On 11/27/2012 8:51 AM, JayH wrote:
Yes, I remember that setup. Unfortunately it isn't very portable, and that's what I need right now. But it does open some possibilities for another design. Right now I think I can get this one down in weight a lot and make it easier to use, still portable. I'll be able to line up barrels and do a fairly continuous mix with a helper filling and emptying. I have three or four available. I don't see the water tower idea working in a portable situation, but another barrel with a fast pump would be a nice substitute. Ideally I'll put a setup on wheels so I can roll between molds while I'm casting triangles. For slipforming like Judith does, just putting the barrel on a strong scaffold would do the trick. Either way the barrel has to be elevated on a moveable stand of some sort so you can locate it and dump into molds/forms without using a bucket or pump.As far as avoiding putting the "killer" into your killer blades, remember EliSutton? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/photos/album/2081614419/pic/list While Eli's system may not be 100% safe, it's probably safer than manually hefting a gigantic immersion blender. It certainly would save lumbar disks in your lower back. It also may stimulate some ideas for your own adaptation that is even better. Also, such a lift system may make it possible for one person to operate the mixer and fill it while the blades are spinning. Whatever happened to Eli anyway? Hey Eli? You out there buddy? Miss your posts dude!
I'm convinced that elevating the mixer above your forms can minimize the manual labor to a great extent. Getting gravity to work for you instead of against you just has to be the right idea. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. With some reasonable thought it should make life a lot easier. Spending more time building and less time doing the worst of the physical manual grunt work is always a step in the right direction. Another thought I have had would be to build a "water tower" above your elevated mixer. One of the slower activities can often be waiting for a hose to fill up a mixer. If you had another barrel that used a toilet float valve for the filler, and either another elephant trunk valve, or even a standard toilet tank flapper valve connected to a large diameter pipe leading to your mixer, you should be able allow the hose to fill the tower tank at a snails pace while you are mixing one batch, and then rapidly dump the water tower flush style into the mixer when ready to start the next batch. If the float valve were mounted on an adjustable stick or other support inside the tank barrel, you could make the water quantity adjustable and automatically measured precisely. The side benefit of the "water tower" approach, is that that the tower tank could be a place to pump runoff water to. If you can create a drainage system around where your papercrete is draining, but that may or may not be practical depending upon each construction situation. Looking good. Glad you are back in production.
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