On Wed, 10 Sep 2014 22:24:10 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 10 Sep 2014 23:06:47 +0100, David Billington
wrote:

On 10/09/14 20:08, Steve W. wrote:
stryped wrote:
I have some projects at home for which I am wanting to make my own
concrete with Portland cement, gravel, sand, and of course water. I
need a fair amount of concrete but not all at one time. I don't have
a cement mixer and it would be a pain to rent one every time because
I cant do all these projects in one day or even a weekend. I am
wanting to pur a footer along my driveway to make a brick boarder,
and I also have some concrete edging I want to make.

Is there anything without too much trouble I could fab together that
would be relatively in expensive?

I wondered if a 55 gallon drum and a tractor post hole digger for a
mixer would work?

Any help is appreciated!

by the time you come up with a way to mix it thoroughly and
handle/dump it, you could easily buy a small used one or even a new
one from HF
Item #67536 3 cu ft $199.99 Grab a 20-25% off coupon and take it home
for 150+tax.
Will make mixing MUCH easier. Clean it well after each use, grease it
good and toss a tarp over it when not in use and you can expect it to
be there as long as you need it.

I'd go with buy the mixer and sell when done with. It won't take a big
pour and the materials would cost more than a new mixer, at least here
in the UK and they're available quite cheaply these days, so I guess you
really need to work out the volumes of concrete you need to mix and the
materials cost before you start and see if you want to hand mix or use a
mixer. Having a mixer takes the hard work of mixing out and the largest
I've done was 8' x 8' and about 3" thick for a shed base, moving the
material into position was more work than loading the mixer, which did
the hard work, which was then poured out and my neighbour gave a hand
raking it into position between pours and final tamping to level. I
would ask friends and relatives if they have one to borrow as I now have
2 concrete mixers which were given to me free and I wasn't even looking
for one. One I changed the belt on and the other needs the belt
tightened but other than that haven't cost me more than a belt, both
are currently out on loan doing work for a friend and a neighbour. both
are UK made Belle mixers so decent kit used by most small builders here
and spares readily available if ever needed.
There is a "small batch"
mixer that you just roll around on the ground - looks like a 15
gallon barrel

They're a PITA, too. I made a mortar hoe with a Greenlee punch and
found that it was still too much effort to use. I now use a simple
soil cultivator (3-tine pointy-toothed rake) and it slides through the
dry and wet concrete very easily. The helper I hired for the 135' of
fencing I put up last week was very happy with how easy it was to stir
the mix with that thing. (Amazon 4-tooth version)
http://tinyurl.com/o7g9nvs I use those in the large black tubs, which
are getting too hard to find. Most are extruded, and all the corners
are super thin lately. (HD tub) http://tinyurl.com/p37jaes

--
Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and
wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.
-- Henry George