After I received news about the new Makita plaster mixer, I decided to get in touch with them and see if I can get a closer look as I feel that there is room within the industry for a new mixer company and why not a Makita mixer?
I have only ever owned two mixers in my life, but I have used many different ones and also broken a couple of the other plasterer’s mixers as well, I got the nickname “FLASH” when I was training because I dropped a mixer in a bucket of water and got a nice big thump of it, a week later the site we were working on had a power cut, and I looked around and made the mistake of taking my hands off and when the power came back on the mixer danced into life again… that was the end of that one as well…
My first mixer was a cheapo one from our favourite auction site, and it was only meant to last me a little while, but it lasted many years and for the sake of £60 it was money well spent, although I must have been luck as numerous other plasterers bought the same mixer, and it was broken in a couple of mixes. Mine last the abuse of mixing up tonnes of hardwall and miles and miles of skim I could not ask for a better mixer.
However, this mixer died in 2012 after I was plastering a friend’s house and as the job progressed, you could hear the mixer crying in pain, and it started to fade quickly, and so I decided that it was time to get a new one. I, however, had left it to the last minute and so was restricted on what I could get, and I was lumbered with a Draper Expert mixer £99 of the finest quality.
Anyway, the Makita mixer arrived, and I was a little disappointed in the size of the paddle. This is an 1800 watt beast with a paddle that I wouldn’t use to mix paint with. (Although I did mix paint with it eventually) However, after a brief search in my unit, I could find a paddle that was going to actually mix plaster, and it suited the mixer a lot better than the red one.
The Makita UT1600 is the most powerful plaster mixer in the Makita range of four plaster mixers and the 240 volt UT1600 model has an 1800 watt motor to run to 250 rpm in low gear and 580 rpm in high gear and the 110 volt, and the 110v version is rated at 1500 watts and rotates to 210 rpm and 480 rpm in high gear.
Getting the UT1600 mixer out of the box it surprised me that it was heavier than I was expecting but only weighing in at 7.1kg’s its not that heavy at all and the weight of the mixer really did give me a feeling of quality and build quality.
One of the complaints of my past mixers is that they were noisy and the last mixer I had (the Draper Expert) was damn noisy. Draper boasts that it was less than 100 db’s but my god it was noisy, so I was keen to see if this Makita mixer was quieter.
With the Makita plaster mixer running, I was looking for the speed controller, you know the thumb screw that controls the speed, and then you can lock it off at whatever speed that is suitable to what you require. However, with the Makita 1800w, the trigger is variable, which is great, press the trigger in 50%, and you get half the speed, but if you want to lock the trigger on it has to be on 100%. Which are one of the things I really needed to get used to, and I was constantly having to change the speed from the low gear to high gear and vice versa just so I could lock off the trigger and add more powder or water without having to actually stop mixing.
The other thing that I have had to get used to is that the lock switch is quite hard to depress with my chunky fingers, but once you get the knack it was fine. I actually think that the lock off switch is meant to be hard to select so that it is not pressed accidentally. Not that I have ever done that in the past.
The first lot of plaster I was going to spin up was some bonding coat from British Gypsum, and with the water added and a bag of bonding in the bucket the mixer handled it really well and what I did notice was that this 1800w plaster mixer has some very nice grunt, it just powers on through the mix, and it was knocked up fairly quickly.
There is no soft start on this mixer, which is something I appreciate as I like, it just gets straight to the point, but it seems to have a soft stop… it takes an age to actually stop spinning… It just keeps spinning, and I am stood there waiting to put the mixer down and it just keeps on spinning.
How Much Does the 1800w Makita Plaster Mixer Cost?
UT1200, 30kg mixing capacity is from around £170 inc vat
UT1400, 50kg mixing capacity is from around £240 inc VAT
UT1401, 50 kg mixing capacity is from around £285 inc VAT
UT1600, 80kg mixing capacity is from around £350 inc VAT
These models were launched in June 2014 and are available now through Makita UK’s dealer network I have also had a look on Amazon, and you can get them reasonably priced there… Cheap Makita UT1600
So In conclusion
I have been using the Makita UT1600 for about four months now and mixed up a fair amount of plaster loads of magnetic plaster a tonne of Hardwall and Bonding and a pallet of Multi Finish and a and I have to say the verdict so far is that I like it and well to be honest I like it a lot.
The price is a good reflection of what to expect out there as there are other mixers on the market in and around that price bracket, but I have always been a fan of Makita, and so I would be more than happy to part with my money for one and from the few months, I have been using it I can see it lasting a long time so would be money well spent.
I would like to Thank Makita for letting me test and review the Makita UT1600, and if you have any questions, please do get in touch with me.
I’ve had 1100 watt one of these since 96 put huge paddles on it mixed 4 bags of hardwall in a bin at a time with it and been using it on the hardest product to mix dab for20 odd yrs only time it’s stopped is human error leaving the trigger on and turning transformer at wall whilst forgetting trigger was on resulting in spinning out of bucket ripping lead out of handle
Ah gd gd 🙂 I have done the very same thing but my father in law is a sparky so he fixed if for me 🙂 I am very much impressed with it to be honest 🙂 There are other popular mixers out there but I think there is space for another big player in this market 🙂
i so need a new mixe soon
We’ve all done that at some point
That’s the one I have cost me nothing company bought me it so money well spent on there behalf
I’ve had a mixer from aldi for about 6 years still going well can’t remember how much it was must have been £ 60 long live the mixer
hey,
nice report tho 🙂
which paddle are u using with the ut1600? so size and length eventually brand. also which nice plastic bucket?
cheers and thanks for ur reply,
artur
The whisk is just one I had kicking about… think it came out of an old Draper whisk 😀 The tall plastic buckets I think come from Wickes and yellow ones are also from wicks… they dont last long though as they dont make them like they use 🙁
had our first Makita 1800 utr1600 beast for 4 months, my guys prefer it over out mega mixers as its less intense to use and the guys say it is controllable and less aggressive so it does not kill the labourers.
we are having switch troubles with it which is a known fault, it turns onn fine but you have to pump the switch 5-6 times before it will turn off, we had it apart and it spotless inside so not muck jamming it…we are waiting for a new switch to arrive.
we run it with a 180mm and 200mm refina paddles and use it for 3/1 render mixing and skim plasters..so it gets well used.
would I buy it over the mega mixer? it does have a better warranty and if they sort these switches then yes its better and is a well made beast.