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The Papercrete Tow-Mixer

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The Papercrete Tow-Mixer
This humble contraption is all you need to make and dispense Papercrete. Notice I said "dispense". Not all Tow-Mixers are created equal. Most will make Papercrete just fine, but not all are specifically designed to dispense the Papercrete mix into forms in a precise, controllable way.

I visited Mike McCain, whom I consider a great Papercrete pioneer, at his home in New Mexico several years ago, and he was kind enough to show me his equipment, including a well-used Tow-Mixer. The 'blade' rotating inside was simply a section of steel fence post bolted to the 'face' of the differential, and the valve he made to let the mix out the bottom was just a sliding metal plate. During his demo, he banged the gate with a large hammer to get it to open, as it apparently got stuck regularly (he kept the hammer handy). This metal gate also leaked when the mixer was full of water or mix. Nevertheless, this mixer performed well, and had done so for many years. I came up with an alternative that I think works better. It's an 'elephant trunk' made from a doubled innertube from a car tire, riveted to the bottom of the tank and closed by a flapper gate of plywood. See photo below.

But let me describe the whole mixer first. It's a stock tank - this one we used is 160 gallons - with a blade rotating inside (photo below), like a giant food processor. When the mixer is towed behind a vehicle, the wheels turn the gears of the differential (back axle from an old car) and the part that used to connect to the driveshaft rotates facing upwards inside the tank. Here we bolt a lawnmower blade or, as in Mike's case, a piece of fence post, and this blade chops up the paper and mixes it with water and cement to make Papercrete.

After the Papercrete is mixed and ready to use, the mixer is driven over forms waiting on the ground, and the mix can be released through the 'elephant trunk' into the forms. So this Tow-Mixer is both mixer and dispenser, and with it you can make all the Papercrete you want for many years. The trunk-like spout allows you to direct the flow of mix precisely into forms.
The Movie makes all of this very clear. Watch the Movie here.

Looking through the hole in the mixer's cover, the blade and the inside of the rubber 'trunk' are visible.

The 'elephant trunk' spout is controlled by a plywood flapper. Pull up on the rope to close and to slow the flow of mix.