Bright orange Belle Minimix 150 tip-up mixers are used by countless smallbuilders all around the UK. So thereshould be considerable potential for aclever adaptation that allows thesepopular mixers to not only produceconcrete or mortar but also toeffectively create usable topsoil byscreening out stones and buildingdebris from waste material on site.

John Shakespeare of Wem in Shropshirehad the idea of creating a screening drumable to be fitted to a Belle mixer. He hadused his MiniMix 150 to produce concreteto secure new fence posts around hisproperty and he wanted to recycle thestony material dug from the fencepostholes into good quality topsoil. Sowhat is now called the Multidrum SoilScreener was born.

The UK-made Multidrum packagecomprises a three-part soil screening drumand a special dual chute arrangement thatfits onto the mixer frame under the drum.This dual chute allows larger debris todrop into a wheelbarrow placed behindthe mixer, whist screened material fallsinto a second wheelbarrow at the front.

We put the Multidrum concept to thetest with a used Belle mixer, and also tookthe opportunity to check out one of thebrand new MUV Electric Wheelbarrowsrecently launched by Nu-Star Material

Handling of Ednaston in Derbyshire. The UK-made, pedestrian controlled

MUV Electric Wheelbarrow can carry upto 400kg of material on level ground at amaximum speed of 6.0km/h. Completewith its own integral 110V/240V charger,

this battery powered barrow really doestake the effort out of moving materialsaround on site.

The test location was on a farm inBedfordshire where the variety ofmaterials ready for recycling included amound of soil mixed up with asphaltplanings. All the equipment arrived and theMultidrum was unpacked. To facilitateeasier transport and storage, the screenerdrum is composed of three sections whichcan slot inside each other.

The standard Honda engined MiniMixerwas placed on its three-legged stand andits mixer drum was simply unscrewed in ananti-clockwise direction and removed. Theblue coloured dual chute assembly wasthen inserted through the frame of themixer – an operation that would havebeen helped by a larger and clearerillustration in the assembly instructions.This chute assembly is secured by meansof a sliding bracket to accommodate subtledifferences in the dimensions of differentmixer frames.

The three sections of the screeningdrum were then separated and thesmallest, red coloured base drum was

PLA

NT &

EQU

IPM

ENT

116 I MAY 2015 PROFESSIONAL BUILDER

Nick Johnson tries out two innovative British productsdeveloped to aid small-scale material screening andmovement on site.

SIFT & SHIFT

Ready to get started; the standard Belle mixerwith the Multidrum components, the MUV ElectricWheelbarrow and a standard wheelbarrow.

Nick Johnson removes thestandard mixer drumready to turn themachine into an effectivesmall-scale screener.

116_PB_MAY15_Layout 1 09/04/2015 11:38 Page 116

For further information on the Multidrum screener drum use the reader enquiry number 223For further information on the MUV Electric Wheelbarrow use the reader enquiry number 224

securely connected to the mixer byrotating it clockwise onto the projectingdrive shaft. Then the intermediate (green)and outer (yellow) drum sections werebolted on to the base drum (whilstensuring that the large holes in the base ofeach drum were aligned). The longest edgeof the blue chute assembly should clearthe inner edge of the largest diameteryellow outer drum but, on the test unit, ithad to be bent outwards slightly toprevent fouling during drum rotation.

A traditional, hand pushed, wheelbarrowwas then placed under the front chute tocollect the screened material. A secondwheelbarrow would normally be placedunder the rear chute to take the over sizedmaterial but, during the PB test, the MUVElectric Wheel barrow was manoeuvredinto the rear position. Because the skip ofthis powered barrow is larger and higherthan its non-powered counterpart, its skiphad to be tipped up slightly to get underthe end of the chute.

The Honda GX120 mixer engine wasthen fired up and material shovelled into theMultidrum. The screening process workedvery effectively with the finer screenedmaterial flowing smoothly into the frontbarrow whilst the larger stones and debrisdropped into the MUV barrow behind.

It was found that feeding material intothe screening drum had to be donecarefully to prevent unscreened materialfrom dropping straight down into the frontbarrow. An internal flange around theouter edge of the yellow drum might helpunscreened material containment but thiswould prevent the other drums from being

carried inside it for transport or storage,and it might also allow overloading of themixer. Screening is best carried out withdry material and care needs to be taken toseparate out larger objects, such as wholebricks, before loading.

Unaccustomed as I am to sustainedhard manual labour, I quickly became a bigfan of the electrically powered MUVbarrow. Powered by two EM 90Ahr sealed

gel batteries, this quiet barrow is simple tooperate (with a twist-grip throttle and adead-man’s handle) and it can quicklydump a full load by means of an electricactuator. There is a clearly visible batterycondition indicator and tests by Nu-Starindicate that a running time of up to 14hours is possible between charges (whichlast 9 to 10 hours).

The test MUV had a black plastic skipwith a capacity of 237 litres. With this skipthe machine is 825mm wide and the unitweighs 242kg. The two front drive wheelsand the swivelling rear castor wheel are allfitted with puncture proof tyres. Thiswheel arrangement means that the unitwill not negotiate really bad ground and itneeds three planks or a full width ramp forloading onto a trailer for road transport.

Whilst considerably more expensivethat a standard wheel barrow, the MUVelectric machine moves more materialmore productively with less operativefatigue and much less risk of back injury.Both it and the Multidrum are greatexamples of British enterprise and are wellworthy of evaluation.

Material has to be carefully fed into the outeryellow drum to prevent any falling straight downinto the front barrow.

Designed to ‘wheel away inefficiency’ the MUVElectric Wheelbarrow allowed Nick Johnson tomove and tip 400kg loads without unduephysical effort.

CIRCLE NUMBER 096

116_PB_MAY15_Layout 1 09/04/2015 11:38 Page 117