Mixing little bottles of paint

[rel14]

For them hard to mix little bottles of paint,, they always get thick on the bottom,, Drop

3 to 5 BB's in the bottle, they help mix the paint when ya shake them,,, works good.

[Art Anderson]

For them hard to mix little bottles of paint,, they always get thick on the bottom,, Drop

3 to 5 BB's in the bottle, they help mix the paint when ya shake them,,, works good.

Old trick, goes back many years--worth repeating though!

Art

[camaroman]

Old trick, goes back many years--worth repeating though!

Art

The only thing I would add is look for stainless steel small diameter ball bearings instead... more expensive but no rust worries either

Edited April 23, 2012 by camaroman

[rctruk]

Thanks for the tip. Ive been building on and off for 55 years and never figured that out.....lol

[Greg Wann]

I got back into modeling in 2005. I bought paint bottles and started that BB trick only to find that after they set awhile I could see rust stains going on. They aren't the same copper BB's that they were when I was building models in the late 60's and 70's. You could gp to Ace and pick up some nice SS ones or maybe get a decent bulk price on good old Evilbay.

[58 Impala]

I bought one of those battery powered mixers from MicroMark for $9, it mixes up settled paint quickly. You can even get around the bottom of the bottle with the little propeller. It's a lot quicker then shaking, it only has one quirk....make sure it has stopped before taking it out of the bottle. If not, make sure you're wearing old clothes.

[camaroman]

You can even get around the bottom of the bottle with the little propeller. It's a lot quicker then shaking, it only has one quirk....make sure it has stopped before taking it out of the bottle. If not, make sure you're wearing old clothes.

Is that one of those "don't ask me how I know" things ... :lol:

Edited April 25, 2012 by camaroman

[Scuderia]

lol that would be quite the show... Whats a 'size' of ball bearing one should look for when trying this out?

[crazyjim]

Those battery mixers are very nice. I use a Badger version. I've thought about getting BBs and one of electric paint mixers where you strap the bottle to the machine. I hear they work quite well.

Edited April 25, 2012 by crazyjim

[Ddms]

I use 1/8" stainless ball bearings. One problem though: I put one in an Alclad bottle and broke it by shaking it too hard. What a mess! It was my fault but I'll blame it on Alclad anyway - their paint is thin and so are their bottles. But the BBs work fine with smaller bottles and gentler shaking.

[Art Anderson]

The only thing I would add is look for stainless steel small diameter ball bearings instead... more expensive but no rust worries either

All the BB shot I ever had was copper, not steel or iron. However, copper does corrode, turquoise staining is possible)

Art

[Art Anderson]

I use 1/8" stainless ball bearings. One problem though: I put one in an Alclad bottle and broke it by shaking it too hard. What a mess! It was my fault but I'll blame it on Alclad anyway - their paint is thin and so are their bottles. But the BBs work fine with smaller bottles and gentler shaking.

A model building buddy of mine uses an old hot dog cooker, the kind which "rolls" the hot dogs. He simply puts the bottle of paint in a piece of PVC pipe, puts that on the roller, and turns the machine on, goes away and lets it do its thing. Bill says it works perfectly every time it's tried.

Art

[Art Anderson]

Another technique I have seen used, is to strap the paint bottles onto the foot of an orbital sander! Use a few loops of say, a bicycle innertube, of very heavy, large rubber bands--the trick here is to secure the bottle of paint soundly! Turn on the sander, hold it upside down for a few minutes--paint mixed, end of problem!

Art

[donkeypuncher76]

Is that one of those "don't ask me how I know" things ... :lol:

I detect an "OOPSIE! "sorry honey, I'll get that off the new stainless sink and granite counter we just put in, it's ok, it'll come right off, I promise, oh, no, not again!". oh, wait, that was a flashback my bad.lol

[Ddms]

Follow-up on my ball bearing post: I just bought some 1/4" inch ones and they cost .50 each! Wow!

Is there a cheaper substitute? Used bearings would be ideal, but who sells used ball bearings?

Off the subject, but since I mentioned Alclad: I just tried Krylon gloss black as a base for Alclad II chrome, and it works great. It dries faster and it's a lot cheaper than Alclad black base.

[Longbox55]

All the BB shot I ever had was copper, not steel or iron. However, copper does corrode, turquoise staining is possible)

Art

Steel BBs are available, have been for about 25 years or so. I've seen them in plain steel and copper plated (got a carton of the copper plated ones). I will agree with and can attest to the turquoise staining, as I tried the BB trick long ago, and had that exact problem. That's why I don't do it anymore.

[crazyjim]

I bought a box of 250 Daisy steel slingshot ammo (about 1/4" diameter) at Gander Mountain. The cost was about $5.00.

[Guest G Holding]

Stirred not shaken...no air trapped inside!

[Pete J.]

I use 1/8" stainless ball bearings. One problem though: I put one in an Alclad bottle and broke it by shaking it too hard. What a mess! It was my fault but I'll blame it on Alclad anyway - their paint is thin and so are their bottles. But the BBs work fine with smaller bottles and gentler shaking.

Some of the early Alclad bottles came with glass beads for mixing. Lighter weight, less likely to crack the glass.

[slusher]

Really cool tip..save me a buch of tooth picks and time

[vypurr59]

you can also find these steel balls at your local hobby shop that sell R/C cars, they are called "diff balls" and go form 5/32" to 1/8 inch sizes.

[southernboy]

Hobby Lobby had a glass bead sale this weekend. 50% off all of a particular brand. I picked up a tube. Put two into each paint bottle. Seems to do the job quite well.

[Art Anderson]

The only thing I would add is look for stainless steel small diameter ball bearings instead... more expensive but no rust worries either

Also, be careful with BB shot, as most of that is at least copper coated. Some types of paint will actually corrode copper or brass, which will infuse a blue-green "stain" into light colored paint (such as white or yellow). That is a hard lesson I learned perhaps 40 years ago with decanted AMT lacquers, which were VERY similar to our modern Tamiya and Modelmaster non-penetrating lacquers. A small nickel-plated nut or short bolt will do the job.

Another caution: The use of too heavy a metal piece as an agitator can increase the likelihood of breaking even a small glass paint bottle, so be careful when shaking that bottle!

Art