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Paint mixers and shakers.


Andy123

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I use lab vortex mixer mostly. The nail shaker is making too much foam with some paints/media for me. Stirrer is useful for more thick paints, but some paint containers turn it into 'fastest way to have a need to repaint your room' exercise.

 

 

Edited by Casey
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My eldest daughter ordered this from EBay for me a couple years ago. It can be run on batteries but it also came with an adapter and cord to plug it in. The few times I've used it, it works great!

Look around the makeup section of any store that carries nail polish stuff and you may find one or something similar.

 

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Chris

 

 

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I have one of the nail lacquer shakers and not in pressed as it take ages to mix the paint.

 

I then sprang for an Intllab vortex shaker and it is now my go to mixer, works with everything even my preferred enamels which have settled semi solid in the bottom, a couple of BBs in the tin also helps. With tins and non dropper style paint bottles there is a knack to how you hold it on the shaker to get it to work but it is easily acquired.

 

I still use the badger stirrer as it excellent as well but have always found it wastefull of paint.

 

Tamiya paint stirrers also get used a lot as they are convenient sometimes and soon gets the paint amalgamated if you use a steady stirr

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Thanks all for the replies. Still not made a decision. My main worry is quality control if you believe the reviews, especially with the cheap ones. Even paying £80 doesn’t seem to being any guarantee it will last although the four e’s mixer seems to be ok at that price. 

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11 hours ago, Andy123 said:

Thanks all for the replies. Still not made a decision. My main worry is quality control if you believe the reviews, especially with the cheap ones. Even paying £80 doesn’t seem to being any guarantee it will last although the four e’s mixer seems to be ok at that price. 

If I could suggest something - try looking for products from companies that target laboratories as their customers. I use this one:

 

https://www.heathrowscientific.com/vortex-mixers/mini-vortex-mixer

 

They are more on expensive side but they seem to be made to take a beating - mine works flawlessly for years.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/30/2022 at 1:42 AM, dromia said:

...

Tamiya paint stirrers also get used a lot as they are convenient sometimes and soon gets the paint amalgamated if you use a steady stirr

I primarily use Mr. Color, and I find those simple Tamiya Paint Stirrer highly effective. Equally so in tins. They're especially useful as I also use them to transfer paint to the mixing cup. Most times, a few times of dipping the stirrer in the paint and then letting it drip into the cup is sufficient.

 

I did have a Robart paint shaker in the days of Floquil paint, but never found it very satisfying. :shrug:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a badger stirrer, a nail polish shaker and a vortex mixer.

 

If you can get into the bottle/tin then the badger stirrer (or even a coffee stirring stick) wins hands down.

 

I went for the shakers because I predominantly use dropper bottles and it is a pain to use stirrers with those.

 

I started with a nail polish shaker - it's okay but it struggles where the paint medium has separated out a lot - also pretty noisy.

 

I then switched to a vortex mixer - much better, works for most but sometimes struggles - sometimes there is no option but to remove the top and use the badger stirrer - tight fit to get past the neck of the bottle though.

 

I have ball bearings in all my dropper bottles which helps a lot.

 

It really depends on what they cost now - the nail polish shaker cost about £8 and the vortex mixer about £25 but they were from China in the days when it was easy to order without import taxes and courier fees.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

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On 12/1/2022 at 6:45 PM, Andy123 said:

Thanks all for the replies. Still not made a decision. My main worry is quality control if you believe the reviews, especially with the cheap ones. Even paying £80 doesn’t seem to being any guarantee it will last although the four e’s mixer seems to be ok at that price. 


When you think you are buying a generic, the trick is to do a search on Amazon and eBay and see if you see the same thing or very similar with lots of different branding - if you do then it i generic, the same item just with different branding.  The price can vary quite a lot so if you have decided to go for one of those you may as well buy the cheapest because they are all the same, and none of the suppliers are going to offer any warranty or support.  
 

Note that you also see products being sold but reputable brands like Trumpeter and Badger - but again, look carefully because quite often they are the same cheap generic but with superior branding, presentation and packaging - I guess the warrant6 and support situation may be better though.

 

If you want one that may have a better design and support then you need to look at the genuine scientific instruments.  You will pay a lot more though you often see them second hand.

 

But remember, at the end of the day, professional vortex mixers are designed for mixing liquids in test tubes which are usually a lot more fluid than our settled paints - as modellers, I imagine that we put a lot more load on vortex mixers than they were ever intended for.

 

My one is still holding up after several years.  It looks solidly made even though it only cost me around £25 at the time.  My guess is the weak area is going to be the rubber top - eventually I can see that wearing and tearing and once that happens the mixer is useless.  With cheap generics I suspect the only option is to buy a new one, but with proper branded scientific versions you may be able to buy spares - though the cost of a spare might be more than the cost of a new generic.

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