plastering Machine, worthy investment??

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PLASTAMASTA

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Hi all im new to the forum and would like your opinion, was considering investing in a machine to spray mainly skim finish and perhaps monocouche render occasionally. what sort of meterage can you cover in a day using a machine for finish? and any recomendations as to which machine to go for?

thanks
 
A mixing pump replaces the mixing, carrying and laying on of pre bagged plasters and renders. The time saved by laying the material on quickly can be used sitting down reading your Kindle or preparing the rest of the job for plastering and completing the work quicker or with less manpower
 
Hi thanks for replies, im based in the west Midlands. 160m2 doesnt seem worth the expense of a machine, im working in a three man gang at the moment with large areas to go at and were putting on 200m2 + using Knauf universal board finish and thats at 4m in height. was hoping to hear larger areas could be covered using a machine.
 
machines for machines sake inside imo.....it's the setup time, hassle of cleaning out, prep like masking etc and the cost of parts that makes it unviable not to mention the 8-10k to buy the kit in the first place!. Machines for heavy renders, optional for thincoat renders and forget it inside.
 
Hi goody, thats why i came on hear want to way up pros and cons before i spend any big bucks on a machine, done a job with weber pral by hand and was slow going would defo go with a machine next time, but wanted to see if i could get a machine to do finish as well as render to make the cost of a machine more worthwhile.
 
goody said:
machines for machines sake inside imo.....it's the setup time, hassle of cleaning out, prep like masking etc and the cost of parts that makes it unviable not to mention the 8-10k to buy the kit in the first place!. Machines for heavy renders, optional for thincoat renders and forget it inside.
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iv been using mine basecoating today. 5-6 floors up, about 15m. spraying 10 bar no problems. couldnt be doing loading out that far up.
 
Ive heard of the ritmo sounds like a good all rounder but as i work on site id need 110. do you think a machine is worth the initial expense? and are they easy to get the hang of?
 
machining is expensive if everythings new....it'll take a while to pay for it all with productivity. It does give you another string to your bow but I probably do as much thincoat external work these days by hand as mono by machine...so not sure on the future of big machines really with heavy renders. Saying that though I'd never be without one because I can always pick up metres of mono as a backup when not doing ewi. Mono day in day out same as skimming does my head in. The machine is just a part of the big picture and something that makes the job more interesting in and amongst hand application
 
I get tired of the same thing day in day out and do like the mono but dont think i could be arsed to put it on by hand again. this was the initial reason for looking into machines. not doing much mono at the moment but not realy looking either so perhaps if i had a machine id be pushing for more mono jobs. any recommendations on machine Goody?
 
Goody, why dont you use it for thin coat? The bulk of my work is thin coat and i would never go back to hand trowelling backing coats.

As Nick said, no bumping mats everywhere, water not needed, and you dont need to keep moving your knock up station all the time. On top of that, so much easier to apply, takes all the graft out of it.
 
Don't make sense, if you can bang on 200m a day ( im guessing skimming) , you are super fast and fit. Then how come you struggle to put mono up the wall by hand??
 
Hi Mark, not realy done much mono, wasn't so much of a struggle just slow going in my opinion. majority of my work is internal so skimming dabbing ect is just second nature, the 200m2+ is down to the knauf universal board finnish its brilliant stuff, wouldn't be covering that sort of meterage with multi.
 
if you like that you will love the spray stuff mate

we have only just started spraying skim but i do belive it has a future
 
not all sites are machine friendly, most ewi work is refurb. and it's too much hassle round back with pipes, paths, fences etc to bother with machine. Saying that tho we have used the machine for spraying maite and topcoat and it's super fast once your spraying, but like I said the jobs don't favour the machine all the time. Given my time again id probably go for a ritmo L which is about as big as it gets but still one man handling.....whereas now ive got the ext hopper on the xl it's tipped it into severe ball ache territory...I know you can take it off but it's bolted and i can't be arsed fiddling anymore tbh
 
Mono :As a gang of 3, by hand you should on average be able to put on and finish 50 bags , thats 10 half but mixes at 5 bags a mix.That will be a comfortable day. With a machine we can pretty much double that, assuming that the job allows you to cover such area( take into account fiddlier jobs with piers/small wall sections/bays etc)thya may lower your average daily coverage.
 
CurrierPlastering said:
if you like that you will love the spray stuff mate

we have only just started spraying skim but i do belive it has a future
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Like anything it would be a learning curve, i imagine youd need to get to grips with the machine before putting serious meterage on but im thinking it could be worth it:RpS_wink:
 
goody said:
not all sites are machine friendly, most ewi work is refurb. and it's too much hassle round back with pipes, paths, fences etc to bother with machine. Saying that tho we have used the machine for spraying maite and topcoat and it's super fast once your spraying, but like I said the jobs don't favour the machine all the time. Given my time again id probably go for a ritmo L which is about as big as it gets but still one man handling.....whereas now ive got the ext hopper on the xl it's tipped it into severe ball ache territory...I know you can take it off but it's bolted and i can't be arsed fiddling anymore tbh
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how comes the hopper extension on yours is bolted??

dont you think its about time they made a hopper lid with a clamped catch/lever rather than a bloody nut that sheers once a year
 
I know just a couple of clamps like on motor but smaller for speed n ease! Oh and whilst they're at it turn the effin motor handle back so it can fit in a regular transit without cocking it over instead if adding 2-3" that don't need to be there.
 
yeah ur handle is slightly different to mine. just looked on the site at the weight difference. yours is more than double the weight of mine. f.uck that!! mines heavy enough as it is
 
I don't own a machine but I used a G4 for a while in Germany 17 years ago and something else to take into consideration is your health.

I wouldn't like to guess how many tons of stuff that I've mixed and spread on the wall over the years and it takes a toll on your body for sure.

You might for instance be able to add 10 years onto your working life as well as that duration being easier with a machine doing the work for you. That alone makes it more than worth it in my eyes.
 
There is a huge difference in having a small machine that 1 man can manage to move day in day out without help. The Ritmo m and L are no bigger than a belle mixer on a stand and thats something every plasterer is used to using. I agree with Goody that the thought of tugging a big machine and genny etc etc in and out of the machine can persuade you to leave it at home so you're van is empty for the week. But when set up the job can be so much quicker and easier.
Have a demo of a Ritmo m or L i'm based in swansea or you got Len up Rotherham. See what the machine does and then consider how it fits in to ur jobs.
 
it's a funny thing the old machine size debate......on the one hand I like the power but don't like the weight of the xl(and that's about as compact as it gets for 3 phase). With the hopper extension it holds about 9 30kg bags of parex but even with this I find it can't be left alone for long as it tends to hollow out from the middle and leave about 2 bags around the sides. My point is that although the bigger machine with its' bigger holding capacity will spray for longer in between refills there's no real time for the machine man to do anything on the wall still. So if I've got to have someone on the machine at all times when doing heavy renders then the size of the hopper doesn't matter at all.
It all comes down to power then. Does the ritmo L have the guts to power through pipes that have been left too long, hard lumps in the bags that you don't see or any other scenario that aint in the book. If it does then it's the one that gets my vote with it's 20m pumping distance. The xl never lets you down see, so once you've got the power on tap it's hard to spend as much for less performance in a smaller package.
 
PLASTAMASTA said:
Hi Mark, not realy done much mono, wasn't so much of a struggle just slow going in my opinion. majority of my work is internal so skimming dabbing ect is just second nature, the 200m2+ is down to the knauf universal board finnish its brilliant stuff, wouldn't be covering that sort of meterage with multi.
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How do you get more meters with the knauf board finish?? av never used it
 
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