I run over lifetime of my third concrete mixer already and still have some doubts.
So if you have good experience let me know :

When to add water??

1. Should I mix dry gravel , sand and cement - then add water later
or
2.Add water first and mix stuff wet?
a) add cement to water first
b) add sand to water first and cement later?

3.Doesn't matter in what order you mix

Next, question
How long to mix?? Is one minute is long enough?

How much sand and cement? if proportion 3 or 4 buckets ( 15L) of concrete blend sand/gravel 20mm and 1/2 bag of cement is sufficient ?

Is adding too much water is really bad? I found that casting quality with hard mixt create many empty /. void spaces in the slabs.
So better seems to be full filled form with weaker stuff , then stronger but full of holes. Even when using vibrator.

PS. typical Macro improvements and modification to the cheap mixer.
Find all 4 . ( Fifth not yet implemented but tested and planned years ago

I'll jump in. Ex chippy and currently laying up 130 tonne of rock to build a house. Only 30 tonnes to go.
ALWAYS add the water first
Add cement
Add sand
Add stone

Too much water makes weak concrete

15/20 min mixing time is fine

Cheap mixers are crap, wrong shape, speed, height etc

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Water first
4,2,1 ratio ends up at about 20-25mpa
And don't use brickies sand

Belle mixers are the best spinning on a pivot stand
A mix of diesel thinned out 1st
This impregnated into the steel makes it easy to clean and 10 times easier to mix
Clean out with filling the drum with water and gravel until its starting to spew out leave running fo 10 mins
Mix is dependant on application ,use or manageability

When to add water?

When washing down your stuff after the concrete truck has left.

This is what a good user friendly cement mixer looks like

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psychojoe said..
This is what a good user friendly cement mixer looks like

mine cost two hundred dollars something , delivered
and is not user friendly
or lasting
but did crank several trucks of concrete for me. 100t ?200 ?maybe
I did weld it, I did replace bearings ( even modified from ball to cylinders bearing)
fixed wheels the fall of, motor the pull out...
even recently I did puncture few holes ( as steel is paper thin) , once removing concrete that incrementally grow inside to the 50kg mass or more.
I did use big jack hammer, but simple duct tape fix holes for good.

I need to try this trick with diesel - if help to prevent sticking to walls next time.

For the home handyman, the problem with putting water in first is that it could be too much for the batch you are making. And the only way to fix the problem is to add more cement & Sand/gravel. Not easy when the mixer is already full. If you use wet sand/gravel then the water amount needs to be reduced. You can do it anyway you want, but for me, I usually buy the sand/gravel mix from the supplier/garden centre. It goes in first. I never use a shovel, but measured in 10L plastic buckets and then the cement is added (also measured in a plastic bucket to make sure I get it exactly right for MPA I and trying to achieve. Let it mix until it looks right mixed (maybe 3 or 4 minutes then add water also measured from a plastic bucket for the MPA. This is the bit where you have to turn your brain on. If the sand and gravel was already wet then you use less water. But the mix has to be workable. If there is water pooling on top when you lay your slab or what ever, then you have f'up. But you also don't want a mix that's so dry you can't work it. Using a concrete vibrator is great for helping to work concrete on the drier side of sloppy. Beside helping to get the concrete where it needs to be and removing air pockets, it helps bring the fines to the top for an easier worked finish. You can get concrete vibrators that look like a petrol wiper snipper and are well worth the investment if you are doing plenty of concreting.
You can also spray your equipment with suff like Pure & Simple cooking oil to help the clean up at the end off the job. But by the looks of your photos it's too late for you gear. You need to clean you gear during the job and not wait till the end of the day (or next week).

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psychojoe said..
This is what a good user friendly cement mixer looks like

Joe they're crap at best