A couple of weeks ago, a new neighbor gave me an electric cement mixer that had been left on his property when he moved in. It seems to work OK and the price was certainly right, but unfortunately previous owners were not careful to clean it out very well after using it. There is a buildup of concrete in the drum and on the agitators that takes up about 1/4 to 1/3 of the possible volume.Since the bottom of the drum appears to be formed steel rather than cast metal,I have tried pounding on the outside of the drum where the concrete is and also pounding directly on the concrete inside. Neither has dislodged very much of the very hard concrete in the drum. I also tried hitting the concrete with a heavy pointed digging bar, but mostly just move the whole mixer around. I have had success in breaking up concrete everywhere else using a large sledge, but in this situation, there is no room to swing a long tool inside the drum. I have thought about renting a big hammer drill, but haven't tried that yet. I also have thought about putting the drum in the upright position and adding enough water to cover the concrete and letting it sit that way all winter. I was thinking that maybe the freezing and thawing cycles might help dislodge the concrete from the metal. The concrete mixer will work as is, just without nearly as much capacity as it might have. I don't want to break the machine, but would like to get the excess concrete buildup out. Am I going at this the right way, or is there an easier way of removing the concrete that I haven't thought of?
| 
