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Help from PFT Wales with choosing the most suitable plastering machine for your needs.
With this plastering machine guide we aim to help make your research a little easier. Plastering and rendering pumps /machines are becoming far more common on UK sites nowadays. With most architects and builders and plasterers choosing to use pre bagged modern plastering and rendering systems there is very few plasterers who can now say they have never seen one.
The one thing guaranteed is the plastering machines are here for good, they will mix and pump the ready mixed dry bagged material into wet plaster which can be sprayed directly onto the wall. The manual mixing and carrying to the working area is condensed into simply the dropping of a bag into one end and the skilled task of laying this gear on a wall in the limited time window can now be carried out by much lesser skilled workers with the spraying of material through a gun at the other end. The task of ruling the wet gear flat and finishing it is the only part we rely on the skill of the plasterer.
There’s no doubt plastering or rendering is hard manual labour, the rewards can be great and there’s certainly a competitive nature to the plasterer, you only need visit the many forums on the internet and social media to see how proud a plasterer can be, All plasterers stand tall with tales of great achievement and bragging rights to the best tools, vans, and even machines. The big name you will always here when plastering machines are mentioned is PFT . The name PFT stands for PUTZ & FORDER TECHNIQUE meaning plaster and conveying technology. These are the guys who invented the plastering machine over 50 years ago. Owned by Knauf GMBH , PFT are with no doubt the largest plastering and rendering machine manufacturer in the world. PFT are constantly upgrading, bettering and developing new products for the worldwide market.
So its safe to say that PFT know a thing or 2 about machines and that includes their choice of dealers worldwide. PFT will insist on working with approved partners only, meaning that when you are speaking to a PFT dealer you are speaking to someone with many years experience in the plastering and rendering trade.
As a PFT Dealer, we have written this plastering machine guide and PFT Wales will be happy to listen to your requirements before informing you of your best suited machine.
We like to make sure that our customers have the correct plastering machine that is suited to not only their current but also their future needs as a plastering firm. The choice of machines we have will suit the UK building site ranging from larger rendering gangs on big commercial sites to the domestic plasterer who wants to make the daily workload lighter.
Will a plastering machine help me to earn more money ?
In short YES it will however the more experienced users with a good understanding of both machine and the plastering trade will benefit more rapidly which this helpful plastering machine guide can be useful for. We always advise that you don’t go pumping 100’s m2 and expect the £££ to just come rolling in. The machine will keep spraying and spraying but it still takes manual labour to finish the plaster or render . In general the machine is a robot that eats bags and spits them on the wall, you still need to know what you can finish in a day and get payed for.
The machine is removing certain elements of your daily plastering / rendering routine, however there still needs to be someone available to carry out the replacement tasks which are now much easier. Some will prefer to keep a 3 man team together and have the labourer fill the machine, 1 plasterer spray and 1 rule. the same with a 2 gang where 1 labourer will fill the machine and the plasterer will spray then rule.
The aforementioned will work great and certainly make life easier for all but the plasterer who rules or does both. A much smarter approach is to employ apprentices and teach them to run the machine and spray. In very little time this team will be operating as efficient as any 2 +1 gang previously hand applying but with far less outgoings for wages. Before long the investment of the machine is payed back and the plasterers profit is constant and increased.
WHAT MACHINE DO I WANT ?
There are 2 types of plastering machine.
The mixing pump which will mix the dry bags continuously whilst simultaneously pumping the wet mix and spraying it to the wall with a spraying gun
The Conveying pump which relies on the pre mixed wet mix being poured directly into the machine and pumped to the wall where it is sprayed on with a spraying gun.
MIXING PUMPS
Most mixing pumps are electric and to make things simpler we sell mainly 2 machines. The PFT G4 & The PFT Ritmo
Ritmo
The biggest selling plastering machine in the UK is a 240 volt small mixing pump that plugs straight in the mains electric. The PFT Ritmo plastering machine is best suited to domestic plasterers wanting to increase their portfolio to customers and make the workload they face lighter.
The PFT Ritmo is a small mixing pump that can fit into any estate car or van. the machine does not take up much room and can generally be transported from job to job by a single person. The machine can mix and pump any pre bagged renders , screeds and backing plasters in its standard set up. We can adjust the output with a control at the rear of the machine. At its maximum speed the ritmo will mix and pump a 25kg bag every minute.
The Ritmo has a built in compressor to help the material to get sprayed onto the wall with a spraying gun, it is the gun where the machine is controlled on or off. The plastering machine is generally supplied with a water pump and water butt to ensure you always have enough water to get a job done.
The Ritmo can hold about 2 bags in its hopper with the choice to purchase an extension hopper the machine can hold about 5 more
The PFT Ritmo pump unit is a rotor and stator and this is a wearable part. The average rotor and stator will last about 20 tons if pumping render. Other wearable parts include the mixing shaft which lasts about 100-150 tons, also there are some smaller parts we recommend are changed once a year
The PFT Ritmo is supplied with 20 mts of material hose and 25 mts of power cable, however the machine can be plugged into a further 25 mts extension and pump further than 25 mts. The material hose is 25mm wide and the air hose is 12mm making it a nice comfortable size to hold.
Due to its great power its small versatile size and simple to use design its easy to see why the Ritmo is so popular a machine.
G4
The G4 has the title of the Worlds NO 1 plastering machine. Invented over 40 years ago the simple design has had a few upgrades over the years but basically remains the same machine. The G4 is a 3 phase machine making it very powerful. The G4 can pump over 50 mts away and up to 85 litres a minute if required. For the UK market and rendering though we generally stay around 22-25 litres a minute. With 3 phase power not generally being available to UK building sites the G4 is usually run from a portable 3 phase generator. The generator is usually supplied withing a package PFT wales will put together.
The G4 has the ability to pump at different rates with the changing of a rotor and stator, 
a typical rotor and stator or pump unit is a wearable part and will last about 15 – 20 tons of render.
The pump unit on a G4 is much larger than that of a single phase machine.
The hopper on the G4 is much larger than a ritmo and can hold up to 7 bags. an extension hopper can be added allowing the machine to hold up to 15 bags at a time.
The G4 has a built in water pump and compressor and is best suited when drawing water directly from a water butt. This is a safer way to run your plastering machine as it provides the machine via the water pump a constant supply of water.
The G4 would generally be supplied with a generator, water butt,25 mts of 25mm hoses for water, material and air and a power cable.
Conveying pump ZP3 0r Swing
Conveying pumps mean they convey only a pre mixed wet mortar. The PFT conveying machines as the ZP3 and the Swing are designed for just this. The Zp3 is a larger machine that can be supplied as a 230 volt unit or 3 phase. It is possible to add a separate mixing unit onto a zp3. A machine like this would be suitable to pump a site mix of sand and cement if required. The pumping and spraying of sand and cement will require a good quality sand that cannot bleed water and the correct quantities of cements and limes if required. The use of a plasticiser and retarder in the mix is also recommended. The zp3 will operate from the spraying gun as with any plastering pump and will have the mixed material poured into the hopper.
The ZP3 can pump between 40 and a 100 meters depending on which version you choose. The output can be controlled by a variable switch on the control panel. The rotors and stators should last 30 plus tons on a zp3 plastering pump.
The Swing although available in larger versions is mainly for thin coat applications. The wet material is dropped into the hopper and pumped through the hoses. A separate air compressor of high volume is usually required to spray silicone or acrylic thin coat renders and primers on the wall. The sprayed thin coats can usually be left as a finished product requiring no further trowelling.
The swing is 240 volt and can pump up to 30 mts away from the machine. The speed is variable and a rotor and stator can last over 30 tons. The variable speed of the swing will usually be set at its lowest for applying thin coat finishes like silicone and acrylic coloured renders.
Utiform V2 diesel mixing pump
The Utiform V2 is also available from PFT Wales. The diesel powered plastering pump has a larger paddle mixer on the top part of the machine and a hopper area for wet plaster at the bottom of the machine.
The beauty of a diesel plastering pump is that it has everything all built into one tow able machine, making the user fully independent of power supply.
A Utiform V2 can pump in excess of 80 mts away from the machine and 40 mts high. The material is batch mixed usually 6-8 bags at a time and then dropped into the conveying hopper, once empty the mixing process is repeated.
The diesel type pumps have a variable output and can pump up to about 60 lts which is suitable for screed jobs. Gypsum backing plasters and polymer adhesives are not suitable for the diesel mixers as the material in the batch can set.
ideally the diesel mixing pump is aimed to larger gangs using large amounts of material per session
What advantages are there buying from PFT Wales
We are a growing business and strive to help customers as much as we can. We believe we sell the best products and can match the right machine with the customer. You very rarely see used PFT machines on the 2nd hand market due to their high demand and high second hand value.
We are always building our stock levels to keep up with our growth and can offer next day delivery on any parts we have in stock.
PFT Wales are passionate about plastering and plastering kit and will often be trying out new technology and techniques to improve the way the plasterers in the UK work today.
We would recommend you choose us as your machine dealer if you are located close enough to us in Swansea that should you ever need to, you can get to us in a few hours.
As a customer choosing a PFT plastering pump you are also secure to know that should we be unavailable for any reason there are other PFT dealers in the UK who offer the same service.
Your plastering machine will last you many years and you will never have to worry about discontinued parts on machines or generators we sell as that is a priority to us
We are trained in all repairs of plastering machines including diesel pumps
Can we prove our machines and service are what we say they are ?
Yes we can ! bad news travels fast and you will be very hard pushed to find anyone who has genuine bad experiences with a PFT Machine or Genuine PFT dealer , we don’t pretend to please everyone all the time but before you decide,take your time, do your research. There are many plastering forums and social media pages dedicated to plastering pumps and it is there you can interact with customers and find out for yourself what make PFT Plastering Machines no 1
