Planetary Mixers and Their Uses

A planetary mixer is used in many industries from foods to construction materials. It is used primarily to mix items that need to be mixed to form a paste. They are often used to knead bread dough in food industries and are used to mix pastes and adhesives in the construction industry.

They are also used in the pharmaceutical industries to mix pastes and salves.

How They Work

There are two blades each mounted on its own axis which in turn is mounted on a joint axis. This allows the blades to move in unison but also to have individual movement. They each turn in opposite directions.

The blades look similar to a fan blade. The unique movement of the blades, allow thick ingredients to be mixed quickly and effectively. These mixers come in sizes that will mix up anywhere from a pint of ingredients to over seven hundred gallons of ingredients. They are usually not used to mix liquid ingredients although they can be, there durable nature are best applied to hard to mix thick ingredients.

They can be found in restaurants, home kitchens, factories and on construction work sites.

Drum Planetary Mixer

A drum planetary mixer, is a self contained unit where there is a vessel to add ingredients to. The top part of the mixer is one unit that rests on an arm that can swing open and closed so that the ingredients can be added to the vessel.

These types are usually used in food application processes. They can be very large or very small. They usually are portable and can be moved from room to room if necessary. In some cases they are on wheels for ease of motion.

Mixer Only

In some models the mixer housing is made so that it can fit into a free standing drum. These are primarily used in the construction industry. The mixer is placed into the tub or can that the ingredients have been pre purchased in. This type of mixer is hand held and can be inserted to a can, drum or container to mix up construction material quickly and with little effort.

Commercial Mixer

The largest of the planetary mixer family is the commercial mixer. These are largely used in factories; they are bolted to the floor for stability and usually hold large amounts of material at a time. They are efficient at mixing up ingredients in a quick manner.