Ok last week i got my power curber dialed in… first effort (first 8ft) i should have scrapped because it came out off color because of rust in the chute/extruder form… the first run was about 25ft which is 3 batches in my mixer. that 3 batches i was use’n the rock i had on site which was way too big but it worked ok jammed a couple times some was as big as 1.5″… ordered in 20 tons of #8 which is 3/8″ and under some type of crushed grey rock like you’d find in roadbase without the fines…
with the hopper chute i welded up for the bobcat bucket… i could swing the bobcat between the loads of fine white sand and the small rock… 3- 5gal buckets of sand 2.5 of rock and 1 of white portland… with the chute/hopper i can dump into the running mixer…. add water… mix about 3-4 min dump back into my chute hopper and transport to the hopper of the curb machine…
i’m extruding the curb about 1.5″ higher than the slipform so that it clears steel pins i placed into the concrete to hold the curb in place… so there is a little pushout/ non formed mix where the curb meets the concrete… but one pass of the mag float and it’s seamless and finishes off very well…
the machine propells itself by pushing out the mix it has a brake so you can slow it down a bit so it compacts the mix well… I’m getting about 8ft of curb per batch when the hopper is empty it…stops…(about 45 seconds for 8ft) and 2 min with the hand mag trowel…. leave the machine in place and go for another batch… seamless between batches… machine runs pretty str8 but i did run 25 ft just using my steel pins and i got off about 1.5″… next run i used a string and it was pretty dead on…
I do need to run a 4ft section that i’ll have to run let set and then move into place because i dead end into a wall… i’ll just run the machine on some 1/4 plywood finish off the ends and then move and mortar into place… i have 2 rounded ends of some planters.. and i have not played with make’n a curve yet…
i’ll try my hand at post’n pics later… but all in all pretty neat machine… i can see where if you had long runs and a mix truck onsite… 10-16ft of curb a min is realistic
p
Replies
its common around here to do a mile aday and couple hundred yards. wait till you get to that level
This is the curbing machine for use around gardens and such? As opposed to curbing ones doing roads?
no it's not like you see them selling where you can go into business doing lawn curbs... thats pretty much like buy'n a back breaking labor job... like gettting into ditch digging cause you own a shovel.... check ebay lots of those deals for sale... trailer mixer curber and you too can buy yourself a min wage job...
this is an extruder.... only runs on hard pretty level ground... basic hopper power driven screw design... think it's 14-16 hp... will take many shapes of curb and even some curb gutter molds... it will do asphalt or concrete... haven't tried the asphalt but with about zero slump it might be fun... as long as the mix is hot...
this is good for about 10-18 ft per minute... and except for line'n it up and slow'n it down (slow it down to get good compacted extrusions) it pretty much runs itself... if you had a rail for it to follow... it would run itself as long as you kept the hopper full...
my slow production rate is from have'n to make the mix.... with 4 people vs 2 you could just about keep up... with 2 there is a little lag but not alot... no matter what you can make curb faster than you can mix concrete... 3- 5 gal buckets of sand... 2.5 of rock and 1 of portland maxes out my mixer....
the rental yard rents a 1 yd poly drum mixer that would be worth have'n on a long run... so far all my runs are 25ft or less (3 batches)...
i haven't put much of a dent in my 80,000lbs of white portland... but i'm try'n
p
did you really buy a power curber ?
do you have a set of radius gang forms i can borrow ?
carpenter in transition