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6feetdown
Well-known member
We load with a level bucket to full bags of cement. If it req a certain strength would buy in but for footpaths lean mix etc it's great
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Smiffy
Well-known member
I'll have a go leaving it longer in future see if that helps
And yes we have silica sand quarries and building sand quarries but sharp/ballast could be anything. Some run sea ballast in the vollumetrics some run granite some run recycled. But the sand is always very fine in comparison to what the aggregates firms deliver.
doobin
Well-known member
Like I said, we are right on the edge of the radius for all companies in the area. If they don't want to drive thirty miles with a wagon I sure as hell don't want to do it four times with a trailer! Could do it with a large tractor pan mixer at the yard but I'd rather get a couple tons of water out of the hosepipe on site than move it.
Quality will be fine so long as you don't skimp on the cement and you gauge the mix well. Anything under BCO obviously needs traceability so damn the expense but stuff like this for a log cabin or garden shed it's no issue.
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DaveDCB
Well-known member
Admix, I can’t speak for what other companies use but our Hanson mixes always has some kind of additive in it.
doobin
Well-known member
Yup, they will use admix depending upon customer requirements. Pumping etc.
doobin
Well-known member
Don't forget also that the trouble with a belle type mixer is that it's going round, but not much overall of the mix is being picked up and dropped. With a proper site mixer you can set the drum angle for optimum mixing.
Danny
Well-known member
Think I forget how lucky I am, there's normally a plant within 10 miles
Furniss
Well-known member
Yeah we did years mixing ourselves but last few years its all dry mix from plant or a concrete truck - even a few curbs I will go get a bit of dry mix - but we are 20 minutes either direction from a plant and not much closer to a builders merchant's so it's a no brainer.
V8Druid
do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
would imagine that one of these 'back of a traccy' Teagle type drum mixers, with full length flights must produce quite a decent mix 
Gunners
Well-known member
Years ago my Dad talked about how he used to run a self loading mixer "back in my day boy...."
Did these ever exist? Do they still? Were they ever towable? As I could see one being quite useful now with the cost of concrete as I find myself in similar situation to Doobin quite often. Small quantities needed but by the time you've done transport, part loads etc it soon adds up to £170/m3 or upwards!
Gotta be cheaper to mix on site for less if it was easy?
And yes I agree for jobs where the mix has to be of a certain spec then obviously it wouldn't work, but for a lot of work it probably would?
Did these ever exist? Do they still? Were they ever towable? As I could see one being quite useful now with the cost of concrete as I find myself in similar situation to Doobin quite often. Small quantities needed but by the time you've done transport, part loads etc it soon adds up to £170/m3 or upwards!
Gotta be cheaper to mix on site for less if it was easy?
And yes I agree for jobs where the mix has to be of a certain spec then obviously it wouldn't work, but for a lot of work it probably would?
Furniss
Well-known member
it's the customer that pays 
Explain to the customer he can save 150 or 200 quid if he helps you bugger about mixing
most would stump up the money.
Explain to the customer he can save 150 or 200 quid if he helps you bugger about mixing
most would stump up the money.
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Bri963
Well-known member
They did exist, had a simple up and over bucket on an arm that tipped into a hopper above the drum. They weren’t very accurate as far as measuring quantities, and I probably only ever saw one on site, and that was before I was even in the construction game. The one I saw was a full sized machine, don’t know if they ever did a towable one.
Canal Navvy
Well-known member
I remember seeing an Italian built one on a farm near Dorchester, think it was four wheel drive and four wheel steer and I'd guess about half a cube. The loader had load cells on it so as long as the aggregate was kept dry it could do a good mix. It looked very capable but I'd be surprised if it would have gone on a trailer behind the land rover 
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Smiffy
Well-known member
This is a little one
They did one 4x the size aswell
This is a modern road tow one
www.altrad-belle.com
Ausa made a self propelled one
And I think merlo or one of the track dumper manufacturers make a little one on tracks
They did one 4x the size aswell
This is a modern road tow one
Altrad Belle :: Belle products : RB500B
Belle Group offer a wide selection of products for a variety of construction uses. Belle Group is the number one for light construction and this page will allow you to browse through the products at your leisure.
Ausa made a self propelled one
And I think merlo or one of the track dumper manufacturers make a little one on tracks
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6feetdown
Well-known member
I think last volumetric quote for i think 1.25m3 was approx 336 with the vat
Storrsy
Well-known member
I've got a job coming up in January. Load of concrete gullies to put in down a 1km long narrow footpath. Nightmare to get a lorry even to the start of the path and would be a hell of a waiting charge. so thinking I'm just going to stick a rough old grading bucket on and mix it up in a dumper at the start of the path and ferry it down the path in that. Can't think of a better way to do it tbh.
hiluxman
Well-known member
For me anything more than .25m3 I just order readymix, the cost of fetching materials, the materials themselves, the time of fetching them, the time/work mixing them, doesn't compute.
I am fortunate to have a a quy I've used for years who will always accommodate (usually ring the afternoon before to pencil it in) then ring just before your ready and one of his lorries turns up an hour later.
For really small mixes there's a firm local that has a 7.5t mixer.
Both will wait while you barrow, again so long as you've primed them up.
Overall looks like here we are alot better positioned than some of you are for readymix
I am fortunate to have a a quy I've used for years who will always accommodate (usually ring the afternoon before to pencil it in) then ring just before your ready and one of his lorries turns up an hour later.
For really small mixes there's a firm local that has a 7.5t mixer.
Both will wait while you barrow, again so long as you've primed them up.
Overall looks like here we are alot better positioned than some of you are for readymix
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DaveDCB
Well-known member
Get it dropped in dry ?
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bobthebuilder
Well-known member
belle mixer is 12 shovel max for it to mix ,let it mix ,it will mix wetter over time ,water in tto quick and it wont mix ,and as for sand in bulk bags ,botoom third of the bag is normally soaked so useless
i will get a pic of my mixing set up tommorow
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Smiffy
Well-known member
I don't think it's so much lack of availability. It's more that they are all so busy they pick and choose. Very difficult to get anything with less than 48hrs notice
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