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Ha, cool, gotta' try this

Schmapdi wrote:Thanks for this tutorial - I've had a lot of problems getting consistent results from one use to the next, and adding an agitator really helps getting them to an ideal consistency.

A just a tip for anyone who can't find lava beads - I used some heavy glass marbles that are designed to go into aquariums (they look like bubbles on aquarium gravel) and they work great. Mine were old, but I can't imagine they cost more than 2-3 dollars for a bag of about 50 it looks like. They fit very well in GW paint bottles, dunno about other brands. And they won't hurt your fish!

This is the same thing I use. The first thing I did when I bought a paint kit was to drop in some ball-bearings. Those rusted up and I ruined my paint. One of my friends, who is a chemist suggested glass marbles, which didn't fit into a lot of the bottles, but I found cheap glassy stones for aquariums for about $5/half-kilo. They fit perfectly -- not too big or small -- and do the job very well.

i tried the lava beads idea. it worked really well. i got some 8mm sized beads from a rock and gem trade show that my girlfriend went to. the 8mm fit GW paints easily.

Breotan wrote:

legoburner wrote:Someone really needs to bring out a dremel attachment for mixing GW and Vallejo paint bottles

Dremels spin way too fast for this. You put a dremel into a paint pot, I guarentee you paint will fly out everywhere.

Chrispy wrote:Doesn't this [paint mixer] waste paint, as you're dipping something into the pot and then removing it?

Not really. The speed increases with pressure on the pressure bar (the button that makes it work) so unless you fill your pots all the way to the very top you should have room to spin the mixer head slowly and leave the paint inside the pot.

legoburner wrote:I had considered using a powered mixer, but I dont want the effort of cleaning something every time I mix a paint.

Cleanup is beyond easy, just spin it in a glass of water (which is what your brushes are sitting in anyway, right?). In any event, a powered mixer will work far better than putting a bead or bit of metal into your paint.

Explain, or your crazy.

Wow, I can't believe that I am the first to suggest putting in bits of pewter sprue/flashing. I always seem to have tabs cut off of metal bits and sprue, or the slotta tabs at the bottom of metal figures, floating around the table. Hack them into smaller bits and they agitate quite nicely for free

Wehrkind wrote:Wow, I can't believe that I am the first to suggest putting in bits of pewter sprue/flashing. I always seem to have tabs cut off of metal bits and sprue, or the slotta tabs at the bottom of metal figures, floating around the table. Hack them into smaller bits and they agitate quite nicely for free

I don't think the sprues would be as successful, as they don't seem to be dense enough. If your paints are as thick as mine in the pot, the sprue will just rest there and agitate very little if you shook it. This is just a guesstimate, I haven't actually tried it, mind you...

Rico.

Do you think 4mm beads are heavy enough? There are a number of glass/stone bead options on ebay.

Depends on the material. 4mm would weight about the same as the reaper agitators, but they do not work that well. 8mm were the ideal size and weight from the few I tested.

I saw an episode of "dirty jobs" where they were making marbles. Most of the marbles were for industrial purposes and spray paint can agitators was one of the listed uses.

I think I am going to make a trip to a bead store with some rather odd requirements.

fire4effekt wrote:Explain, or your crazy.

The paint mixer spins at a very high rate of speed when used at full power and has a contoured mixing head that improves the mixing action like a blender but without being sharp. The result is a fast blending of pigment and medium that gives a smooth and consistent mixture throughout the entire pot. Using a bead generally takes longer to mix, requires more physical work to get a smooth blend, and introduces a lot more air into the paint causing it to dry faster in the pot.

legoburner wrote:Depends on the material. 4mm would weight about the same as the reaper agitators, but they do not work that well. 8mm were the ideal size and weight from the few I tested.

Hi Legoburner,

Are these the same things? http://www.totallybeads.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d391.html

Seems they do 50 x 8mm for £2.50 which as it's UK based would be a pretty good price and avoid more expensive P&P.

Yeah they are the ones moreorless.

This is a great tip. I have been using bits of sprue in my Vallejo bottles. It works ok, but would probably be better with something a bit heavier.

Now my paints will work yay!

LBursley wrote:THIS is built for our purpose! This model is about $35 and works beautifully.



http://www.micromark.com/PAINT-SHAKER-110v-AC,6781.html

your not gonna tell me you have one of these... right? les? right?

After reading this thread and looking at the craft store, I picked up a sack of river pebbles for about $3 which is more than enough to equip my complete paint collection

Extremely useful. I'll be trying this.

Only found 3 glass beads of the right weight laying around, so I found some small river stones about the right size and weight that I figured would do nicely.

They did wonders.
Take that evil foundation paint!

What about those ceramic 'baking beads' you get in cookware departments for use when blind-baking pastry?

(just an example link, you can probably get them much MUCH cheaper from ebay and the like)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tala-700g-Ceramic-Baking-Beans/dp/B000PVHDHM

They are ceramic, so I'm guessing there won't be any paint spoilage issues and they are fairly easy to come by.

Should be fine, but test them in water for a few days first!

Sharing this becasue it might be of use to someone.

I have a *lot* of paints, and rotate them around every couple months to keep them from hardening. I'm not into the idea of shaking up 200+ paint pots by hand. So I do this:



I use black electrical tape to fasten the pot to the blade. It works amazingly well. I do this before using any of my paints that haven't been used in a week or more, nice smooth mix.

Some of my paints also have small marble agitators. The combination works well.

Yes I know it's a weird method and is not for everyone, but figured I'd share it.

I just ordered some 4mm lava beads so I'll post as to how well a pair of them works in a dropper bottle. I wasn't sure what size my old ones are(8mm I guess) so I went with smaller just to be safe, assuming that I'd have to double up on them in the bottles.

And a day after I ordered them I found my ruler with mm on it so I could measure my bottle necks!

Sorry for resurrecting such an old thread. I found some "Simulated Hematite Round Magnetic Beads". Does anybody know if (for the purposes of paint agitation) this differs from genuine hematite magnetic beads significantly? What is simulated about it?
8mm Simulated Hematite Round Magnetic Beads

What is heavier, "simulated hematite" , glass or ceramic, given the same size beads? I'm gonna swing by hobby lobby today and pick up a pack of whatever is recommended.

Thanks!