Electric Crete Mixer Reccos - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Greg Di · 10-06-2009, 11:49 AM

Mark convinced me to buy an electric mixer, so I are.

Anyway, my local dealer has both Imer versions for less than online pricing which is great news.

I'm debating about getting the wheelbarrow version versus the taller, upright version.

The wheelbarrow version is pretty low to the ground to begin with. I picked it up to try dumping it and the mouth of the cylinder is only 3-4 inches off the ground which might make pouring into a tube difficult, especially if we are doing a raised tube to eliminate a stubby post to the girder. This limitation has me concerned.

The upright version is more or less stationary on site and would require dumping into a separate wheelbarrow and carting the crete to the whole.

Anyone have a definitive reason to buy one versus the other?

Bone Saw · 10-06-2009, 12:37 PM

trust me on this, go with the upright and pour into a wheelbarrow, bypass the headache of learning alltogether
I posted something on this a while ago, I had the wheelbarrow type years ago, lost it like a bad habit for an upright.

http://www.contractortalk.com/f40/po...nt-mixer-8837/

Greg Di · 10-06-2009, 01:17 PM

Dig it. That's what I wanted to hear!

Now I know what to get!

JonM · 10-06-2009, 02:01 PM

A friend once had the wheelbarrow type I borrowed a few times...I just used it from the back of my pickup and poured into a hand held wheelbarrow. If you have a newer truck you want to keep clean, but a 10 x 10 tarp and put it under the mixer.

redwood · 10-06-2009, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Di

Dig it. That's what I wanted to hear!

Now I know what to get!

That's kind of what I told you, Greg. I wasn't just so definitive, because I had no experience with the wheelbarrow type. It just looked like a pain in the ass.

Greg Di · 10-06-2009, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwood

That's kind of what I told you, Greg. I wasn't just so definitive, because I had no experience with the wheelbarrow type. It just looked like a pain in the ass.

I know... you aren't so eloquent.

Greg Di · 10-12-2009, 07:40 PM

I bought the Imer Minuteman last week and it's really well put together. Thanks for the suggestions!

How are you guys actually using this thing? I mixed an entire pallet of crete by myself late Friday (read started at 4:30...finished in the dark) using the mixer for the first time and it was literally a mess. I was covered in concrete dust from dealing with the bags. My clothes were ruined and it certainly wasn't healthy.

I was taking the 80# sacks and cutting them in half so I could handle the loading easier. I can't muscle an 80# bag over a turning mixer while holding it over my shoulders in the air so the mixer doesn't grab it, so I had to cut them in half as per Imer's suggestion. It makes a mess though.

Tell me there is an easier way. I love the mixer, but it's so messy and akward.

60# bags are more expensive so I avoid them.

RobertCDF · 10-12-2009, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Di

I bought the Imer Minuteman last week and it's really well put together. Thanks for the suggestions!

How are you guys actually using this thing? I mixed an entire pallet of crete by myself late Friday (read started at 4:30...finished in the dark) using the mixer for the first time and it was literally a mess. I was covered in concrete dust from dealing with the bags. My clothes were ruined and it certainly wasn't healthy.

I was taking the 80# sacks and cutting them in half so I could handle the loading easier. I can't muscle an 80# bag over a turning mixer while holding it over my shoulders in the air so the mixer doesn't grab it, so I had to cut them in half as per Imer's suggestion. It makes a mess though.

Tell me there is an easier way. I love the mixer, but it's so messy and akward.

60# bags are more expensive so I avoid them.

This is why I use a pump truck most of the time and the other times I make my laborer mix it. I hate mixers I prefer a hoe and a wheelbarrow... or like I said above.

redwood · 10-12-2009, 08:30 PM

Greg, the big thing is to turn off the mixer when you are adding the mix. Much easier.

I cut the bags about a inch or 2 from the end and just dump it in.

Yes, you will get dirty, but what did you expect.

You might find that the expense of the 60# bags is worth it. How much more can they be?

DecksEtc · 10-12-2009, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Di

I bought the Imer Minuteman last week and it's really well put together. Thanks for the suggestions!

How are you guys actually using this thing? I mixed an entire pallet of crete by myself late Friday (read started at 4:30...finished in the dark) using the mixer for the first time and it was literally a mess. I was covered in concrete dust from dealing with the bags. My clothes were ruined and it certainly wasn't healthy.

I was taking the 80# sacks and cutting them in half so I could handle the loading easier. I can't muscle an 80# bag over a turning mixer while holding it over my shoulders in the air so the mixer doesn't grab it, so I had to cut them in half as per Imer's suggestion. It makes a mess though.

Tell me there is an easier way. I love the mixer, but it's so messy and akward.

60# bags are more expensive so I avoid them.

I mix all my concrete by getting A gravel (sand and gravel mixed together) and then adding portland to it on site. I can shovel everything in and have very little mess. It's much cheaper that way too. A cubic yard costs me around $75 ($30 for the A gravel and $45 for 3 bags of portland). The same amount in pre-mixed bags would cost approx. $250.

I only ever use the pre-mixed bags in an emergency or for very small jobs.

redwood · 10-13-2009, 12:17 AM

A yard of 60# concrete sacks cost me $ 130 + tax. I pick up a pallet or so, it's just too convenient. Never have to remember how many shovel fulls of cement I've added. As you get older, you'll understand.

Stewy · 10-13-2009, 01:14 AM

navi jack and portland cement sacks, load with shovel like decksetc said, way cheaper and a better final product.

Winchester · 10-13-2009, 01:59 AM

I use the 60# bags. It's somewhere around $5 a bag, so I don't care.
I'd probably lose 1/4 of every 80# bag screwing around with it anyway

So I probably save myself money in the long run.

I can get a yard of concrete already mixed and waiting at the curb for my wheelbarrow for $300-something

Saves a lot of mess and hassle of mixing it myself, especially since I don't have a mixer. I do this whenever it's more mixing than I really feel like doing, and at least comes close to evening out with labour time saved.

deckman22 · 10-13-2009, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertCDF

This is why I use a pump truck most of the time and the other times I make my laborer mix it. I hate mixers I prefer a hoe and a wheelbarrow... or like I said above.

That's my thought too. If I have enough concrete to do that I need a mixer then I'm calling a concrete truck in.

I see no time savings carting a mixer back & forth compared to in the wheelbarrow, plus with our rocky/hilly terrain it would be tough moving it.

Greg, why are you mixing concrete anyway? That's what helpers are for.

redwood · 10-13-2009, 09:31 AM

There aren't many curbs where I work.

I would love to have every job pumped in, but then I wouldn't get many jobs. A pump costs $ 350, plus you get nicked by the concrete company for a short load, if I order less then 6 yards. Most jobs are way less then that. If I eliminate the pump, I will get charged truck time.

The mixer literally sets up in 5 minutes, is not to big to haul around, and it's fast.

There is a time and a place for many different ways of placing concrete. Last week we pumped 16 yards of concrete. The week before we mixed a yard of concrete with the mixer.

DecksEtc · 10-13-2009, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redwood

A yard of 60# concrete sacks cost me $ 130 + tax. I pick up a pallet or so, it's just too convenient. Never have to remember how many shovel fulls of cement I've added. As you get older, you'll understand.

Oh, I understand.

What makes you think that I do the mixing?

Clemens · 10-14-2009, 06:05 AM

Consider a 5x5 tarp or a contractor bag. An investment of a couple dollars. I have a slide show somewhere how it is done. I will send it as soonI can find it. My guys doing one 80 lbs pretty much every two minutes, perfectly mix and no mess, no wheelbarrows and no machinery

TimelessQuality · 10-14-2009, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clemens

Consider a 5x5 tarp or a contractor bag. An investment of a couple dollars. I have a slide show somewhere how it is done. I will send it as soonI can find it. My guys doing one 80 lbs pretty much every two minutes, perfectly mix and no mess, no wheelbarrows and no machinery

I gotta have pics.... you mix on a tarp? In a trash bag?

Interesting

Clemens · 10-14-2009, 06:02 PM

I haven't found it yet (need a little more time, I have 58000 pictures stored and those are not numbered or given a name) It was published in a deck magazine in 2007 (from Eric @ www.decks.com)
Basically you have a tarp or a contractors bag cut open. Empty a bag of 80 lbs. It is a two person operation. Each person will hold two points of the square. Add water and the first guy moves it towards the other one and than back and forth. You have to do this about 6 to 8 times. Will take about 30 seconds. The nice thing is that the concrete in the tarp rolls over the grass or dirt (it is not lifted) When you are done you slide the concrete in the hole. No lifting here either. We do a skid (42) in one hour.
Added bonus: no cleaning, just throw the contractors bag away. If you have a tarp than of course you want to clean it so you can reuse it.
Clemens

Greg Di · 10-14-2009, 07:28 PM

I've seen that tarp mixer thing before and it just looks dopey to me. It probably works, but I wasn't sold on it.

Mark was right though, with the Imer mixer, I can literally mix two and half 80# bags as fast as I can chuck them in. Literally THAT fast. The manual says you should add and dump while the drum is spinning--NOT turn it off and on. Just walking around the machine to hit the switch 100 times is annoying. We just left it on the whole time the other day and it was a faster process.

We're doing 55 bags tomorrow.

I might try using 60's just to see if it's faster than 80's loadingwise.