I'm pretty anal about keeping them clean. Just alittle buildup can mean alot of lost time messing around with a batch just because of one rock in the mix. I'm either starting the day cleaning them out from other crews or spending the end of the day cleaning them out when we have alot of builds. Anyways I feel I spend alittle to much time on this and would rather be in the garage enjoying handful of adult beverages. Does anyone have a good trade secret they'd like let go of? I use the standard beat the thing with the maul approach. I dont go John Henry on the thing but tap the sides and paddles to dislodge buildup. To prevent buildup I just run alot of water thru it and let it foam the residue up for easier break up of buildup. Couple things I've heard is run a few shovels of sand thru the water. Another is use abit of muriatic acid but that seems like a headache considering it could turn into another chemical/problem with a dumpspot. Anyways thanks for any input because I'd rather be spending my time with something else.
http://www.liquidhammer.com/
about a dozen bricks thrown in helps a little ....with some water
^^^this, (bricks will disintegrate over time ) but with chunks of metal and a little muratic acid, fire her up and let her run, is how we did it.... oh and set her up in the back 40 cause she's gonna be loud....lol
I'll try some old miller bits then and see what happens. I'm thinking they'd be aboot perfect size. Thanks for the info.
Sand mixed with gravel works well for the end of the day clean out. If it's really coated, maybe try running it with some 2" trap rock with water and see what happens.
Only problem I see with rocks is the imperfect sizes in them every once in awhile it plugs. I'd like to put something in the barrel and walk away for abit.
Still need a good cleaning tip for mortar mixers.
put a good amount of gravel not the smallest one but a good size one and let it run at different angles so u make sure u get all the parts inside the mortar drum and add some gallons of water and ull find it thats its nice and clean and the best part is u can reuse the gravel next time you need it just my .2 cents also a nice little trick is if you dunt use the mixer for a while pass a good coat of burned motor oil on it and ull find that the next time you use it you wont ahve any build up and it helps keep it rust free also
Try a needle scaler for once a year cleanup. Dustmask eye & ear protection will be helpful also.