Hand (bicycle) operated mixers for cobb

Let's face it, a lot of people just don't want to do a I-Love-Lucy grape stomp on their cobb. There is enough work in house building as it is. I've seen various hand operated concrete mixers at good prices, and they do cut the work by at least a half, from all reports. They look like good deals for the cobb housebuilder. But you can only get them in India or China or South Africa. They don't make them in the U.S. or at least, they don't sell them here. Has someone out there adapted a 55-gallon drum, or a salvaged concrete mixer, to operate manually? Or even better, hooked up a bicycle to one, so that a peddler can turn the thing? Is there no better way to make cobb but the Israelite-slaveing-for-Pharoah way?

Just wondering if you managed to find a bicycle operated cob mixer yet? I was thinking of somehow hooking a drum up to a stationary exercise bike.....should be able to get a secondhand one cheap/free. Wish I was more mechanically minded!

I'm attaching a pic of a very simple hand operated one....looks like they just stripped away the machinery and added a handle...pretty cool.

Galen Johnson wrote:Let's face it, a lot of people just don't want to do a I-Love-Lucy grape stomp on their cobb.  There is enough work in house building as it is.  I've seen various hand operated concrete mixers at good prices, and they do cut the work by at least a half, from all reports.  They look like good deals for the cobb housebuilder.  But you can only get them in India or China or South Africa.  They don't make them in the U.S. or at least, they don't sell them here.  Has someone out there adapted a 55-gallon drum, or a salvaged concrete mixer, to operate manually?  Or even better, hooked up a bicycle to one, so that a peddler can turn the thing?  Is there no better way to make cobb but the Israelite-slaveing-for-Pharoah way?

I don't know if you're still wondering as this is an old post. I was thinking it might be pretty simple and easy to hook up a bicycle powered cob mixer. Do the gear work and belt-system that you might find on a peddle powered clothes washer. Hook it up somehow to a drum on stationary rollers? just brainstorming as I'm trying to come up with something similar.

I have a US Built cement mixer (an old Sears model) that is either electric or hand operated. In the large pulley that is grooved for a V-belt, it has a hole drilled for a hand crank. Considering the gearing that takes place, it is very easy to crank by hand and mixes cement well. I cannot think of a reason why even new, cheap concrete cement mixers like the $189 ones from Harbor Freight or Home Depot could not be adapted with hand cranks on their big drive pulley.

I've seen explanations from people with loads of cob mixing experience that cement mixers are not well suited for mixing cob, but that mortar mixers are.  So, I would focus on looking for a mortar mixer rather than a cement mixer. Hooking up whatever mixer to a bicycle as a power source would probably need some pretty serious gearing. Personally, I will be looking for a mortar mixer and perhaps working up some manual powered drive, rather than trying to Rube Goldberg together something from scratch. No need to re-invent the wheel