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[SPLIT] Vortex Shakers


Wren
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I've shaken my Scale75 a bit to break the agitator loose before using my vortex.

I find it helps quite a bit...

 

I was going to mention I do this to all my paints. I vigorously hit the bottom of the paint pot against my open palm or the table a couple times until I can feel the agitator has dislodged itself from the bottom, and then use the mixer. Much quicker and better results. All paints benefit from this IMHO. 

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Couple of minor points

 

- Hematite beads work just fine with alcohol based acrylics - I've had some in my Tamiya Clear paints for the last couple of years with zero discoloration or reaction.

 

- The Vortex mixers are great. I went for a nail polish shaker, the iZen Proshaker Plus, which also works well. But out of the box it can't shake multiple paints at once. Against that? Significantly cheaper and more widely available to those outside the US - I've got a review of it in a post around here somewhere.

Edited by Laoke
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I have taken apart the shaker I have, and have difficulty seeing the actual engine due to thermal wrapping. But the fitting for the oscillanting motion is actuall very simple and can be replicated easily, so since I have to give this one back (... it was "borrowed" from my mum's lab), I am thinking about making my own. Any idea of the HP rating of your shakers?

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Man, I totally missed that there was a possibility of radioactive vortex mixers on the market.  :wacko:  One more good reason to buy a rebuilt one from Robert.

I... I hadn't even thought of that...

 

 

Glow in the dark minis!

 

And is Robert equipped to detect residual radiation? Can he actually work with it? Would residual radiation on one of these things, if any, more than the radiation you are getting from that smartphone in your pocket right now?

 

I mean, let's not over react. Let's be cautious, that's all.

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So today I added two hematite beads to each of the Vallejo Liquid Gold bottles I have. I had bottles in three states...

  • Mixed three days ago after breaking the sludge up with a stick, without using the beads - These mixed quickly and simply with the beads added. No problems, mixed in less than 20 seconds.
  • A few bottles I already owned, but had not mixed for a year - Dropped in two beads and put it on the mixer. No luck. I had to pry the sludge off the bottom with a stick in one pretty complete blob, but they mixed fully in about 40 seconds once the sludge ball was free.
  • Two new (to me) bottles that had been sitting on a shelf in the FLGS for at least 5 years. These I pried up the sludge, dropped in two beads and fired up the mixer. After a minute, they were still not well mixed. The beads had stuck to the sludge, I could barely hear them moving around in the bottle. I opened the jar back up, jabbed the sludge ball a few times to break it up into smaller pieces, and back on the mixer. This time, everything mixed well within another minute. 

Bottom line, with a little prodding and a couple hematite beads, even 5 year old Liquid Gold paints mix up quickly and easily.

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Man, I totally missed that there was a possibility of radioactive vortex mixers on the market.  :wacko:  One more good reason to buy a rebuilt one from Robert.

I... I hadn't even thought of that...

 

 

Glow in the dark minis!

 

And is Robert equipped to detect residual radiation? Can he actually work with it? Would residual radiation on one of these things, if any, more than the radiation you are getting from that smartphone in your pocket right now?

 

I mean, let's not over react. Let's be cautious, that's all.

 

 

I generally roll my eyes when people get on their high horse and preach safety. I mean this is a mini forum after all not a hazmat refresher course. I believe in personal freedom and I served in the military to protect peoples right to do whatever dumb stuff they want to do. I wear earplugs, I wear a respirator. I wear safety glasses when I cut brass rods. I always wore a full face helmet on a motorcycle because I was almost killed on one and I would be damned if I lived the rest of my life with brain damage or missing a jaw. But I would never tell people to do what I do.

 

However, I'm a product of the 80's and nearly every movie had some kind of nuclear threat in it, war games, project x, ferris buellers day off (j/k I was on a mathew broderick roll) mad max, red dawn, terminator and so on. So there is this deep seated animalistic fear of all things radiation. 

 

A more cynical person might thing that perhaps a very subtle viral marketing campaign was going on to push people away from procuring their own mixers and going through more "trusted" sources.

 

Nuclear material is very tightly controlled and I have to believe disposal procedures are such that any kind of equipment that even had a chance of being exposed would be destroyed or quarantined but accidents happen. I think they found a USB stick in a computer somehwere in the middle east that had all kinds of CIA operatives and informants information sticking in a computer that was available to anyone passing by...

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A while back I was talking with a friend that happens to be a scientist in a cancer research lab. When I mentioned that I was considering purchasing a used vortex mixer from ebay, he was shocked that this kind of thing is even allowed. Apparently there are all kinds of hazardous things that could be spilled on these mixers without a potential buyer knowing about them.

 

Then again, this guy has a compulsion to rinse off every dish pulled from the cupboard before using it, so take his level of caution with a grain of salt.

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