Cheap but effective spray paint can shaker

[therling]

It's my old 1/3 sheet orbital sander. The can is held in place with reusable zip ties and a hunk of foam rubber. I hold it up and reposition every so often so the rattle ball hits all around the top, bottom and sides. A couple of minutes and paint sprays much more easily.

You could clamp it to your bench but then the bench would absorb some of the vibration of the sander. Holding it loosely by hand means the can gets as much force as possible.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I wouldn't think there would be that much back and forth motion. I thought the oscillations would be too small to get the ball hitting the sides.

 

[prfesser]

Paint shakers at the local hardware store do a good job even though there's no ball in the bucket of paint. Just takes a little time.

And I need to do this with my orbital sander. Tired of shaking the d*mn cans...

 

[therling]

I wouldn't think there would be that much back and forth motion. I thought the oscillations would be too small to get the ball hitting the sides.

My guess is that it's the rapidity of the oscillations of the entire volume of the paint that does the work. I'm no physicist nor a chemist but I would think it's something about the paint and propellant molecules all getting bounced around against each other at high speed.

 

[Rob Campbell]

I wish I had kept my old electric football game. It would have made a great paint shaker.

 

[Jerry F.]

This is what I came up with...haven't had a clogged spray can since I started using it - even primer cans

 

[Sandy H.]

This is what I came up with...haven't had a clogged spray can since I started using it - even primer cans

Are you just rotating it or is that a hammer drill?

 

[Jerry F.]

Regular drill...I spin it one direction while changing the axis (vertical to horizontal and back), then do it in reverse changing axis, and then forward again....repeat as necessary...the more fillers in the paint, the longer it has sat since use etc, the longer I mix it...
It is a piece of 3" PVC pipe, a pressure plug (2 cone shaped pieces with a thick rubber band like piece in between that seals inside the pipe when tightened - available at most home repair stores - HD, Lowes, etc) and I replaced the bolt from the plug with a grade 8 bolt & nut ( the bolt that came with the plug bent quite easily and made the whole contraption shake like crazy (which was sort of good, but it made the bolt bend more and more until it became unusable). I also wrap a piece of rag or cloth around the paint can with more cloth on one side to off balance the can in the pipe, which also helps with the mixing...