[nbc] Cob: bicycle powered cob mixer

[Matthew HALL(SED)]

Brian
buffalokiller at hotmail.com writes:
> You don't know me and you're generalizing me, categorizing me. 
>I'm just someone who loves bicycles, has access to old bikes and parts, and 
>knows how to weld. The goal is to come up with a device that will allow the 
>convergence project in Portland to not have to rely on electricity, and 
>maybe save some money that would have to be spent on renting mixing 
>machines.
If you are really keen on a mechanised bicycle-related approach to cob mixing then you could do a
lot worse than to study the techniques that have already been tried at the University of Kassel or
the FEB in Germany. Every kind of eccentric mixing device you could possibly conceive has been used
in some shape or form there. They have a website but it is obviously all in German.
>

One method that may be applicable to you is one where you have a vertical fence pole stuck in the
centre of the mixing pit and a horizontal pole pinned across the axis such that it can spin 360°.
On one side of the pole you have a series of large tyres that roll across the cob mix and gring it
up very effectively. The other end of the pole was propelled by a quad bike driving around in a
circle over the mix. The effect is rather like a motorcross pugmill, i see no reason why this could
not be used with bicycle power instead of motorbike. 

Regards
Matthew
>
>

____________________________________________________________________
Matthew Hall BSc (Hons) GradBEng
PhD Research Student
Centre for the Built Environment
Unit 9 Science Park
Sheffield Hallam University
Pond Street
Sheffield S1 1WB
England

Tel: +44 (0) 114 225 3200
Fax: +44 (0) 114 225 3206
E-mail: M.Hall at shu.ac.uk