Bought a grout mixer: sand muller lookalike

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 where the grout would scour the paint off immediately. It may have been damaged stock that spent some time out in the rain to get rusty. The power cord was cut off so maybe a motor fault like a dead capacitor. The top cover was bent but pushing on the bent part immediately fixed it and allowed the lid to close properly and activate the lid safety switch, so that may have been the problem.

I'll see if I can see any faults and give it a run.

It's the 80 litre model: https://forestwest.com.au/products/80l-portable-mortar-mixer-screed-mixer

 

Hey Mark, have you set this up yet? Looks like a wheel would be easy to mount.

 

The forum has been dead for me 11 days just after I made the initial post. At this stage I haven't done anything, I have noticed the cord was cut off the motor and it looks like the lid safety switch mechanism was removed. I'll make sure the motor works and might even try it as-is before modifying it with a wheel to make it into a proper muller. The weather has been non stop raining lately so I haven't done much at all,

 

Same here, I've only been able to get the page to load today.
Even if the motor needs work; it looks like a good score.

 

I once got a Craftsman table saw used for very little money at a secondhand-junk-antique store that the motor did not work.
One or two loose wires in either the motor or switchbox, once corrected has been running for almost 30 years.
If it runs like the video it would be a solid unit.

 

I'll have to test the motor soon and see if the planetary gearbox is ok, hopefully it's a dead capacitor or something. I don't think I've seen something so close to being a muller without actually being one, the retail new price is expensive compared to a concrete mixer but I guess in the right trade, specialist machines pay for themselves quickly.

 

Only if you add some mayonnaise to the petrobond . Looks to be a decent home capacity and in stainless steel too.

 

Lost chocolate casting?

 

The Navy RTM's which replaced the Foundry manual recommended using an industrial mixer to mull core sand if a muller was not available

 

The brand of refractory concrete I'm using suggests using an industrial bread dough mixer to blend the water uniformly into the concrete. So little water is used that a conventional cement mixer may not be enough.

 

Just an update on the grout mixer: I pulled the cover off and identified the power wires and put some new ones on: the cover had wads of RTV and didn't look at all factory. There's no sign of the lid safety switch or the rod mechanism at all. I pulled the fan cover off the motor and spun the motor by hand: it seems a bit stiff but did rotate the arms and wasn't obviously faulty like a broken gear. The reduction box asked for NLGC 0 grease and I had some 00 steering box grease that I topped it up with. When powered up the machine ran fine, although it's very loud, a bit louder than a cement mixer. I'll run some sand in it to clean it a bit and then use it to mix the refractory for a new furnace project.

 

Based on the earlier experiments with the 28cm/11" bore furnace, a smaller A8 crucible could readily melt iron but barely get to 1350 deg C with a larger A25. I'll increase the size of the bore to obtain a larger combustion chamber that can burn enough fuel to overcome the heat losses. A larger combustion chamber would increase combustion dwell time all other factors being equal and allow slower burning oil to release it's heat.

Only twice did I melt a half full A25 full of iron with ease in about 25 minutes with the old furnace and it was later determined to be mystery fuel in what I thought was waste JetA1....it was melting the plastic buckets so maybe some toluene paint solvent which is also an octane booster for gasoline.

 

The refractory concrete arrived today, the freight was way more than the product...works out to be $133 per 25 kilo bag delivered. I bought six bags which should be enough based on the last build.

 

What a score with the mixer!!! Can't go past a tip shop.

Any update/intention on converting to a muller after the refractory is completed?


Charlie

 

I'll run it as-is and see if it works like that before modifying it with a roller.

 

Righto. I'll keep my eyes peeled