Building something with your own hands is an activity that not only brings benefits, but also raises self-esteem. Such work cannot be done without concrete solutions. It can take quite a lot of time to prepare them, especially when it comes to filling paths or areas. In some cases, it does not make sense to buy a large concrete mixer for mortar for your needs. But a homemade concrete mixer from a barrel will be great solution. It will save money and allow you to rationally use the components that are on the farm. What are the methods for manufacturing such a device and assembly diagrams will be discussed in this article.

Why a concrete mixer

When you think about a concrete mixer for mortar, the question may arise as to why complicate your life and not use a drill or mixer. This is a pretty reasonable remark. But it is worth considering for what purposes these tools were originally developed. Drills are used for mixing not large quantity low viscosity solution. If used for a long time, the rotor or stator windings will easily fail. The drill is suitable for drilling holes in metal, wood, plastic and concrete. This is its primary task.

A construction mixer can really help in solving the problem of preparing a solution. Although this tool was developed for these purposes, it is more suitable for working with adhesives and cement-sand mixtures of small and medium volumes. If the task is to prepare concrete filled with crushed stone or other stone, then both the blades themselves and the engine can be damaged. All this speaks to the need for a more powerful product that can easily cope with the stated tasks.

Operating principle

The most common is the rotating concrete mixer for mortar, but in fact, this is not the only type. There are three mixing principles that are used in concrete mixers:

• independent or gravitational;
• exposure to vibration waves;
• mechanical.

The first type of solution mixing is the simplest and is rarely used in industry. It is somewhat reminiscent of throwing mortar with a shovel. But this happens inside the container. The container of the concrete mixer for the solution rotates perpendicular to the ground. Under the influence of gravity, concrete falls from the walls and is mixed. It will not be possible to prepare a large amount of solution in this way, since this is a rather labor-intensive task.

The second method of preparing the solution is the highest quality. It involves the presence of a motor that creates vibration waves in the solution. The container itself, in which the components of the solution are located, does not move. Although such a concrete mixer for mortar provides excellent result, but a good amount will go towards paying for electricity. This happens due to the need for a very powerful motor. Mechanical method mixing is exactly what is used in most available concrete mixers. It combines the gravity method with mixing blades.

What can be used

A homemade concrete mixer for preparing a solution makes it possible to use various components that have long been collecting dust in the attic or backyard. Metal pipes or a corner are suitable for the frame. Large wheels from an old wheelbarrow will also be used in the concrete mixer. It’s easy to assemble a concrete mixer for mortar with your own hands from plastic or metal barrel. The latter can be bought at the station Maintenance, where they store large volumes of oil. According to the drawing, it is also easy to assemble a concrete mixer from an aluminum can that has become leaky or is simply no longer used. Several options will be discussed below. The instructions and drawings provided do not have to be used as step by step guide, looking for exactly such components. They can serve as the basis for your own project.

A homemade concrete mixer for mortar has some advantages compared to a factory one:

• repairability and availability of parts;
• ease of storage;
• comparatively lower cost;
• It’s easy to design what you need according to your needs.

If the design of a concrete mixer for mortar is assembled from improvised means, then you will not have to search for components if something fails. You don’t have to hire specialists to repair a concrete mixer for mortar. You can maintain what you have collected without outside help. You may have to purchase a tiny percentage of spare parts for the concrete mixer, which means that the costs will be low compared to a factory concrete mixer. It is possible to select the parameters of a concrete mixer for mortar for a specific facility.

Concrete mixer without engine

This is the simplest and most affordable option that almost any craftsman can build at home. This concrete mixer for mortar is perfect for those cases when a medium amount of mortar is required, and there is no electricity on site. To assemble such a concrete mixer you will need:

• welding machine;
• inch pipe;
• marking tool;
• metal rod for the axle;
• Bulgarian;
• 40 liter can;
• bearings.

The first step is to build a base or frame for the future concrete mixer. For these purposes, six parts with a length of 1 m are cut using a grinder. Two isosceles triangles are assembled from them using a welding machine. IN top corner Two metal couplings are welded between the slats. They are selected with a diameter such that 2 bearings can easily be inserted into them. The lower corners of the two triangles are connected by jumpers; additionally, you can install two more jumpers between the triangles. This way it will turn out monolithic design, which will provide stability to the rotating can.

So that the concrete mixer for the solution does not require titanic efforts when rotating it, it is necessary to balance the can. For these purposes, you can place it sideways on a thin wall and try to find a center of gravity at which it will not tip to one side or the other. This point needs to be noted. Two holes are drilled in the walls. They should be located opposite each other. Their diameter should be 1 mm larger than the diameter of the reinforcement used as an axis. To secure the metal rod in the aluminum can, you can use flanges. They are also assembled independently.

They will require two small pieces of pipe. Its internal diameter should be slightly larger than the diameter of the axis. You also need two small circles sheet metal. The pipe sections are welded to the round pieces in the center. A hole is drilled in the round pieces so that the reinforcement can pass through. Holes with a diameter of 4.8 mm are drilled around the entire perimeter of the circle circle. They are necessary for fixing the flange to the can. The rounds need to be given a slight bend so that they fit snugly into the can.

The process of assembling a concrete mixer is simple. The frame is already ready. The bearings are inserted into place in the couplings. At the end of the reinforcement for the axle, a bend is made for the handle. Flanges with bolts or metal rivets are fixed on the can. The handle is threaded through the first bearing, the can and the second bearing. The can is placed in the middle. The flange pipes are welded to the axial fittings. To prevent the axle from slipping out, stoppers are placed on both sides of the bearings. A schematic drawing of a finished concrete mixer for mortar is shown in the illustration below.

Preparing a solution in this design does not cause any difficulties. It is enough to add all the components for the solution without water and twist them several times. After this, add to the solution required amount water and finish mixing is done. Additionally, such a structure for mixing the solution can be equipped with wheels from an old tricycle to make it easier to transport. The operation of such a concrete mixer can be assessed in the video:

A similar design can be made of concrete mixers for mortar from a barrel. You will have to slightly increase the dimensions of the frame. The rod to hold the barrel must run diagonally. Then sufficient displacement of the solution will be ensured for mixing the components.

To make it easier to visualize what such a concrete mixer for preparing the mixture should look like, below is a diagram. There are no sizes on it, because they are selected individually. All components are clearly marked to aid in assembly. The frame for the concrete mixer is slightly different in the drawing. It is made in the shape of rectangles with an additional jumper. Thanks to this solution, the device for preparing the mixture is more stable.

Driven concrete mixer

The concrete mixer should automate the process of preparing the solution as much as possible. That is why it is worth thinking about how to assemble a structure using an electric drive. It's easy to make a concrete mixer from a 200-liter barrel with your own hands. To work you will need:

• inch frame pipe;
• engine from washing machine or old pump;
• 200 liter barrel;
• power button;
• V-belt;
• pulleys from a washing machine, large and small;
• a pair of gears from the starter.

To prevent the solution from falling out of the barrel, its top must be reduced in diameter. To do this, an incision 20 cm deep is made every 15 cm in the shape of a small triangle. After this, all the blades are bent towards the middle and boiled.

The large gear from the starter is placed on the bottom and the necessary markings are made so that later it can be secured.

A frame is assembled from a pipe or angle that will hold the barrel. You can make it according to the sample shown in the photo below. Two pieces of pipe are simply bent at an angle of 90 degrees and reinforced with a small piece of sheet metal. An axle for the wheels is mounted on the lower part. A pulley is welded onto the crossbar that will hold the barrel, onto which a large gear will subsequently be attached.

The next step is to install a pipe with bearings, into which a second pulley with a smaller gear is installed. The distance must be calculated so that the concrete mixer gears easily interact with each other. Wheels can be used from an old car or even from a Lada. But then you will additionally need hubs, which can be found at disassembly.

The motor from the washing machine is mounted at the bottom of the frame under the gears. The electrical connection is also made. A regular 6 amp starter can be used as a switch.

IN last resort a barrel is mounted in its place, which completes the entire structure. To prevent the pulley from bending under the weight during the preparation of the mixture, it is necessary to make two safety wheels that can support the barrel from the front. The illustration shows how they can be fixed.

There is another way to make a concrete mixer from a 200 liter barrel. In the design of such a unit for preparing the mixture, the unit through which rotation is transmitted from the engine to the container will be different. To assemble this option for preparing the solution, you will need an unnecessary car disk. The entire internal part is cut out so that only two external ones with sides remain. A hub is attached to them, which ties them together. After this, the resulting node through rubber gaskets attached to the barrel of a concrete mixer.

Rotation will be transmitted from the motor to the smaller pulley through the belt. A wheel with a smaller diameter is attached to a smaller pulley and from it, through a belt, rotation occurs to the fixed disk.

This is what the structure looks like from the back. You can see how the main components are secured to the concrete mixer. The motor and pulleys must be adjusted so that the belts move straight without distortion, as they will simply fly off.

You can use a regular automatic machine as a starter for a concrete mixer, but it’s more interesting to use a block from an old one washing machine. It has a timer. Once you launch it, you can safely do other preparatory work. Once the concrete mixer has stopped, the solution can be used. It is important to remember that the solution cannot be left for a long period of time, because the water from it may evaporate or the solution itself will shrink and lose its viscosity.

Note! Excellent concrete mixers are made from barrels that are made from of stainless steel. They are more durable and neutral to the components of the solution. True, the weight of such a concrete mixer will be slightly higher.

In the drawing for assembling a concrete mixer for mortar, try to provide for the possibility of changing the angle of the barrel. To do this, the base on which the tank will rest will need to be fixed on two bearings and made movable. Another option would be to implement a stop at the front of the concrete mixer. With such a mechanism, it will be much easier to pour the solution out of the concrete mixer and it will be easy to do this directly at the place where the solution is used. A video of the operation of a concrete mixer, which was made from a barrel with your own hands, can be seen below:

Advice! You can make a concrete mixer for mortar with your own hands not only from metal, but also from plastic barrel. To do this, you will need to select a barrel with thick walls, and also strengthen top part using a metal plate that will be secured with a ring. The amount of solution that can be prepared at once is comparatively less than in a metal concrete mixer, but the efficiency is not inferior.

Conclusion

As you can see, if you show a little ingenuity and look at what you have in your bins, you can assemble your own concrete mixer with virtually no expense. A properly assembled concrete mixer will not be inferior to a factory one in performance. In addition, it will not need to be sent for warranty repairs, and you can fix everything yourself.

Market construction tools offers big choice concrete mixers for every taste and budget. From the simplest - for mixing small volumes of masonry and plaster solutions, to powerful forced-action concrete mixers in which rigid concrete mixtures are prepared. Despite this, many self-builders prefer not to buy a concrete mixer in a store, but to make it with their own hands from trash lying around in the barn. How to assemble such a homemade product, and is it worth the bother of making it? The answers are in the article.

• How to make a concrete mixer from a barrel and a washing machine engine
• How to turn a concrete mixer into a sifter for sand, gravel and crushed stone
• What tools are needed to make homemade products?
• Is it profitable to make a homemade concrete mixer?

How to make an inexpensive concrete mixer from a steel barrel and an electric motor from a washing machine

lariprof User FORUMHOUSE

When building the bathhouse, I mixed concrete by hand in a trough. This method is suitable for small volumes, but not for building something larger. Too much effort is wasted on “hand-to-hand” mixing of concrete. I didn’t want to buy an expensive concrete mixer, but spending money on a cheap but short-lived one would be a waste of money. I looked on the Internet what homemade concrete mixers are made from. I liked a couple of mobile structures made from ordinary 200-liter metal barrels. I bought a used oil container at a car depot and, based on it, profile pipes, a Bendix with a crown from a Volga and an old engine from a washing machine, I assembled a cheap concrete mixer.

The following is placed in the concrete mixer:

• 4 buckets enriched sand and gravel mixture;
• 1 bucket of cement;
• 1.5 buckets of water;
• 1 bucket of sand.

The washing machine motor copes with the load and does not overheat.

Close-up of a concrete mixer drive.

The drive is protected by a tin cover.

In the rain, the start button is covered with a plastic bag.

The second concrete mixer, made from what was at hand, was made AfanasievichRUS.

AfanasievichRUS User FORUMHOUSE

I didn’t want to spend 12 - 25 thousand rubles on buying a concrete mixer. and made it myself from various rubbish, a barrel and an electric motor from a washing machine. Homemade mixer I have been using it for concrete for several years now. In principle, everything suits me. The metal of the barrel is of course thin, but everything can be fixed by welding. Blades for stirring the mixture are welded inside the barrel. To make a concrete mixer I needed:

• two hundred liter barrel;
• engine with a power of 0.45 kW at 3400 rpm;
• pulley from the seeder;
• a wheel from a children's bicycle;
• rim from a bicycle wheel for adults;
• chain from an Izh motorcycle;
• bearing with bushing from the rear wheel of an Izh motorcycle.

​We invite you to watch a video showing the operation of this concrete mixer.

Exit ready mixture- 100 - 120 l.

How to make a cheap sifter for sand and crushed stone from a concrete mixer

chichic User FORUMHOUSE

I don’t have much space on my site, so when I brought in sand and crushed stone, they were dumped into one pile. Over the course of several years, they got mixed up. I didn’t want to sift through this volume manually. So I made a sifter out of a concrete mixer.

We'll tell you how to make this necessary household device:

1. Take two strips of galvanized metal 100 and 200 mm wide.

1. Bend a strip 100 mm wide and tighten it with bolts around the neck of the concrete mixer.

1. Bend a 200 mm wide strip into a ring and secure the ends with rivets.

1. Cut the mesh with a 6 mm mesh to the diameter of the ring with an overlap. Bend the ends and secure them with rivets to the ring through a metal tape.

It turned out to be a large sieve. For ease of operation, screw the handles onto the sieve.

Insert the sieve into the concrete mixer with the mesh side down.

Turn on the concrete mixer and sift bulk materials. Then stop the concrete mixer and only then remove the sieve!

The sifted sand and stone dust remain in the “pear”.

Finished products.

chichic User FORUMHOUSE

I liked the homemade product. I plan to buy a mesh with a mesh of 4 mm and 8 mm and make two more sieves for different jobs.

• Do not sift the bulk until the concrete mixer is fully loaded. It is enough to sift 8 shovels and immediately pour the contents of the concrete mixer into the bag. If you fill the entire “pear” with sand, it will be compressed at the bottom into a dense mass. It is inconvenient to pack it in bags.

• If during operation you need to stop the concrete mixer filled with concrete and then turn it on again, then turn the “pear” so that its mouth is directed upward. Only then start the concrete mixer and turn the “pear” at the desired angle for normal mixing of the mixture. This will reduce the load on the motor and drive, and they will last longer.

Another sifter design for bulk materials building materials from Vitek.

Tools for making a homemade concrete mixer

You will need a standard kit for any DIYer:

• Bulgarian;
• powerful drill;
• welding inverter;
• set of locksmith tools and Supplies- cutting and cleaning discs for angle grinders, electrodes, metal drills.

Is it profitable to make a concrete mixer with your own hands?

Practice shows that homemade products are profitable if you have “unnecessary” ones lying around the household electric motors, pulleys, chains, gears, metal, etc. A used 200-liter barrel costs a penny, but its bottom will have to be strengthened, and the top of the barrel will have to be narrowed to a cone. A “pear” made from a barrel, due to its thin walls, is inferior in strength and durability to a high-quality factory one made of thick metal. Do not forget to add the time spent on its manufacture to the cost of the concrete mixer and, if not, the cost of purchasing necessary materials and tools. So study first construction market and offers from private owners.

If you want to save money, consider buying a used concrete mixer. The main thing is not to purchase a dead unit with a worn-out drive and an engine that is “tired” due to overload.

Do you want to buy a concrete mixer, but don’t know which one to get so that it lasts a long time and doesn’t break? The answer is in the topic where it was collected practical experience real users and provide advice to concrete mixer manufacturers.

• Do you want to know the proportions of high-quality self-mixing concrete? Do you think that self-mixed concrete is more profitable than purchased concrete? The material describes in detail how to independently mix a mixture of sand, water, cement and crushed stone in a concrete mixer, so as not to be disappointed with the result.
• Those DIYers who need an inexpensive profile bender will learn how to make one from spare parts from old cars in the article.
• Spring is just around the corner and soon chainsaws will be roaring around the plots. In order not to overstrain yourself when sawing firewood and to significantly speed up and simplify this process, read the article which shows 5 options for sawhorses for sawing logs and 3 options for wood splitters.

The video Concrete and Concrete Mixes tells where it is better to buy concrete, and what ingredients and additives are needed to make it yourself.

Anyone who has even installed a fence on posts has had a question: how to make a concrete mixer with your own hands? It’s a painfully boring and tedious task to shovel the solution in a bucket or trough. And if you need to form a floor screed, then you won’t be able to do it with your hands at all: the “dry”, very viscous solution will begin to set before you “puncture” it to the desired homogeneity. Buying a factory-made one, especially if you build irregularly, is expensive; the equipment is not cheap. Renting will also cost a lot: concrete work does not continue for an hour or two, and you need to give a deposit in the amount of the full cost of a new one.

Meanwhile, a homemade concrete mixer is not God knows what kind of device, and for minor work, including pouring the foundation of a country house, it is quite possible to make it yourself. The time spent will more than pay off by speeding up mixing and improving the quality of work in general: the next portion of ready-made concrete will have time to prepare and be poured before irreversible changes occur in the previous one, reducing the strength of the monolith.

Why can't you use a drill?

Almost everyone has at least once seen how a solution is mixed in a bucket with a drill with a mixer attachment. It would seem that this is the solution! I pulled the drill with the mixer with a clamp to the bracket, and know, change bucket by bucket.

Firstly, the drill is not designed for long-term operation and will not last long in this mode. But this is not the main obstacle. Anyone who has mixed a solution in this way knows: when mixing, the tool must be moved back and forth and in a circle. Otherwise, when dumping the solution, you will see lumps of sand, and this is an unacceptable defect. Therefore, mechanical forced mixing in a stationary tub is not used in industrial conditions either - the mechanism for moving the mixer turns out to be complex, expensive and unreliable.

How do concrete mixers work?

Since we are talking about mixing methods, it doesn’t hurt to figure out how a concrete mixer generally works. And it will also be useful for a complete understanding of what follows.

There are mainly four methods of mixing cement-sand mortar:

1. gravitational;
2. forced mechanical;
3. forced vibration;
4. combined gravitational-mechanical.

With gravity mixing the container with the solution components is tipped over, the solution plops down on itself and is mixed at the same time. You can’t mix a large volume this way; the quality of the finished concrete is only satisfactory, so this method is not used in industry. But you can quickly and easily make a quite decent gravity concrete mixer for yourself, see below.

With vibration mixing the tub remains motionless, and the mixer-kneader excites compression waves in the mass of the initial mixture, which mix and compact the solution very well. The disadvantage of this method is high energy consumption: for 20 liters of solution a 1.3 kW mixer-vibrator drive is required. But the quality of the concrete is exceptional, so vibromixing is used for especially critical structures: hydroelectric dams, etc. In this case, to save energy, the pre-mixed solution is poured into the formwork and “finished” with vibrators on site. But you can make a small vibrating mixer yourself; this will be discussed later.

Forced mechanical mixing V pure form not applicable; why - stated above. In the vast majority of cases, mechanical mixing is combined with gravitational mixing: a mixer rotates in a horizontal or inclined tub, or the tub itself rotates with protrusions inside. It is quite possible to make this kind of concrete mixer yourself, and much faster and easier than it seems at first glance. Drawings, if necessary, are at your service via the link, and here we will look at the principles of operation and features of various designs.

It couldn't be simpler

Take a look at the picture. This is the simplest gravity concrete mixer. You can even mix dry mortar on a screed in it: the pipe-axis will cut the mortar when transferring, so some forced mixing also takes place in this machine. And this contraption can be further simplified and reduced in price to the point that an average amateur master who knows the basics welding work, can make one in literally an hour and a half to two.

There is no need to make holes in a rather expensive milk can: leaky milk can will do. We weld the fistula or crack, and fasten the lid like this: we thread a piece of pipe or just a stick into the handle of the lid and pull it tightly to the handles of the tub with a rope or a thick rubber cord; will go torn for attaching cargo to the top trunk of a car.

Turned axles for attaching the tub to the axle are also not needed: we simply weld the weld-in, and for aluminum we weld a couple of suitable pieces of metal to the axle - a rod, strips 6-8 mm thick, and fasten the tub to them with bolts. And you can do without couplings from pieces of pipe, not to mention bearing ones: we cut out U-shaped recesses in the frame posts by welding, the axle will simply lie in them. It will rotate with creaking and jerking, but it will knead properly.

There is only one drawback to such a mixer: it is difficult to rotate, and the kneading lasts from 5 to 15 minutes. depending on the viscosity of the solution. But labor productivity increases at least three times compared to a bucket and shovel, and the quality of concrete for independent construction such as a simple manual concrete mixer produces is quite acceptable.

Forced kneading: parts and components

Correct design of a homemade concrete mixer tub

The design described above allows you to quickly and with acceptable quality pour the foundation for a country house or barn. If you are starting a larger construction project, you will need a forced concrete mixer. They are also available for self-production; there are simpler and more complex designs. Let's look at the individual nodes first.

Tub

A cylindrical tub for a mechanical or combination mixer is, generally speaking, not good. The solution in the corners will not mix properly, or you will have to rotate for a very long time, straining or consuming electricity. An exception is the concrete mixer with a rotating horizontal bucket and comb mixers, described below.

A tub from a barrel, the most accessible one, should be at least slightly rounded: cut by welding and boiled into an “egg” or “pear”, as shown in the figure. For small portions of solution, an excellent tub is made from two basins; galvanized or enameled - it doesn’t matter. If the mixer is used from time to time, plastic ones will also work, fastened along the rim with a curved trough with a metal strip secured with a bolt. The bottom of one of the basins is cut out, and such a tub can only be tilted: it is impossible to arrange a side unloading.

The neck of a tilting tub with top discharge must in any case be reinforced with a transverse bar; better - two, welded crosswise.

Drive unit

The ring gear used in factory-made mixers is expensive and you cannot make it yourself: you need special equipment. For a complete replacement, the following parts are needed:

• A flywheel from a car engine, an old one from any car will do.
• The bending gear (with which the starter is connected to the flywheel) comes from the same place.
• Wheel hub from the same car.

What such an assembled drive looks like can be seen in the figure on the right. The axis on which the flywheel and the bucket rotate with it, the root end enters the coupling with ball bearing No. 208, located inside the hub.

This is one option; the second is to weld the hub to the flywheel, and attach a bucket to the hub with bolts behind the bottom. In this case, the bearing coupling is attached to the flywheel, and a second coupling is needed to reinforce the neck of the tub. With a tilting tub with a top discharge, the solution will always get on the bearing of the upper coupling, so this solution is justified only with a horizontal tub with a side discharge and solid bottoms.

If you find a mechanical gearbox with the desired gear ratio, great - just connect it to the axle. For an inclined tub, a direct gearbox is preferable; for horizontal - angular, but here the master is afraid, see for yourself how it will be more convenient for you.

The rotation speed of the tub is 30-50 rpm. At a higher speed, the solution will begin to splash, and at a lower speed it will not mix well. To ensure the required speed, the gear drive is, if necessary, supplemented with a belt drive, as shown in the same figure.

The engine power is taken at the rate of 20 W/l for an inclined rotating tub, 15 W/l for a horizontal rotating one and 12 W/l for a stationary tub and a mixer rotating on an axis. The indicated power is the minimum; a big one, of course, won't hurt. Volume refers to the volume of solution of normal viscosity, not the entire volume of the bucket. That is, if you have a 1.2 kW engine, then in a tub of 200 liters of barrel you can load only 60 liters of regular solution, and 45 liters of dry screed. Therefore, when choosing a vessel for a tub, you should not chase volume; you must first decide on the motor and go from there.

Mixer

The design of the mixer for a homemade mixer is not particularly important. Its design is important for large volume industrial mixers. But location matters.

In homemade mixers, especially with a tub made from a barrel, it is better to weld the mixer to the axis: alternating loads on a thin-walled vessel will not benefit its durability. The exception is that in everything except the complexity of manufacturing, the comb mixer is an excellent one.

Designs of homemade concrete mixers

Simple mechanical

Concrete mixer open type

A simple concrete mixer with forced mechanical mixing is shown in the figure. Its advantage compared to the one described above is its larger volume. The drive is not necessarily electric; it can also be manual. Unloading - lateral tilt of the tub.

The main drawback is common to mixers with a cylindrical bucket: poor mixing in the corners. The second drawback is the spraying of the solution at speeds of more than 35/min. It can be eliminated by welding the cut part of the barrel into place after assembling the mixer and cutting a hatch in it.

Mixing time ordinary solution- 5 minutes; dry – 12 min.

Video: horizontal mortar mixer from a barrel

Combined horizontal with combs

This stirrer can also be manual or electric. There are two advantages, and very significant ones: high homogeneity and, accordingly, quality of concrete and speed of mixing. This DIY concrete mixer from a barrel produces concrete of excellent quality, not inferior to the best industrial designs, and the mixing speed is determined not by time, but by the number of revolutions: turn it 3-4 times, and the solution is ready.

There is only one drawback: the complexity of the design. Even a manual one consists of several dozen items of parts. Names, not pieces. Special attention during manufacture, it requires an unloading hatch: the card loops, latches and seal for it must be very strong and reliable. However, for cases where it is necessary to perform a significant amount of work in a limited time in places without power supply, this is perhaps an indispensable option. Concrete mixers of this type are produced by industry.

Construction of a concrete mixer with a tilting bucket

"Real Electric"

The electric concrete mixer of the most common design, which is most often copied by amateur craftsmen, does not require any special explanation. Its diagram is shown in the figure. Many designs differing in details are described, and detailed drawings are also easily available, so we will only give some explanations:

• The bottom and neck of the tub must be reinforced with cross-welded strips.
• It is better to make the tub rotating integrally with the axis: this complicates the design of the frame, but eliminates the need to seal the shaft in the bottom of the tub, which is why homemade stirrers most often they do not last long.
• The best mixer for such a mixer is a frame type, welded to the axle.

Video: homemade “electric mixer” for 180 liters

Vibrating

Many home craftsmen who have a 1-1.3 kW hammer drill with manual forced (not requiring the working element to be pressed against the wall) activation of the impact mechanism tried to make vibrating concrete mixers, but most often the design turned out to be unsuccessful.

Typical errors are as follows:

Design of vibrating concrete mixer

1. Wrong choice of tub. It must be round, high enough and not very wide: the optimal distance from the edges of the vibrator to the walls is approximately equal to its radius.
2. Flat vibrator. Vibrator from metal sheet will not excite in solution the required system internal waves. The vibrator profile should at least approximately correspond to that shown in the figure. A good vibrator is made from two plates or saucers put together; preferably metal ones.
3. The vibrator is too big. Vibrator diameter – 15-20 cm/kW. That is, a 1.3 kW preforator will pull a vibrator from 25 cm plates. A wider one, even if it twitches with the eye, will not “rock” the solution.
4. Incorrect placement of the vibrator. The vibrator should be located along the axis of the tub at a distance of approximately its diameter from the bottom. The level of the solution above the vibrator should also be approximately equal to its diameter.

If the specified conditions are met, the quality of the solution is excellent. Control the duration of the kneading - on the surface of the solution. It stopped gurgling and moving, waves began to appear - the solution is ready. Not so great good cement or sand, it may not reach the waves. In this case - 10 minutes minimum.

Conclusion

It is not difficult to make a concrete mixer with your own hands, and the speed of work increases much even with the simplest mixer. And, of course, it’s more pleasant to sip tea from a thermos while kneading than to strain yourself with a shovel. Not from a seagull or from a thermos - it is categorically not recommended: the quality of work falls catastrophically even with the most advanced technology.

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To improve a summer cottage, you often need cement mortar or concrete. Craftsmen are faced with a choice - to knead by hand (which is difficult and ineffective, since the solution hardens quickly) or to purchase an industrial concrete mixer, which is unjustified for irregular work. Therefore, many summer residents prefer to make a concrete mixer with their own hands, as it is simple and practical.

Principles of mixing concrete

There are several options for mixing mortar in a concrete mixer. Namely:

• Gravity method.
• Forced-mechanical.
• Forced vibration.
• Combined gravitational-mechanical.

The easiest way to cook concrete mortar- This is mixing with a shovel in a stationary trough. The most unjustified and low-quality method. Not only does the solution itself quickly harden, but it is also problematic to mix the mixture until smooth.

Sometimes craftsmen stir the solution using a drill with a mixer attachment in a bucket. This option is somewhat better, but has its own very serious drawbacks. First of all, the drill is not designed for long-term continuous operation, with all the ensuing consequences. In addition, the technology of this type of mixing requires constant rotation and movement of the tool in the mixture. It's unreliable, difficult and tedious.

Gravity mixing

With the gravitational method, the tub with the solution is loosened or tipped over, and the solution mixes itself. That is, the components move independently in the container under the influence of gravity. The quality of the finished product is not very good and large volumes are difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, many craftsmen use this mixing option at home.

The advantage of this type of mixing is the simplicity of the concrete mixer design. Therefore, devices of this type are often created in garages, cottages and small businesses.

Forced-mechanical

The forced-mechanical method is the simplest and most common. Its distinctive feature is its stationary container. The components are most often mixed mechanically in a drum. The drum can be horizontal or vertical. The essence of this method is clearly revealed by the example of using a drill in a bucket.

With limited volumes, this method may be justified, but it has its own characteristics:

Combined type of mixing

Many homemade concrete mixers made with their own hands use a combined method. It simultaneously combines the previous two methods and has a number of advantages:

• There is no need to tightly seal the rotation units, since there is no contact with the solution. The drum is not closed at the top.
• Parts of this type of structure last longer because the mechanism is reliable and simple.
• The composition of the component can be anything, including gravel, crushed stone, expanded clay, and so on.

Vibration method

IN Lately The vibration method of preparing concrete is gaining popularity. This method allows high-quality mixing of large volumes of mixture and is used in cases where it is necessary to produce a reinforced concrete part with excellent and precise operational parameters.

In principle, vibration mixing can mix ingredients almost perfectly. The only limitation is the preparation of a “heavy” solution. To use this type of mixing, significant energy consumption is required. About twenty liters of mixture requires a vibrator power of 1.3 kilowatts. At home, instead of a drive and gearbox, a very powerful hammer drill is used. There is no need to press the cartridge, and the vibrations should be independent.

Drawings and designs of concrete mixers

Before starting assembly, you need to prepare a working tool, decide on materials and prepare a container of the required volume. It is not recommended to select small containers, since the solution in it may harden before the required time, and if the prepared mixture is not enough, the whole process will have to be repeated all over again. The optimal capacity of the container is two hundred liters.

The general requirement is strength, reliability and stability of the structure. It is necessary to manufacture such structures as responsibly as possible, since the slightest miscalculation or carelessness will lead to breakdown or even injury to the worker.

The simplest concrete mixer from a can

If you save electricity and time, you can assemble a manual concrete mixer from a regular milk can. The entire assembly process takes several hours and the most crucial moment is welding the frame. With a little patience, simple gravity concrete mixing equipment is ready.

To make this concrete mixer you will need a can or other similar container, several pipes or thick rods.

Despite the simplicity of the design, even dry screed concentrate can be mixed in the can. The axis inside the can cuts the mixture as it rotates.

Procedure:

The coupling can be omitted, thereby further simplifying the design. Instead of couplings, you can cut out arcuate recesses and place the axle in them. The rotation will be uneven and squeaky, but it will knead well. In one cycle of work in a forty-liter can, about three buckets of solution are obtained. Sometimes a barrel is used instead of a can. In this case, the problem arises of how to fix the lid. This issue can be solved in an original way if the handles are attached to a barrel without a lid at different levels. One end of the handle is near the bottom, the other is near the top. As a result, the container is placed at an obtuse angle relative to the surface of the earth and the solution does not spill out during rotation. But the quality of the kneading with this method suffers.

Concrete mixer from a barrel

A homemade concrete mixer made from a barrel with your own hands can replace the factory model and mix uniformly good mixture. All materials needed for assembly can be found in the garage or summer cottage. The unit can be either manual or mechanical.

Scroll necessary details for assembly:

The tools you need are a grinder to cut metal and a welding machine to firmly connect parts.

After the preparatory work, the question of how to make a concrete mixer with your own hands is no longer a question.

First, the barrel is centered and placed on the axle. Then internal elements are designed that will help mix the concrete.

Using a drill or welding device, two holes are drilled at the top and bottom of the barrel. A metal axle with a diameter of thirty millimeters is pulled through them, and this structure is tightly welded. Thus, the shaft and the tub are securely attached to each other.

A rectangle is cut out in the center of the barrel along the long edge. It will be a hatch for filling the components of the solution. The approximate dimensions of the hatch are approximately ninety by thirty centimeters. If the hatch is small, it will be inconvenient to use. And if it is made too large, the strength of the structure will decrease.

Blades are constructed from a metal square and mounted in a barrel. One side is welded to the wall, and the other to the axle. For good mixing, four or five blades, evenly spaced inside the barrel, are enough.

The rectangle obtained from cutting out the hatch is welded to the hinges, which are attached to the barrel. The result should be a lockable hatch. After that, a latch or latch is attached to the hatch cover. The main task The cover cannot be opened while the device is operating.

Then the frame is welded. A second length of fifty millimeters is welded to the long channel. The same is done with the second support.

A pipe is welded to the other edge of the channel into which the concrete mixer axle will be inserted.

Then, when the metal axle fits into the bushings, retaining rings are welded on both ends. Their role is played by thick metal washers.

After which the steering wheel is welded to one of the edges of the axle.

If an electric model is being assembled, then it is necessary to assemble and connect the corresponding unit, consisting of a motor and a drive system.

Tricks for using homemade devices

According to the principle of operation, homemade concrete mixers are similar to industrial designs and perform the same functions. But to achieve comfort, home devices need to be used a little differently.

Tips for working:

During assembly and operation homemade designs We must not forget about compliance with safety precautions. This applies to the rules for working with power tools and conventional equipment. Following the usual simple instructions will prevent unpleasant situations and avoid injury.

With a limited budget, buying equipment that will only be needed for one construction project is unprofitable. If companies offering tool rental have not yet opened in the neighborhood, a self-made concrete mixer will become in a great way save! If you approach homemade device with care, it will last for many years.

Types of concrete mixers

Having previously studied the mechanism of operation of concrete mixers and their characteristics, it will be possible to select a design suitable for the needs of a specific construction. After all, why complicate your work if you can get by with a simple mechanical device?

On the other hand, by loading the concrete mixer to capacity, it will not be possible to finish pouring the foundation faster - this will lead to a banal overload of the engine and its rapid failure.

Mechanical or electrical?

When choosing the design of the future “assistant”, you should immediately decide on the way it will work:

• mechanical concrete mixers - they operate from a manual drive; when mixing a large amount of concrete, two people need to turn the gate;
• electric concrete mixers - work from the network, but connecting the motor requires good knowledge of auto mechanics.

If several strong and resilient people are involved in the construction site, you can get by with a manual concrete mixer. The mixture ingredients are loaded either simultaneously or alternately. The only inconvenience is designs with a movable barrel, and not internal shaft, do not allow water to be added during mixing. You must stop the barrel, open the hatch and fill it with water. The hatch closes and the mixture is stirred again.

Electric concrete mixers allow you to mix large volumes of concrete in the shortest possible time, and one person can do the job perfectly. It should be taken into account that high-power motors require a three-phase network, therefore, when choosing the volume of the tank, the power of the motor should be calculated in advance. If only a 220 V line is connected to the yard, you will have to forget about heavy solutions.

Forced, gravitational or vibration?

Its design will also depend on the operating principle of the concrete mixer:

• forced-action concrete mixers are distinguished by a stationary container in which blades mounted on a shaft rotate;
• gravity concrete mixers mix concrete by rotating the container itself, in which the blades are rigidly fixed to the walls;
• vibrating concrete mixers cannot boast of great productivity, but they provide high-quality and homogeneous mixture no bubbles.

At the same time, both gravitational and forced-action concrete mixers can be either mechanical or electrical. The whole difference is that a mechanical forced-action concrete mixer has a horizontal axis, while an electric one can have a vertical one.

To make them you will need a metal container. The most basic option is a metal barrel with walls at least 2.5 mm thick.

Vibrating homemade concrete mixers are available to every hammer drill owner. And although it won’t be possible to fill the foundation with their help, it is quite possible to make a poured floor in the bathroom or mix mortar for tiles. At the same time, the design couldn’t be simpler and does not require direct human participation. So even a woman can handle the job.

Concrete mixer volume

An important selection criterion is the capacity of the future concrete mixer. For example, for pouring a foundation, a minimum capacity of 200 liters will be required. It should be taken into account that the finished mixture will be 15-25% less - depending on the loading capabilities.

This volume of concrete can be mixed manually, although it is quite difficult - your hand will get tired.

The homemade device has another significant drawback - the mixture is often discharged in full. Therefore, it is better to take care of a wheelbarrow of appropriate capacity in advance. If it is possible to make a partial reset mechanism, it is better to take the time to create it. This will significantly simplify the operation of capacious electric concrete mixers and will allow two people to work, loading two wheelbarrows at a time.

Drawings and design of simple concrete mixers

If the construction volumes are small, you can get by with simple concrete mixers, the creation of which will not require serious labor and financial costs.

Vibrating concrete mixer from a hammer drill

The presence of a mixer attachment is mandatory for any construction work. But holding the drill while it mixes the solution in the bucket is difficult and time is wasted. If you have a hammer drill with manual activation of the impact mechanism, you can quickly make a vibrating concrete mixer:

1. You will need a hammer drill with a power of 1-1.3 kW. Less powerful ones will be ineffective.
2. A vibrator is being manufactured - the main operating part of the concrete mixer. An incorrectly made vibrator simply will not mix concrete. Its shape should resemble a biconvex lens - flat edges and a convex middle. For example, these could be metal plates folded together and fixed. The diameter of the disk is calculated based on 20 cm per 1 kW. For a 1.3 kW hammer drill you will need a vibrator with a diameter of 25 cm.
3. A round container is selected. The distance from its walls to the vibrator should be equal to its radius. So, for a vibrator with a diameter of 25 cm, you will need a container with a diameter of 50 cm.
4. The bracket for the hammer drill is installed. The position of the vibrator is calculated so that its distance to the bottom is equal to its diameter, in in this example this is 25 cm. The amount of solution above the vibrator should be the same.

The readiness of the solution when operating such a concrete mixer is determined by the absence of rising bubbles and the formation of small waves on the surface. If the cement or sand is of poor quality, the solution may not form waves. Then the mixture is ready when it stops moving and gurgling.

Manual concrete mixer made from a barrel

You will need a two-hundred-liter metal barrel, a metal pipe with a diameter of 2-3 cm, flanges, an angle grinder and a welding machine:

1. A loading hole and two opposite holes for the pipe, which will be the axis, are cut in the barrel. The axle can be threaded either through the center of the barrel or diagonally. In the second case, the mixture will be mixed more efficiently.



2. From the inside of the barrel, 2-3 blades are welded to the walls so that the mixture does not stick to the walls and mixes better. The blades should run along the entire barrel, but not lie close to the walls - otherwise the solution will constantly accumulate in the seams.



3. A pipe is threaded through, its ends are welded and secured with flanges.
4. A stand for a concrete mixer is being manufactured. Its height should be such that it is convenient to load the ingredients of the mixture without raising them too high, but also so that you do not have to get in the way by bending over. On the supports under the axle you need to make oarlocks that will allow the axle to rotate freely. You can use either a hollow tube of larger diameter or bearings.



5. It is imperative to provide a wide, strong and stable base connecting the legs of the supports. This will prevent the concrete mixer from wobbling during operation.
6. The levers are welded to the axle. Do not forget that they should be located opposite each other. The longer the lever, the easier it is to move the barrel. But a lever that is too long is not convenient to use, so you should stick to the golden mean.



7. The loading hatch lid must be tightly closed so that the mixture does not leak out. You can cut a larger lid from the same barrel and glue it around the perimeter with thick rubber. Or you can use part of the same barrel, left over from cutting out the loading hole. To do this, you just need to weld a centimeter-long metal strip along the edge and also seal it with rubber.

The open type concrete mixer has a similar design. Only instead of a moving barrel, blades rotate inside, which are also driven by human effort. To make it you will need the barrel itself, and round and round pipes. rectangular section. The barrel is laid on its side and the top is cut off. It is better to leave as much of the barrel as possible so that more concrete can be mixed.

Holes for the shaft are cut on the sides. But, unlike a gravity concrete mixer, the blades are welded onto the shaft itself. You can use any parts, even blades from a combine!

The mixture is also unloaded by turning the entire barrel over.

Such concrete mixers are very a budget option, but requires the constant participation of two workers. If you have to work alone, you will need a device with an electric motor. For example, the open type option can be quickly improved by connecting a motor to it.

Electrically driven “factory” concrete mixers

Without having confident welding skills, it is better not to try to replicate factory models of concrete mixers yourself. But if you have an experienced neighbor, you can make excellent equipment from almost nothing! Moreover, such a concrete mixer will serve for more than 10 years, helping in the construction of the entire holiday village.

Homemade gravity concrete mixer made from scrap metal

After this, you will have to travel to recycling collection points and auto dismantling yards in search of the necessary parts:

• metal sheets with a thickness of 2.5 mm for the walls and 5 mm for the bottom of the pear;
• a flywheel from a car, for example, from a Volga or MAZ, a hub and a bendix - for the pear rotation mechanism;
• bearings for tipping the pear (you can get by with the “pipe-to-pipe” system, generously lubricating the rowlock);
• square metal pipes and different diameters– for the base, seat and swivel wheel.

When all the materials have been collected, you can proceed directly to the manufacture of a concrete mixer:

1. The body elements are bent and welded together. You can bend steel with a sledgehammer, even if the individual parts do not turn out perfectly even, when welded together they will take the desired shape.



2. While the bulb is not welded together, a rotation mechanism is attached to the lower part, cut from 5mm steel. It is advisable to make it removable - it is easier to transport a collapsible concrete mixer.



3. The parts of the pear are welded together. First, the central and lower parts are combined. To do this, the edges of the central rim are cut and bent inward to limit the exit of the lower part. The lower part is inserted through the top into the central rim and, using tapping with a sledgehammer, is pressed all the way down. Once the edges are aligned, they can be welded.



4. The upper part of the pear is lowered into the central one, the edges of the central rim are also trimmed and bent inward. Using a nail puller, the top is also “picked out” until it stops and is also welded.
5. Blades are welded inside the pear to help mix the mixture. To prevent the solution from accumulating in the seams, the blades are attached at a short distance from the walls.
6. You can start making a seat that will ensure the pear is tipped over. Considering heavy weight even an empty container, you need to take care of the high reliability and strength of the frame.



7. The tipping mechanism must be done on a flywheel with a gear - so even one person can tip over a full container. You can weld a hex wheel or fit any other one.



8. A gearbox is made that will transmit torque from the engine to the pear. The pulleys on the shaft and motor are designed to produce up to 25 revolutions of the pear per minute.



9. To prevent large parts of the mixture from getting into the rotation mechanism, a strip can be welded over the crown, but this step is not necessary.

In principle, the concrete mixer is ready. If desired, it can be painted to protect the metal from corrosion, although during operation it will still acquire a classic gray color.

Forced type concrete mixer made from a tin pan

If you don’t have it, you can order a pan with a diameter of 60 cm and a depth of 50 cm from a familiar tinsmith. After this, all that remains is to fit the mechanism, blades and make a hatch:

1. The center of the container is marked - this is where the shaft will be located. A hatch is cut for unloading the mixture. It’s easier to cut a rectangular one, but then the whole mixture will break into a wheelbarrow. It is better to make a rotating semicircular hatch.



2. To do this, a rod is welded in the center of the cut out semicircle, on which the hatch will rotate. To prevent the mixture from leaking out, a strip is welded above the cut of the hatch, under which the curtain will move.





3. In an inverted state, a motor with a gearbox is attached to the installed bearing. To securely fix the engine and ensure the required belt tension, the engine is installed on slats welded to the bottom of the container.



4. To strengthen the frame of a container made of 2 mm thick steel, a rim of steel rod or pipe must be welded along the upper edge. You can also make stiffening ribs on the sides and bottom of the container.



5. Once the wheels, support and rotation mechanism are installed, the entire structure can be turned over. The blades are attached to the shaft and everything is fixed with one bolt - so that the structure can be easily disassembled. It is important to correctly think through the position of the paddle blades - one should remove the solution from the walls, the second should separate it from the bottom, and several more should mix the middle.





6. You can get by with a construction made from scrap and a cross from a plumbing flange. If the blades are made movable, their position can be adjusted depending on the type of mixture.

The forced action concrete mixer is ready! You can mix almost any mixture in it, make them liquid or dense, add crushed stone of large and small fractions. The same concrete mixer, but of a horizontal type, can be made using the drawing.

The process of assembling a concrete mixer from a steel barrel is clearly shown in the video:

This is one of the simplest ways to make the necessary construction equipment with a minimum of cost!