Gotta be a better way

[Buell Powell]

Re: Gotta be a better way

If anyone is still looking for a paint shaker. Received a catalog from Harbor Freight listing a pneumatic paint shaker on sale from 139.99 to 49.99 and ordered one. It is item no. 94604-1DGH. I don't know how well they work but if anyone is interested I can check it out and let you know.
Buell

[VictorBravo]

Re: Gotta be a better way

One other idea is to get a plastic snap-on paint can lid, poke a small hole in it, and insert the shaft of your eggbeater / drill powered stirrer through the hole, then chuck it into the drill.

Snap the lid on the can and prepare to mix... but... THEN go outside and hook up a fan to blow clean air across the whole setup.

IF the drill is operating in the fan air instead of flammable vapor, and IF the hole in the plastic lid is tight on the shaft of the mixer widget to keep the vapor in the can, and IF the lid is tight on the can to prevent vapor from leaking out that way... you should be able to do the drill thing with some amount of safety.

Obviously a powered paint shaker is the best way, but the silver sludge I've scraped out of a Stits can looks pretty well compacted. I have no idea how long the shaker would take to truly mix all that sludge out. After a few years, that silver becomes sedimentary rock in my experience. Physical disturbance and mashing may be necessary.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Gotta be a better way

Nice to see old threads revitalised occasionally...and this one is still valid today.

When I recovered my Taylorcraft, and despite me turning the cans in storage every 30 days (as recommended in the manual), the sludge still settled into a gooey gunge.

I stirred the sludge and then took the stirred cans down to the local DIY store to use their paint shaker, and was never refused, although they did insist that the lid clips were in place.

I did wonder on occasion whether an old knackered washing machine would do the same (with the can padded using an old duvet or similar). Modern washing machines have concrete block in them to dampen vibration...removal of same might increase the vibration?

[Pearson]

Re: Gotta be a better way

I have two paint stirring sticks made of steel. They were given to me by a place where I used to buy a lot of paint. They have DuPont stamped on them.

These stir sticks have a curve to them, similar to an airfoil. The curve is a perfect match for the curve around the inside of a one gallon paint can. Which is one of the reasons for them having the curve, to get the paint out of the seam around the inside edge of the can. But the second reason for the curve is to create lift horizontally, thereby agitating the paint. You can actually see the pigments making a circut across the top of the paint and back down one side, across the bottom and back up the other side.

As long as your paint is not so thick you can't get the stick into it, these airfoil like stir sticks will stir up paint better than a shaker. I say that because I have taken paint to a paint store to be shaken, that the bottom two or three inches was sludge. When I opened them there was still some sludge on the bottom. Shaking them helped cut down on the stirring time, but it still didn't break all the sludge loose as good as the good old stir stick.

I have tried to create the horizontal circut of agitation, described above, with a wooden stir stick and have come close. But it is much harder to do and isn't nearly as thorough. Soooo....if you can find one of these steel, curved stir sticks, it is the way to go. Once you get the sludge off the bottom, you hold it at an angle from the top edge of the can to the opposite bottom edge. Then you just move the stick side to side rapidly. It creates lift like a wing and moves the paint

[Robert Lees]

Re: Gotta be a better way

The problem of steel stirring sticks is that they can damage the lining of the paint can.

Most paint cans are made of steel, with a lining usually of either plastic or tin alloy. Breaking this very thin film will make the steel corrode & contaminate the contents.

The use of plastic or wood stirring sticks won't break the protective film.

The same "thin film" practice applies to food tins.

[N96337]

Re: Gotta be a better way

If anyone is still looking for a paint shaker. Received a catalog from Harbor Freight listing a pneumatic paint shaker on sale from 139.99 to 49.99 and ordered one. It is item no. 94604-1DGH. I don't know how well they work but if anyone is interested I can check it out and let you know.
Buell

Buell, I bought one of their air powered shakers in about 1992 and it's still going strong, and I use it alot! Just keep it oiled and greased and it'll be good to ya!
I use a light chain about 5 inches long, welded in the center link, to the end of about 18 inches of 1/4 inch steel rod. I use the air drill on it, or chuck it in the drill press and use it that way. Never saw it damage a can if any sort of care was taken, and I've stirred ALOT of Polyspray sludge with it!!!
The only other thing that seems to work well is the plastic coated drill powered stirring paddles from the house paint stores. That crap is really thick and they're made to move it.
John

[Buell Powell]

Re: Gotta be a better way

Hi John,
Thanks, I'v used used old egg betters which work Ok on an air drill and finally bought a stirrer from Sherwin Williams which is used on a drill that works pretty well also but I have some old Poly Brush that the pigment and flame retardant separates and settles in particles on the bottom and are really hard to dissolve by stirring. My wife has taken some to Sherwin Williams and after they have it shaken it comes back as good as new. They say they offer shaking paint as a service and don't mind but I have so much old materials that I decided I should buy a shaker and saw the one from Harbor Freight on sale.
Buell

[jdoran]

Re: Gotta be a better way

Buy a piece of 1/4" bar at the hardware store (or 1/4" all thread)

Bend it into shape and make a paint stirrer for your drill. It takes a minute to make, and when it gets real funky, pitch it out and make another. They cost $1.75 each.

Use the low speed setting on the drill when you plunge into the thick stuff on the bottom. Shift to high gear and use the variable speed trigger to get a nice "funnel shape" going in the liquid. It mixes itself right in front of your eyes.