Makeing cement

[DDT]

I have a 1 sack mixer and it has mixed alot. The problem is I'm tired of screwing my back up for weeks after a pour (I think this is where wisdom comes in) I use 5 gal. buckets of sand to load the mixer. A bag of portland will fill 2 buckets and 10 buckets of sand makes a 5 sack mix (fine for sidewalks). I am going to build a small combine bin so I can use the loader to fill it. I need to make sure my math is right. I don't have scales so I use volume to get the right mixture.
A bucket is 11" dia x 13" deep. one bucket holds 1235.431 cu in X 10 buckets =12354.31cu in convert to cu ft is 7.149487. Is this right?
Now the bin will hold 7cu ft of sand so I just back the mixer up to the bin and open the gate to fill slowly add water and portland and my back won't get me down.
DDT

 

[mbjacobs]

When I do the calculation I get 7.14948675359 cu.ft. in 10 buckets.

 

[Boomerboy]

Doesn't it depend on grain size when converting from cu in to cu ft?

 

[njrqs]

Hey guys

Don't forget cement comes in bags and is a powder.

Concrete comes out of a mixer and is the wet stuff.

Just a pet hate from a construction type /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Cheers

 

[Darren]

FWIW, a lot of the strength of concrete is from the aggregate. An all sand mix won't be that stong.

 

[theboman]

Ain't it 3-1? 3 parts sand to 1 part concrete mix?

Helpful hillbilly hint. Toss in a few shovel fulls of gravel. Makes the stuff got much farther! I learned more about the stuff in a week than I want to know.

 

[EdKing]

I thought the mix was 1-2-3, 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, and 3 parts gravel. I could be wrong though.

Ed King

 

[mikim]

That's the formula I always heard - but you couldn't prove it by me - mine always comes right out of the truck all wet and ready.
mike

 

[jimgerken]

I thought we were talking about concrete.

 

[mikim]

OF COURSE ... OF COURSE ... /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif I was ... what could you possibly think of otherwise ?? /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
mike

 

[DDT]

mbjacobs
I guess our figures are very close, so it should be right.
In my area a 5 sack mix is 5 sacks per cu yard- 6 sack mix is 6 sacks per cu yard. for stronger mix they add 20% rock to the load. This is why I use road gravel instead of concrete sand.
With my 1 sack mixer @ 5 sack mix 5 dumps will be one cu yard. when I want alittle heaver mix I will put in 8 buckets instead of 10 per load, this should geat me close to a 6 sack mix, but I have never worked it out on paper, just a guess.

 

[RonL]

DDT

Some yards sell aggregate mix that contains the right proportion of sand and gravel for a concrete mix. You add the appropriate amount of portland cement and water. Crushed stone makes a stronger concrete than does washed smooth gravel. The amount of water added to the mix affects the end strength of the concrete. Some people like a wet mix that flows easy but a thick mix that needs to be rodded and vibrated into the forms yields a stronger end product.

RonL

 

[Pks]

RonL

This is exactly what I did several years ago. The yard had a special pile of sand and agrigate that was pre-measured for mixing of concrete. I paid a little less than $75 bucks for a whole yard (27 cu ft.).

Peter