Fixing a concrete mixer

[@googleuser859]

I love your subtle sense of humour, I think a lot of people wouldn't even notice the jokes.

[@olmok]

You're checking the runout of the drum the wrong way - it's the inside of the drum that matters. Important to check though, lest your concrete comes out wobbly - just look at what happened with the tower of Pisa.

[@ThisOldTony]

good fix, enjoyed!

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Thank you Tony!

[@thenextstepp]

two of my favorite KZbinrs in one place lol

[@elzeno2414]

This Old Tony Why didn't you just call Stefan up to tell him that?

[@Engineerd3d]

I loved the paint brush gag Tony. Its the reason I subscribed to Stefans channel. :)

[@ThisOldTony]

I'm waiting for him to call first; don't want to seem desperate.

[@robertwatsonbath]

Thanks Stefan! for me the best line is 'there are a few bad spots... here, here, here, here, here, here and everywhere else'. Greetings from the UK btw.

[@junglejammer1]

Yes, I'm sure you checked that drum for run-out. LOL! Nice repair.

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Sure I did! ;) Thanks!

[@chukkyup]

drum run out should be checked with machine running with test indcator

[@turningpoint6643]

Well a proper drum run out test would require a full load of gravel, concrete, and water then you add that test indicator. :-)

[@duobob]

For a good job you should be using a .001 mm indicator.,,

[@pauldorman]

I think using the dial indicator directly on the rotating concrete slurry would be the only way to do it properly. Only a top-of-the-line Mitutoyo would give you an accurate measurement of course. I presume Stefan will be posting the final run-out measurements in a second video, which I for one look forward to seeing. There are very few instructional videos of the correct procedure on KZbin, so this will be a valuable addition to the machinist's canon.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Quote of the day. ...... ‘It’s important to check your concrete mixer, really’. Another masterful piece of work. Who else would take a dial indicator to a concrete mixer. Fabulous stuff.

[@renter007]

I used to weld repair a significant amount of bearing locations on shafts for 2000 kW + electrical motors for dredging equipment and the preferred weld direction is beads length wise of the shaft next to each other. Go round once and then weld in between the beads also length wise. Repeat till enough build up. This was always done as last resort if no new shaft or enough repair time available. The preferred repair is a new shaft since you do damage the material due to welding and never get it 100% again but for your mixer this is perfect..

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Thank you! I am pretty new to weld buildup, thats a skill I want to learn and use more in the future :)

[@cpcoark]

Good job. Be a total amateur I really enjoy these videos. One thing I will admit, between you, Both Keith's, Adam, ox tools and others I have really learned how you can save parts instead of considering them beyond repair. Thank You!

[@euclidallglorytotheloglady5500]

I love rewatching these older videos. Great work past Stefan!

[@cmonster6]

Like to see more like this,you are one of my benchmarks of quality tool making but every once in a while I just want to see a cement mixer repaired!

[@AmateurRedneckWorkshop]

I enjoyed the mixer repair. I am glad to see the drum does not have a lot of runout. At 50 RPM you generate huge centrifugal force. =(;-) Keep on keeping on.

[@Cancun771]

Is this the place where the old fart complaint goes that it would have been much better to retrofit it with good, old-fashioned bronze bushings?

[@johnjohn-ed9qt]

Nice. Yes, shaft buildup isn't as easy as it looks. But what is going on 4:14-4:30 in the lower left corner?

[@bcbloc02]

The title sounded more like one of my videos. lol Got to ask why you didn't just machine off the old weld, turn a new stub shaft and install that then weld it like factory, would seem a cheaper repair and WAY less time. What are you doing with 2 ton of concrete building a barn?

[@MartsGarage]

Thank you, Stefan, It's always interesting to see what you've been up to. I too, like the narrative format, and this job is more along the lines of the sort of job I do. It's always good to fix stuff.

[@Greenmachine305]

I admire your attention to detail, but I feel your tolerances are a million times greater than necessary for a concrete mixer. This illustrates the law of diminishing returns exceptionally well.

[@charltonwang]

I'm normally more interested in your videos that are related to machine tooling/techniques but I have to say, this one was highly entertaining. "Here, here...here here here, everywhere." LOL! Nice fix! You must mix a LOT of concrete.

[@finn127]

Nice repair. At the end, seeing the ATIKA and how it turns, I felt a small twitch in my right middle finger. As a kid I played with our mixer, the exact same as yours, and I got my finger caught in the gear drive thing. No crying, nail fell of the next day, finger still looks stoopid. Nice reminder.

[@billdoodson4232]

I'm always amazed at how ball bearings keep on working even when they are totally shot. I've had them literally fall in bits as the shaft has been pulled out and they weren't even noisy.

[@johnmcdyer7297]

you crack me up stephen so funny yet extremely knowledgeable absolutely brilliant

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Haha, thank you :)

[@johnmcdyer7297]

Your very welcome

[@bostondan77]

Great video, especially loved the last minute. thank you

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Thank you!

[@chrisjh777]

Great repair!! During the final installation, I would have packed grease in the narrowed down section and on both ends to help keep moisture out during the service life.

[@potlimit2002]

When you are building up bearing fits on a shaft tack weld a scrap round stock sleeve of a close OD to the end of the shaft to serve as weld run off tabs. This well keep the welds near the end of the shaft even. Then its a simple matter of facing or parting the run off tab off. This merhod is huge time saver.

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Thanks for the tip - Thats not a common work that I do, I will try to remember that for the next time

[@newtsfarm]

Even though the drum runout was within tolerance you should still take it somewhere and get it balanced. Perhaps a tire shop could do it.

[@1musicsearcher]

I'm pretty sure you're allowed to check the run out of the drum with a tape measure.

[@WildmanTech]

This is very nicely done, but did you consider just turning down to the next size bearing? I have no idea what sizes are available so maybe that wasn't practical, but losing a couple of mm probably wouldn't make a lot of difference.

[@davidrule1335]

I built one of those the size of a concrete truck. 316 S.S. I welded on the 10" flange as best as I could. The Die shop town the road turned the shaft/flange out of square some 5 deg. on a big CNC lathe.

[@mrcpu9999]

I am sorry, but the checking of the runout of the drum, oh man, that was a gutbuster... Love the humor in this one.

[@drdyna]

You have to make sure and also indicate the cement while you're smoothing it out :)

[@EmperorDevilhunter]

Bearings always show more wear in the inner race. Since it's smaller diameter, the balls rolls more times in the inner race than in the outer one. If you think about it, the balls should be the ones that have the worst wear because they are really small in comparision, but they rotate a bit in other direction so they change the mating surface, unlike the races

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Makes totaly sense what you say! I think on the balls you do not only get rolling friction but also sliding friction in some cases.

[@micbanand]

rod gets bad because of humidity. very bad and makes hydrogen cracks. bake them over night. helps alot. to make certificat weldings you must use heated rods. But for your use no worry. if std mild steel you gained 30% hardnes by welding it

[@aserta]

I would've lobbed off the bearing housings and replaced them with platforms. They would accept a zerk fitting based bearing (self aligning) which would improve the whole machine by quite a lot. There's also sandwich type bearings the top brace could be added in the same manner back on top.

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Nice job. But I think you should of checked the drum runout on the ring gear. Using a long stoke DI.

[@IronHeadMachine]

"This is not precision equipment" Well it is now that it has been Stefaned. Well within micron accuracy ; )

[@mikesportsman1811]

Hi Stefan, Another great video as always. One thing I am curious about is why did you start by machining the worn bearing areas on the shaft? Why wouldn't you just weld it up first then turn it back true and concentric? I am not criticizing, I just want to learn what you were thinking...and if that same train of thought may help me one day. Best Regards, Mike

[@vicpatton5286]

Loved this one Stefan. Your good sense of humor was readily apparent and enjoyable! Sad to say though I think the wheels of the mixer now need your capable attention-side play looked to be in the multi mm range :-) I immediately went out after watching this to examine runout on my wheelbarrow wheel (I do not have a powered mixer ). This examine indicates I have some work to do!! thanks again for a lighter moment regards vic

[@TscharlyBrown]

Beim Schweißen ist es fast immer besser von unten nach oben zu schweißen, dadurch kann die Schlacke besser ablaufen. Super Arbeit!

[@lste]

I'd have looked at putting back smaller ID bearings if possible to avoide the weld build-up and re-machining stages. All subject to loading and lifetime calculations of course.

[@peterjones6945]

That was entertaining, actually did LOL a few times. I spent 8 yrs at a hire company repairing stuff like that (mixers, water pumps, diesel engines, compressors, etc)

[@nicklasahlund8995]

Just noticed this video. By the way, I love your work, always awesome. Anyway, I work as an machinist in sweden at a repair workshop and encounter this problemon on a daily basis and the thing we do when we repair shafts of every sort and kind we more or less always machine down the shaft 3or 4 mm and make new collets with 0.01 - 0.02 fit and glue them on and then machine them to the correct bearing fit and it works like a dream!

[@carneeki]

I really like the narrated format you've done with the last few videos.

[@duobob]

A narrated format must be much easier for piecing together and editing raw footage as well, and it eliminates background noise and variable volume from moving around while working.

[@andisabele]

How about protective paint cover on repaired flange? Or there will be protective concrete paint covering anyway sooner or later...

[@StefanGotteswinter]

My paintjobs are just as bad as my welding. So, no, it will get a nice rust-concrete patina ;)

[@Chris-pb3se]

Did you just put a dial indicator on a cement mixer? I think that’s the most German thing I’ve ever seen 😂. The only way that gets better is if you poured your own precision surface plate while wearing a perfectly white lab coat and blasting metal on the stereo. Your videos are so awesome, please keep doing what you do.

[@robertklein1316]

Hi Stefan, I thought we would see you spray welding the shaft on the lathe, like Abom79, guess we'll have wait for the next shaft repair. Is that a metric ton of concrete? We use coat hangers for welding!!!

[@59jm24]

Coat hangers are mystery metal, you may get a carbon surprise, use bailing wire.

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Thats a process I will happily leave to the guys who know how to do it

[@Fake0Name]

I'd have thought sealed bearings would have been a good upgrade. Any reason you stuck with shielded bearings? Also, is there a way to grease the bearings? If not, adding a grease zerk on the bearing container section should help them last a lot longer then the first set.

[@StefanGotteswinter]

I am not 100% positive, but bearing manufacturers recommend shielded bearings in dusty enviroments.. No, there are no grease fittings, they are "greased for lifetime" (The more I think about this term the more funny it is.). I would have to change to one-side-shielded bearings and add grease fittings, that might improve it - But we got enough live out of the old bearings so I did not bother ;) (Before we had it at home, my grandfather had it on proper construction sites in use.

[@thebrokenbone]

hi i don`t want to be a smart ass or anything but for humid/dusty environments where rotational speed is low sealed (rubber covered plates) are preferred as shielded (metal only covers) leave a small space where dust/water can enter the bearing. for this application where axial and radial loads are of great magnitude a set of taper roller bearings would have been a choice to consider but manufacturers being what they are just put a straight axle and two 2z ball bearings that are cheaper and give x time of life. the last mixers that have been brought to my shop for some repair (welding/machining shop) had everything torn apart BUT the bearings... and they were of low quality and way undersized... go figure. you had an old well made machine it`s very nice to see a man saving one of those. thanks for sharing

[@garybiggs9010]

Bearings? I think mine are in a slab somewhere. Just bought this mixer and haven't used it yet. The rim of the drum has 3/4" of play. Will that be a problem?

[@jimzivny1554]

Good video. Question; would it have been easier to turn the shaft down and make a sleeve 3?mm thickness and press it over the shaft instead of the welding and re-machining? Don't get me wrong, I love getting the welders out for any excuse but my first thought was sleeve it and be finished. Just a thought.

[@lste]

PS what distance is 500ths of a millimeter? Is it half a millimeter?

[@superdau]

What kind of welder are you using? (you don't mention that on your homepage, where you describe your other tools) I'm thinking of buying a TIG welder, but as it's purely for DIY stuff I don't want to spend much money. I'm oogling at a "Stahlwerk AC/DC TIG". Stahlwerk seems to be a similar thing as Holzmann (I have a drillpress from that company), assembling and rebadging from China parts. But at least they offer a 5 year warranty.

[@jimzivny1554]

This project is a great excuse to start building a rotating table for future projects!! We always need more tools!

[@glennfelpel9785]

That mixer is older than you are! Good to see you do everything too, and by yourself. It was all good but the ending was the best we all need a laugh now and again.

[@303ondock]

Hi! I have a nixer that rotates too fast, how can it be slowed down?

[@63256325N]

Great fix! And thanks for the laugh, I really got a kick out of the dial indicator on the drum......Once a machinist always a machinist.

[@infoanorexic]

I see you are playing on someone's comment (elsewhere) about "fussy Germans." Nicely done. I wish my mixer issues involved only the drum shaft and bearings. Instead I'm getting a crash course ("Oh, I hope not!") in gear making.

[@danielmattsson8574]

what did you mix 2tons for? you should've showed us that 😉

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

That's basically the bottom of a shed or terrace. At 2.3g/cm3 it's 870 liters, about 20 mixers of concrete.

[@Watchyn_Yarwood]

Very good! I'm am somewhat concerned about the run out on the drum though. Don't you think you should have taken a skim cut on the drum?

[@sergevereecke680]

What model of Atika cement mixer is this?

[@michaelh3949]

That's the nicest out side vise I've ever seen, would love one for my shop.

[@larry527az3]

Heck now you can ramp up the RPM's now and mix that concrete much faster! lol. Great video Stefan.

[@simonp347]

Why not sleeve it?

[@baggerf14]

Dude you are cutting into Abom79 area! But i bet the cement mixer will have the tightest tolerance in germany!

[@SteinarNor]

Are you really sure you got the runout of the drum to within spec? And as several here have suggested, I think you should have the drum both statically and dynamically balanced :D That concrete mixer, Atika, they dont make, at least I dont find anyone selling mixers like that anymore. I would love to have an old Atika mixer like that

[@hebrewhammer1000]

Nice repair! thanks for sharing.

[@waynep343]

machine a delrin rain cap to keep rain out of the bearings .. stick it in place with silicone.. or just glob some silicone over it. you could also make up a long shank forshieda seal die and make a silicone rtv for the drum end to keep rain and wash water out of that end of the bearings also. the seal would be stationary on the bearing housing with a flange against the spinning drum mounting flange . it would be a slit seal.. glued together. a split forsheda seal but with big flanges could be used for container ship propeller shaft bulk head seals.. so the large flange just rubs against the bulk head allowing the ships hull to flex without compromising the water tight .. as water one either side of the bulk head would push tighter against the bulk head.. i got this idea after reading about the emma maersk accident report where the engine room flooded 29 feet deep and the emma settled to the just slightly deeper bottom. but did not sink below the water. the accident report www.dmaib.com/ulykkesrapporter/flooding%20of%20engine%20room%20-%20emma%20m%C3%86rsk%20on%201%20february%202013.pdf

[@marhue7026]

Stefan, whats up with that vice you have outside? that looks really cool. is it any good or no, and thats why it is outside? i have never seen a vice with a traveling back jaw. bitte und danke, Marius Huempfner

[@nder12345]

precision mixing. nice repair stefan

[@petervernaci1364]

Andre Mausli

[@AnatoFIN]

It’s a concrete mixer, if it wobbles too much, add water and if it makes too much noise you can always start a lawnmower to mask it :P

[@joelandersson8504]

Ok, on to the next video in my subscription list. "Fixing a concrete mixer" by... Stefan G! Right there I got the image in my head of an indicator on the drum. And sure enough, there it was in the end! :) I have the same (or very similiar) model Atika here, but your looks nicer. On mine you have to really search to find some orange paint between the rust and concrete. Still runs fine though. But now I have to take a good look the bearings...

[@tbirdpimp07]

since you had to buy bearings anyway why not just get different id bearings and save alot of work?

[@daveticehurst4191]

Stefan, what a lot of sodding about, why did you not just skim the shaft down, then fit a oversized heat shrink steel sleeve, then finish turn to size ? Much quicker and easier than all that welding and distortion caused.

[@pauldorman]

That would have made a much less interesting video I think, and Stefan would have missed a valuable (and risk-free) opportunity to get some weld build-up practice!

[@Greenmachine305]

Hell, I would have cut used an angle grinder to brutally resize the shaft for some differently sized bearings.

[@Greenmachine305]

Screw that. I actually would have just bought a new spindle, or even just bought a new mixer.

[@Greenmachine305]

Still love the vid, though.

[@pietzeekoe]

Just out of curiousity, what did you need the two tons of concrete for?

[@brianu2871]

Hi Stefan, I was surprised you did not go to TIG from the start. I knew you had a TIG set up. Good job as usual ! Brian

[@robertcartman3502]

OK, and how much was the runout of the drum?? :D

[@watahyahknow]

seeing you check the runout on the cementmixer gives me pictures of you checking a 10 by 10 meter concrete floor with a straightedge and feeler gauges / micrometer to check for levelness , maibe even trying to scrape parts to get it perfect ........just kidding offcourse but still you done a nice job on it , and showed me that it can be done i have an electric motor on a stationairy drill that the top part of the axle is bend on , i want to try and fix it the same way (migwelding the low part of the axle up put the straight bit on the axle in a steady rest ) straighten and cut a new center on the end , then put the rolling center on that and turn everything off untill its straight and to size again) , the one sided welding will most likely bend the axle back the other way so i need to see if its enough

[@lorenlieder9789]

Nice work Stefan on the mixer.

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Thank you!

[@DoRC]

Very cool though I think I would have just turned it down and put a smaller id bearing in.

[@DoRC]

then again I'm lazy

[@mikewalton5469]

nice save! i like when you indicated the repaired assembly. it's important to keep the runout under 1mm ! LOL great work.

[@theh0r5e90]

So are you going to starting a Krautrock grope now?

[@jonsoons]

Listening to a German talk about precision is like listening to a Frenchman talk about food or an Italian talk about beautiful cars or an American talk about business or an Englishman talk about bacon and eggs.

[@Flywheelerscc]

I enjoyed the humor at the end. You know if that flange had a too much runout a BFH and a few strategically applied blows would surely bring her right in line. ;)

[@agwhitaker]

It is the year 2086 - Gotteswinter offspring are still using Grandpa Stefan's cement mixer. "Himmel ! " one says. "The Yankee Eveready battery bunny is very sad compared to Grampy's machine."

[@stephaneouimet786]

Nice repair, This old Stefan!

[@pauldorman]

I think there was definitely a missed opportunity there. I can so see a cutout of Tony's head turning around and around with only the slightest suggestion of run-out!

[@godfreypoon5148]

In the next video, Stefan adjusts the dynamic balance of the drum.

[@7up-weee]

Do you have any plans for a video featuring 'This Old Tony' Stefan?

[@RichardHeadGaming]

Nice repair, those machines are made crude and tough for crude and tough work it does.

[@ChrisB257]

Super job Stefan - nice result. :)

[@TomZelickman]

Nicely done, Stefan. I think you were right on when you said that guys like Keith and Adam make that look easy! Glad to see you got the mixer fixed. Was that after the concrete mixing job was totally complete or do you have more to do? Best wishes, Tom Z

[@nickhulme5331]

Put your electrodes in the oven for a couple of hours, it can really help if they've been sitting around for a while.

[@simonhopkins3867]

You mixed two tons of concrete in an out of spec machine. It's that breaking some regulations 😂

[@Raccoonsareawesome]

Maybe a stupid solution? Wouldn't it be possible and quicker to use a sleeve instead of welding?

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Yes, would work too - But somebody would need to machine the sleeve first ;) At the time welding seemed to be the easiest way to do it - Plus I never did it before, so it was a nice learning oportunity.

[@schwellenzaehler2534]

Hi Stefan, good work! Your Video remembered me i must do a repair on my old 1965 Lescha "Volksmischer" concrete mixer. I hope that is so easy like your repair, otherwise i know a very good adress. 😆

[@StefanGotteswinter]

It will be fine :)

[@outsidescrewball]

Nice repair and super video.....

[@Teunbaartman1]

An Eastern German mixer probably wouldn't have any runout at all. Wasn't allowed by the system those days ;-) I would like to draw your attention to the channel of MrCrispin. His craftmanship very much reminded me of yours. cheers, Teun

[@StefanGotteswinter]

They just had a shortage in runout ;) I am aware of Mr. Crispin, I already bingewatched a good amount of his videos :D

[@StefsEngineering]

So, what was the runout on the drum itself? Did it match your previously set iso 2768 runout tolerance?

[@StefanGotteswinter]

Due to the big distance to the flange it was about 0,25mm TIR - Unfortunately the footage of the measurement got lost ;)

[@StefsEngineering]

Really impressive! Good job on that ;)

[@TheElderlyBiker]

A percussive aid - love it!

[@artmckay6704]

Stefan, a simply wonderful job but I'm worried you're slacking off....maybe due to getting older. Personally, I would have replaced those archaic ball bearings with air or hydrostatic bearings - they're far more precise and they don't have the insufferable level of runout that old fashioned ones have. Maybe next rebuild you can put proper bearings in? :)

[@thosoz3431]

Ve haf vays of making you laugh. Fixing stuff is what I use my workshop for. Loved it. Thank you Stefan

[@shotgunreloader4964]

How do you vent your shop from the fumes?

[@Engineerd3d]

Judging by the amount of work he put in a concrete mixer so he can have an excuse to use his lathe, I think fumes is why he started the project in the first place. In this regard I really enjoy these videos. Maybe I need to huff some of the fumes he has been huffing.

[@shotgunreloader4964]

Ha!--- fixing things like this is why I got into metal work as hobby.

[@jorgeconcheyro]

10 Points on the humor!!!! You probably need one of Adam's sprayers-melting-powder-metal-sparkling... gun!!!! hahahaha

[@robertkutz]

stefan nice repair.

[@thandles_workshop]

Nice repair Stefan👍