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Paint Vortex Mixer/ Shaker


Tijuana Taxi

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I have a similar unit (I imagine that they're all basically the same under the skin). It works well, certainly more effective than shaking and stirring. For paints that have a lot of pigment and have been sitting for a long time (old Humbrol and Tamiya metallics), I find that opening them up and giving them a hand stir to break up the pigment pellet at the bottom of the tin makes things a lot quicker. The new water based paints are a breeze. 

 

Good purchase, it should repay you many times over. 

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Am I right in assuming that you need to hold the container whilst it vibrates?

 

I have one that I got free from a model shop for an order over a certain amount, that one holds the container in a "V" restrained by an elasticated strap so it is a hands free operation. Much prefer that way. My old Sans Peur coffee grinder was retired recently and you had to hold the switch down for it to grind, my new hands free grinder was a revelation. Life is to short for holding things that don't need to be.

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1 hour ago, dromia said:

Am I right in assuming that you need to hold the container whilst it vibrates?

 

I have one that I got free from a model shop for an order over a certain amount, that one holds the container in a "V" restrained by an elasticated strap so it is a hands free operation. Much prefer that way. My old Sans Peur coffee grinder was retired recently and you had to hold the switch down for it to grind, my new hands free grinder was a revelation. Life is to short for holding things that don't need to be.

 

I believe you do need to hold it down, can't say that bothers me when compared to manually shaking the bottles.

 

There is a specific paint shaker on Amazon that sounds very much like the unit you described.

Shaker

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Rob G said:

I have a similar unit (I imagine that they're all basically the same under the skin). It works well, certainly more effective than shaking and stirring. For paints that have a lot of pigment and have been sitting for a long time (old Humbrol and Tamiya metallics), I find that opening them up and giving them a hand stir to break up the pigment pellet at the bottom of the tin makes things a lot quicker. The new water based paints are a breeze. 

 

Good purchase, it should repay you many times over. 

 

I expect they are the same, went for one from Amazon in case it fails before the 12 months is up.

More chance getting a refund or replacement than from a cheaper retailer on eBay.

 

Sounds good from your experiences, I have some old Revell enamels that will no doubt need some manual agitating in the tin.

Not exactly a fortune and i'm all for letting machines take the strain whenever possible.

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5 hours ago, Tijuana Taxi said:

I believe you do need to hold it down, can't say that bothers me when compared to manually shaking the bottles.

 

yes, you hold your bottle with your fingers and push it down onto the top of the mixer.  it really doesn't vibrate but rather "spins". In some videos you will see users holding a their paint bottle on it's edge and pushed into the indent on the top of the mixer. This is not the correct way and doesn't work as well.

 

If you want to see how the mixer works, use a clear bottle with some water ( a drop of two of food colouring might help ) and push it down on the top of the mixer and you should see the fluid move and "spin".  If you have a small mixing ball you could add that too and you should hear it and see it spin around the bottle.

 

Remember, it is not the vibration that you feel that does the mixing, it is the "spin" that the mixer imparts to the contents of the bottle that does the mixing.

 

I have one like this:  https://www.amazon.ca/JOANLAB-3000rpm-Adhesives-Permanent-pigments/dp/B08DFFV76P/  and quite like it.

 

cheers, Graham 

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Thanks Graham, i'll give that a go to see the action and where its most effective.

One of those things that if its works all well and good, if its not great I haven't wasted a huge sum of cash on it.

 

Yours again looks very similar, daresay there aren't that many different factories churning them out.

 

Have a good 2022

Rich

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I bought this unit 6 months ago. I think it cost me $30.00 CDN.

I've only tried it on some Tamiya and AK paints so far, but it seems to do the job.

 

51232294341_23c750d739_b.jpg

 

It does come with an adapter so it can be plugged in.

 

 

Chris

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10 hours ago, dogsbody said:

I bought this unit 6 months ago. I think it cost me $30.00 CDN.

I've only tried it on some Tamiya and AK paints so far, but it seems to do the job.

 

51232294341_23c750d739_b.jpg

 

It does come with an adapter so it can be plugged in.

 

 

Chris

 

That looks very much like the unit I linked to in post #4

Glad to hear it works ok, reviews on Amazon sounded positive.

 

It was between that or the vortex mixer, went for the hold it down method rather than the strap it in unit.

We shall see if that choice was the right one, both ideas look ok and apparently do the job

 

Rich

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