load sand, lower it and Mull. When done, lift again and roll the bottom like a wheelbarrow to where you need it. View attachment 12511

Mini mite operation

invalid@example.com (Paperman) — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 13:31:10 +0000

Been picking up items as I find deals on them. Found a damnear new Mini mite muller. It’s a newer cast aluminum version. The black paint isn’t even worn off the steel wheel.

How much sand should it run at once? Assuming water green sand.

I’ve read 25# but that seems like to much.

How long of a run for mixing new sand, how long to freshen used sand?

I’m sure allot of it is feel and experience, just trying to get a baseline.

Muller first Run

invalid@example.com (John Homer) — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 00:25:16 +0000

Ran the Muller for the first time and worked great.

Tobho's HT1-Inspired Cement Mixer Muller Build

invalid@example.com (Tobho Mott) — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 20:19:55 +0000

Pretty much identical to the AlloyAvenue thread I just created...

First, if you want a good laugh, check out my first attempt from a couple of years ago. I am now considering it to have merely been an experiment, not an actual build as I believed at the time.

http://www.alloyavenue.com/vb/showth...l=1#post189573...

Tobho's HT1-Inspired Cement Mixer Muller Build

Motor sizing and power train..?

invalid@example.com (dennis) — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 02:54:53 +0000

I've been following builds and researching as I - slowly!- gather the parts, tools, and ideas needed to make one of these things/mullers/ox-mills...

Trouble is, there's no room for even a Dexter Bull (miniature cattle) at either furnace location. So it's going to need to be a motor. I'm thinking I'm going to need a stiff one - 1 hp - and it had best be totally enclosed, ball-bearings at each end, and fan cooled.

Am I full of in thinking this? Am I...

Motor sizing and power train..?

Very fast and effective way to crush bentonite

invalid@example.com (Pedro Ruela) — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:07:14 +0000

Hello everyone.
In my never ending quest to find bentonite in Portugal, appart from a beauty shop for 20€ 2 pounds, I resorted to granulated bentonite used for Cat litter. 2€ 8 pounds .
After going Daniel San, wax off wax on with a 6 pound slice of round steel, for a few hours, my back started to complain, and I only crushed about 1 pound. I decided to pour the entire content on top of a 1/4 inch steel plate and run a cylinder back an forth over it. It worked like a charm, and crushed 7...

Very fast and effective way to crush bentonite