Pan or bucket concrete mixer.

[Lazy-Farmer]

We have both a telehandler and tractor etc and I have been looking for a larger cement mixer. Around 1 cub. Been looking at pan mixers and bucket mixers. Got a loader for the tractor too so could use any off them but wonder what people find better.

Not will be used for founds and concrete got the yard, plus some pre form work. Also wondering if it’s that much cheaper in the long run that just getting a wagon in.

 

[Farma Parma]

I think its classed as PAN mixer the one my neighbour uses
Its about 6ft across & 3ft high will that be the type your on about? has a heft metal grid over the top (Might be 5fr across) even
its far easier used on the telehandler for getting it too spoton where you need to pour the mix out afterwards.
Easily power washed clean after also.
Blue & Yellow colour cant say i know what make it is.
He thought it was the better way & mixing his own thats all.

 

[Robert K]

@Pan mixer

 

[Sharpy]

Random thoughts.
No experience of bucket mixers, but with a pan mixer you are usually better discharging the concrete into a bucket on a handler, this means the concrete in say a floor slab or shuttered wall gets spread 8ft wide and you can drop it exactly where its needed, meanwhile someone else can be mixing the next batch.
A cube of concrete in a pan mixer will make most farm handlers struggle, never mind a loader so bear this in mind, also the hydraulic pressure and flow to power it needs checked.
Finally price up sensible amounts of ready-mixed versus the raw materials for home mix, often nothing in it, BUT you are not standing waiting for a mixer to turn up then getting 2 at once/ not having enough/paying waiting time if you are mixing your own as you need it.

 

[Sebastian77]

Don't underestimate the HP needed for a 1 cube pan mixer, we hired one and put it on a 75hp tractor and it stopped the PTO dead a few times, didn't want to damage PTO clutch so swapped it onto a 125hp tractor and was still dragging revs down.

 

[Sharpy]

Don't underestimate the HP needed for a 1 cube pan mixer, we hired one and put it on a 75hp tractor and it stopped the PTO dead a few times, didn't want to damage PTO clutch so swapped it onto a 125hp tractor and was still dragging revs down.

Its a .75 cube here and the Jd 6620 knows that its on, if it starts to grunt the shearbolt is on the edge of breaking......

 

[Bobthebuilder]

depends how you want to load them, we have a pan mixer but have an old bucket cut down to fit the width of it, have a couple of marks on it for the right levels of sand or gravel, they take a fair bit of driving tho

 

[7610 super q]

I just knew shear bolts would crop up. Halcyon days.

 

[jamesy]

I just knew shear bolts would crop up. Halcyon days.

Pin, shear pin!

 

[KennyO]

Iirc @Daniel has a mixer bucket

 

[davidroberts30]

Pin, shear pin!

Isn't that what old haybob tines are for...

 

[robbie]

We have a 0.8 cu m pan mixer, it's one of the many polish ones. Use it on the pallet forks of our jcb 526 and when full it will only just lift it.
We fill it with our 3cx back actor and 18inch bucket we know the ratio of buckets to bags of cement and mix accordingly.

Weve found the secret is to keep plenty of water going into the mix while filling, If the mix gets too dry it will stall the hydraulics on the loadall and is a pig to get going again.

Cost is only marginally less than ready mix but it does give us the flexibility to do bits and pieces as and when we want to.

 

[S J H]

We have a 0.8 cu m pan mixer, it's one of the many polish ones. Use it on the pallet forks of our jcb 526 and when full it will only just lift it.
We fill it with our 3cx back actor and 18inch bucket we know the ratio of buckets to bags of cement and mix accordingly.

Weve found the secret is to keep plenty of water going into the mix while filling, If the mix gets too dry it will stall the hydraulics on the loadall and is a pig to get going again.

Cost is only marginally less than ready mix but it does give us the flexibility to do bits and pieces as and when we want to.

I’ve got the same, the bucket mixers were a lot dearer, and I thought it would be hard to measure, so just fill it with the mini digger.

 

[Pan mixer]

I am on my second pan mixer of the same type - see avatar. The first wore out after 1200 mixes. On the trusty 8210 (Ford) there has to be a full set of front weights else cloud observation is the only thing you will do from the drivers seat.

I have one so that I can go conceting when I like although I rarely do more than 8 cubes at once - about 12 loads.

I looked at bucket mixers but decided that I would be clueless about how much ballast was going into the mix - with the pan mixer I know that my half-cubic-yard old massey bucket (converted to go on the telescopic) has to be almost full twice, I start to put water in the second that I start tipping the first lot of ballast in (by pulling a rope attached to a 2 inch quarter turn tap attached to a header tank with more or less the right amount of water in it)

Slabs we pour by backing up over them, for walls we use a bucket on a second loader.

The concrete arrives to the slab or whatever at about the same speed my two helpers can lay it and it is always laid fresh like that.

 

[mo!]

We had one. Lots of work compared to readymix, no cheaper, concrete not as good, lots and lots of washing.

Very handy for doing an odd bit though.

I don't miss it.

 

[Bobthebuilder]

Yeh for jobs bigger than 2 mixes probably better off taking time to prepare site properly and just get ready mix in, far quicker just as cheap and the same mix every time

 

[wdah/him]

1 cubic is 2 tons or so, might explain the weight and driving issue.

 

[robbie]

I am on my second pan mixer of the same type - see avatar. The first wore out after 1200 mixes. On the trusty 8210 (Ford) there has to be a full set of front weights else cloud observation is the only thing you will do from the drivers seat.

I have one so that I can go conceting when I like although I rarely do more than 8 cubes at once - about 12 loads.

I looked at bucket mixers but decided that I would be clueless about how much ballast was going into the mix - with the pan mixer I know that my half-cubic-yard old massey bucket (converted to go on the telescopic) has to be almost full twice, I start to put water in the second that I start tipping the first lot of ballast in (by pulling a rope attached to a 2 inch quarter turn tap attached to a header tank with more or less the right amount of water in it)

Slabs we pour by backing up over them, for walls we use a bucket on a second loader.

The concrete arrives to the slab or whatever at about the same speed my two helpers can lay it and it is always laid fresh like that.

How many bags of cement do you use per mix????

 

[Sebastian77]

We used 5 bags for a 1:5 mix, gives about 750kg in the mixer.. that was enough each time! Laid a floor for a 60x30 shed and it was bloody hard work.. would just get ready mixed in next time

 

[Lazy-Farmer]

Don't underestimate the HP needed for a 1 cube pan mixer, we hired one and put it on a 75hp tractor and it stopped the PTO dead a few times, didn't want to damage PTO clutch so swapped it onto a 125hp tractor and was still dragging revs down.

Tractor is 150hp 6 cyl with about 8-9t life so not overly worried about wight.

I rarely use the loader for it but I think it’s about 2.5t lift or their about. The telehandler is a 2.6t lift so I recon it would manage a cube but not with much to spare. Maybe best getting a 0.8 cube mixer.