Hand mixing is always imperfect, laborious and slow. Using this method, it is impossible to secure the thorough stirring and kneading action that a good mixing machine gives. If a machine taking five or ten horsepower requires five minutes to mix one-third of a yard of concrete, it is absurd to expect two men will do the same work by hand in the same amount of time.
A cement mixer never gets tired or shirks if not constantly urged, unlike men. It is hard to see how the manufacture of concrete blocks can be successfully implemented without a concrete mixer. Even for a small business, it pays well in the economy of labor and excellence of work to install such a machine, that may be driven by an electric motor or gasoline engine.
The electric types of cement mixers, in particular, are the most available and versatile cement mixers on the market today, with a pair of helpful variants. The two kinds of the electric cement mixers include:
Portable Electric Cement Mixer: These are electric concrete mixers that usually come in a trailer for transporting and mixing concrete or similar products, comprising a wheeled frame and a mixing drum mounted to it for rotation in a first direction for mixing concrete and in a second direction for discharging concrete from the drum.
Portable concrete mixers have wheels and a towing tongue that a motor vehicle can pull around. The electric power for the rotation of the concrete mixer is supplied by the mains. There’s also a lever in the portable concrete mixer that enables the concrete to be tipped into a wheelbarrow.
It also uses a unidirectional driving connection between the wheel of the frame and the mixing drum, with the wheeled frame’s movement responsible for rotating the drum in the correct concrete mixing direction. Since the machine is electric, an electric motor on the mixer’s frame is provided to aid in rotating the drum during concrete discharge.
Though many builders still prefer to use the old-fashioned cement truck, many of the best cement mixer companies are now scrapping that idea to use a portable mixer. These provide more flexibility for builders to do their jobs. On job sites, it can sometimes be difficult to maneuver a large cement truck, so a smaller version is an excellent alternative.
The sand pile can be in one location, the cement in another and the discharge point somewhere else. The Monolithic Portable Mixer particularly travels easily between the three locations. The Monolithic Portable Mixer’s mixing speed is a great advantage. It is at least twice as fast as most so-called portable mixers. It can easily mix two to three cubic yards of concrete or mortar per hour.
Mobile Electric Cement Mixer: This type of electric concrete mixer makes use of a concrete delivery truck that has an electronically controlled transmission. There are two electronic control units: one in the truck cab and one at the rear of the truck.
The rear electronic control is operative when the cab electronic control is in a neutral position. An actuator interface is usually connected to the cab and rear-mounted electrical control units for selecting the control unit and providing signals for the electronically controlled transmission.
More modern plants today load the cement truck with ‘Ready Mixed’ concrete. Using this process, the material is mixed and loaded into the truck. The ready-mix truck maintains the material’s liquid state, through electronically controlled agitation or turning of the drum until delivery.