[Cob] Mortar Mixers

[Amanda Peck]

The information on the website says that the machine acts rather like one of 
those little paint mixers stuck into a drill chuck.  Even though it then 
goes on to talk about how their redesigned paddles work beautifully.  This 
would suggest that it would work fine for mixing clay slip for light clay 
walls, or for integrating clay and sand into a kind of sloppy mix so you 
could mix your straw in by hand, the way that Pat Newberry does.

The cheap test would be to get one of those little paint mixers and fire up 
the drill.  Not so cheap if you burned out the drill motor, but still not 
$500+ dollars.

The thing mixes around three five gallon buckets at a time, not a whole lot.
...............
>From the exchange between John Fordice and Dulane (snipped):

I know that some folks have had success with HORIZONTAL axis mortar mixers.
The productive technique seems to be small batches that allow the straw to
mix in effectively.  With a horizontal axis you have gravity working for you
as it acts to separate the mix from the paddles as the cob is rotated in the
mix tank.

I suspect that since gravity will not act to pull the cob off the paddles
with each rotation in a vertical axis mixer such as the one you are
considering, the tendency will be for the mass of cob to hang up on the
rotating paddles and simply rotate around as a mass in the mix tank.

.......

, Dulane: > Has anyone tried using an Imer Mini-Mix 60 electric mortar 
mixer? They are
 > around $540 and they come with free shipping at
 > http://www.toolfetch.com/tools/minimix60.html
 > I didn't mean this as an advertisement, I just want to know if anyone has
 > tried to use one for cob.
 >

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