Masonry Magazine March 2008 Page. 24
Delivery Systems
"You save on equipment costs and reduce forklift time, because you do the mixing and placing with one machine," Cummer says. "You never take your mortar board off your wall."
Powered by a 13-horsepower engine, the hydraulic mixer allows masons to handle their grouting with just two people. One person runs the forklift, while the second person controls the equipment. The mixer is brought to the tubs, instead of laborers bringing their tubs to the mixing site, which saves time.
Coming next
MASONRY CONTRACTORS can look forward to new equipment later this year, including a hydraulic mixer that can automatically dump its load from Hydra-Flow Mortar Mixers in Phoenix.
"An automatic dump is so much easier on the user," says David Birmingham Jr., president of Macalite, which manufactures the Hydra-Flow mixer. "It results in fewer injuries by making it easier on the person using the equipment. You just flip a lever, and it will rotate and dump the load."
The mixers, which will hold 13 or 16 cubic feet of mortar, will be modeled after the company's current hydraulic mixers that mount on trucks, trailers, wheels or skids. The mixers don't have a gearbox, drive belt or clutch for a simpler operation, and there is a forward and reverse for dispensing mortar.
Within the next three to five years, Birmingham expects to see a continued trend of equipment that's user friendly. "We're trying to make equipment easier on the operator and make equipment that lasts longer and is more reliable," he says.
One obstacle that will present a challenge to manufacturers is the rising price of steel, which could result in rising equipment prices. "The price of steel and manufacturing parts keeps getting higher and higher, so some of these costs will have to be passed on from the manufacturers to the end users," Lang says, "However, like in any other industry, manufacturers of this equipment will have to learn to produce their equipment quicker and with better technology at the factory, while still maintaining the same quality in order to compete with lower labor markets that will keep the price of mixers close to where they are now over the next three to five years." IMAS
Brett Martin is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer with 15 years of construction and writing experience.
Editor's Pick
Grout Placement
Made Easy
Stone Construction Equipment has a new product line that places grout and masonry mortar using a mechanical delivery system, the Groutzilla Placement System. The power-take-off (PTO) driven unit simplifies placement of grout in blocks, walls, forms and foundations, delivering optimal control, minimal clean-up and high productivity. Groutzilla handies 20 cubic feet of material and works in concert with a telehandler or forklift.
The Groutzilla Placement System comes with an eight-foot reinforced rubber discharge hose, and other lengths are available. The system can be filled from either a ready-mix truck or a mortar mixer. Features include:
* Self-wiping Talet auger system, which allows for optimal discharge flow control, minimal wasted material and easy cleanup
* Auger with reinforced, composite polymer flighting, which prevents binding due to various aggregate sizes
* Angled geometry of the heavy-duty hopper, which promotes flow to the auger and helps prevent accumulation of grout on the hopper's sidewalls
* Heavy-duty steel hopper that is easily replaceable, extending the life of the system
* Positive hydraulically controlled shut-off value that seals the hopper and stops material flow when activated
* Swing-away discharge snout, which eliminates the need for tools to clean the system and is ergonomically designed to eliminate handling of heavy components
* Flush-out grate that provides convenient access to rinse the discharge snout during cleanup.
FILL BLOCK WALLS
WITHOUT A CONCRETE PUMP OR FORKLIFT
PumpMaster
Model PG-21
AIRPLACO
EQUIPMENT COMPANY
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March 2008 www.masoncontractors.org