Loading Our Own Concrete Truck Question

What size is the truck? Do you have a conveyor that might be fitted with a hopper and use that to to load the truck from the ground? Bagged cement could be added as the aggerate flow up the conveyor.

Do you understand how to correctly design a concrete mix? Check with you cement supplier for help. They do understand the cement and can design a mix to match the aggregate you have in the area.

I suggest you look into pouring tilt up walls or blocks for your construction. Then you will not need a peristaltic pump to place the concrete into the forms, they are filled flat on the ground, cured and hoisted up into place. If you cannot afford a silo you surely cannot afford to build a pump of the correct size.

Heart Cooks Brain,

"[Link deleted] This guy will get you fired up and you'll come up with enough money after getting smart about it. It really works!"

What in the world does that have to do with the thread here? (Just because the OP says he lacks the money to do the things he would like?)

Blatant commercial plugs don't belong here.

Your brain must be cooked.

Greg

In explanation of my previous post (#2):

That post had nothing to do with the OP.

Rather, someone named "Heart Cooks Brain" took advantage of this thread to post a link (originally labeled #1, before it was removed) and put in a plug for some self-help "You Too can Be Rich" guru's website.

This post has since been removed by CR4, rendering my response to it a "dangling enigma" to those who never saw the offending post in the first place.

It has no relevance whatsoever to the OP's question!

Some networking, plugs, or links to helpful commercial sites, that are relevant to the thread seems fine, but plugs and links to commercial sites unrelated to any topics being discussed are apparent violations of CR4 policies (I say "apparent", since obviously I don't speak for them).

Greg

Fisrt you need to buy a portable belt conveyor that can reach the funnel for your mixer. then you have to measure/weigh all your components and then add water to the mixer drum- but you have to decide if you want a neat mix-sloppy or fine mix-low water. sorry but their is no other weigh-sorry about the pun concrete mix designs are available almost everywhere-go to your local library.

when concrete is mixed all the parts are weighed and dumped on a conveyor belt individualy and then dumped into the mixer dry and then water is added and mixed on the way to the site-heaven help you if you cannot unload the mix because of traffic jams.

In brutal honesty you have created more trouble for your self by purchasing a conventional mixer rather than a mobile batch plant mini mixer- the kind that blends and mixes right on the truck- get ye in haste to the people you bought the mixer from and ask if it will be possible to take it back and buy a used mini batcher with or with out the truck body-if you can buy a used mini batcher and separate the drum mixer from the truck you will be much better off and have a much better resale value for the entire unit as they are a good resale item as they are being used more and more for better quality control and easier batch mixing of concrete with no waste and excellent quality control.

For adobe, maybe the scheme you mention may work, but it will still be difficult to batch the materials into the truck without some type of overhead bin and chute system, which needs to be very sturdy. You are probably looking at a commercial or properly custom fabricated system. You might be better off looking for a used portable batch plant, Erie-Strayer or the like. A ramshackle thrown-together-on-the-cheap system will likely be more trouble than it is worth. I can't speak to anything else on adobe as we don't have any experience with that up here in the tundra where I live. For concrete, a bin-and-chute scheme without weigh batching of cement and aggregates does not offer any precise control of the quantities of ingredients, thus for engineered applications, this type of concrete would not be acceptable since the quality would likely be variable. It might be OK for some homeowners, tho. Best bet would be to get a "zim-mixer" which is a truck-mounted volumetric continuous flow concrete batcher, as alluded to by another poster on here. The following is an example: http://www.mobileconcrete.com/ There are others, including used equipment that could be reasonably priced. "Zim-mxer" concrete is acceptable for many engineered applications as long as the mixer is in good condition and has proper calibration documentation. As for any type of pumping, you are best off by purchasing a new or used concrete pump of the peristaltic or piston type. You can find them on a web search under "Concrete pump". I wouldn't try to make one, unless I had access to good fabricating and design services. it takes a lot of force to pump concrete, and the materials have to stand up to high pressure and abrasion.

If you don't have the money to do the whole thing right, it is best to wait until you do as you could get into a lot of grief otherwise, just my $0.02 as a professional engineer in the construction field for 30 years.

Dave Sanford, PE

There are a number of companies that rent stackers (belt conveyor systems) of various dimensions which you can use to load your mixer. Consider using a subcontractor to pump your concrete slurry. Do not neglect to properly clean your mixer in a timely manner. It's easy to lose sight of details when your mud starts to "kick" and you won't enjoy the result if it does so in the mixer.

Poster, just wondering where on the globe you are at?

Thank you all for your suggestions.

We will be keeping the truck as it is a very in-expensive paid for mixer and very easy to move to any site we need it in. Your ideas were great and certainly along the same lines our ours, as we are in the process of building a portable belt conveyor.

Currently, our front end loader dumps into a small holding area & funnel shoot then at the hill side we back up to the spout to load. It works but is not as consistant as I would like, so we will have to come up with volumetric measurements to tune in the mix designs. Lots of landscape walls to practice upon untill we are sure about measurements & mixes.

I still think I will work on a sea container to hold pozolons and set up a auger to extract the powder rather than try to scoop it. It will be a silo but ground mounted . Come to think of it I could just build one with rammed earth & a roof . Scooping is OK for Stone & Sand but those dusty items like ash give me fear of silicus related health problems if in my breathing air.

One again Thank you for the suggestions

2' thick & 36' tall in adobe??

I'd get some professional structural advice first.

Think Inorganic Cement-Not Adobe.

We have studied this a while.

Ever studied the Great Wall Of China Or maybe 50 % of the buildings in those other world countries ? Adobe !

2 ft thick is standard for low walls and for thirty six feet means 6 feet at the bottom & down to 2 foot at the top.

Just tagging this one so I can Find It & we are in Georgia , USA