Is the aldi cement mixer at £99 a good buy?
I want to mix some plaster for wall draughtproofing, and some lime mortar for pointing some bits of walls over the coming months and years...
[g]
unless you are building something substansial, like an extension or a long garden wall, I wouldn't waste your money.
You can't mix plaster in - it's for mortar and concrete only, also, it's a PITA to find somewhere to put it when it's not in use.
you can hire them for a few quid a week.
why cant i mix plaster in it?
[g]Lime mortar you can do very nicely with a mixing paddle attachment on an sds drill (screwfix do the paddles). I measure out into a trug, mix it there - keep it wrapped in a binbag - and knock it up again as I need it.
I'm told lime mortar can be a bit too sticky for a mixer with the blades in it - forms a clump that remains lodged - but that you can cut the blades out with an angle grinder.
As far a mixers go, I always hire (when I'm doing concrete) - and have found the belle minimix is a great deal more capable than the cheapies.
I bought one a couple of years ago, but in the end the project I bought it for didn't come off, and having spent the best part of an afternoon assembling the bloody thing - believe it or not it comes in a flatpack - I decided to offload it on ebay (I think I made 20 or 30 quid profit on the deal!).
It seemed reasonably solid, but my big problem with it was the overall bulk of the beast. It's not possible to quickly and easily dismantle it for storage, like the little Belle Minimix jobs you get from the hire shops, so it occupied a big chunk of the garage.
David
I suspect you'd find it's not designed to mix at the right speed (probably too slow), and it would take too long to clean it out between mixings (plaster mixing implements have to be thoroughly cleaned between each mixing). I just can't imagine it mixing plaster to a smooth lump-free consistancy, but I've never tried. I suspect a cement mixer actually relies a lot on the heavy ballast to help with the mixing (i.e. the sand or gravel in the mortar or cement) which isn't in plaster.
You mix gypsom plaster in a bucket with a powered plaster strirrer (or with a stick if you're fit and not mixing it up all day long). You could mix a sand and cement render in a cement mixer.
I got a 150 belle minimix off ebay. The 110v versions were cheaper that the
240v ones but as I already had 2 transformers that suited me. It has got to be the best mixer on the market for its money.Storage is not usually a problem as someone usually wants to borrow it!
Adam
No. You're better off hiring, or else big readymix, unless you're in a very narrow band where you want regular but low-volume use over a long time. Otherwise owning your own mixer is a right old white heffalump and you have to store the thing. You've also got to keep cleaning it out after the neighbours borrowed it.
If you're commercial, go for a Belle because you can get the spare bits whenever you need them (and it's 110V).
Only time I could see this working is if you were self-building a house and doing it very, very slowly.
A 200W motor isn't very powerful - probably not enough to turn the drum when full of concrete. My tiny electric drill is over 700W.
It will be an induction motor and very low geared. You would be surprised how much better a good motor can be.
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