Design and Construction of a Mortar Mixer using Locally Available Materials

Abstract

Uganda is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the construction sector is one of the major contributors to this scaling. While this is the case,most contactors have continued using the manual methods for the mixing of the mortar. This does not only make the process slow and expensive but also tedious, time consuming, expensive labour wise and quality of the mortar is usually not good. While others use concrete mixers, which brings about inconsistencies in the proportions of mortar, partially mixed mortar and clumped mortar. These lead to reduced strength, durability and capability of mortar keeping the masonry intact to create a water-resistant barrier. Therefore, there is need to develop a practical efficient, affordable and easy to use solution to mortar mixing locally to match up with the hiked construction demands in the country.This project report focused on the use of locally available materials to come up with a mortar mixer machine. It is tailored to synchronize with the current economic status of the Ugandan citizens in order to enhance adoption mortar mixers at construction sites.Much of the work revolved around the use of engineering knowledge to select system parameters for the mortar mixer, concept generation,material selection and design of major components of the mortar mixer