Stephen Hren

Hi John, thanks for this info! I've been looking at paddle (mortar) mixers and was thinking of renting one to try it out with cob, as opposed to a cement mixer (for those who need a breakdown of the difference):

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/difference-between-cement-mixer-mortar-mixer-95183.html

My suspicion is that a large paddle mixer to make the cob, and a light utility loader to load the cob into the forms is the best way to go. As you can see in the video above that I posted, the excavator can both mix the cob and place it in the forms, but the action of dumping the cob into the forms backwards (or underhanded) rather than forwards (or overhanded as a front loader/light utility loader) is awkward and hard to do with accuracy.

John, can you recommend a specific brand of paddle mixer for cob? Also I am more interested in electric mixers, even if they are 220V, than gas as I don't like the pollution they generate on the job site.

Thanks in advance!
Stephen

Hi - Is anyone interested in continuing this conversation, or maybe it's moved to another thread?

I built a small cob studio last year (2018) using an excavator and forming system with some other folks. It sped up the process dramatically, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. I would love to talk with other folks who are interested in this topic and have any ideas about it. A friend made a short four minute video of the process as an intro...

Thanks!
Stephen