Bought myself this paint shaker after seeing a picture of one on Facebook. It’s a proper science lab one, meant for shaking up test tubes and the rubber cup is a perfect fit - if you use them - for those little plastic Vallejo and Scale75 bottles which are the hardest ones to stir.

You can leave it turned on and it only activates when you press the bottle into the cup (you can also ‘bounce’ larger bottles on top of it to some good effect, it agitates the paint at the bottom which is hard to get moving.) It's a one handed operation, making it really easy to stir a paint bottle before using it - only a couple of seconds.

Necessity? No, of course not, but a nice-to-have. This is the SciQuip Vortex Mixer (fixed speed) SP2260-FM, the most basic model. It cost £76 which might seem a lot but it’s also a lot more robust and useful than the flimsy paint shakers with straps being sold on Amazon and Ebay for £65 or more.

I can vouch for the fact that these work great.

I bought mine from a guy in the US who refurbishes units formerly used in labs and sells them on Etsy and Ebay. Search for Typhoon Paint Mixers or look for
KennedysArtSupply on Etsy. He has made and posted a UTube video as well.

R/

Bob

join the club
I have a Vortex genie II and I can shake 3 Vallejo bottles at the same time (or more) and it works perfectly well
https://www.scientificindustries.com/vortex-genie-2.html

Nail Varnish shakers work just as well and are a lot cheaper.

I love my Typhoon Paint Mixer. Even revived some Poly Scale paints by adding distilled water and shaking them up on that thing.
Met him at Reapercon, he has a great business model and it keeps the mixers from the junk yard.

hi Guys, yep, Vortex mixer works for me too! got one from EBay under lab equipment for £25.00 delivered & the guy had 3 to sell, should have bought them to sell on....
Mark D

I got a similar one from eBay at around 25 GBP + some 15 pounds p.p. Mine is quite old, it had a 1982 date handwritten on a sticker on its base. I only had to clean and repaint it and chang the UK plug for a continental one to have it working. You're about to enter a new world of paint-shaking pleasure

Does he have a website?
Cheers
John

Not sure why paint shakers are so expensive. I borrow Mrs. body massager replace the head with a wood platform. Voila, I got myself a paint shaker which can shake anything.

Cheers,

Felix

I use the low-tech method. Prise the nozzle cap off with the Mark1 thumbnail, shove a bamboo kebab stick in the bottle and stir the sludge at the bottom. Pull it out and dump some sludge on your palette. Wipe the stick on toilet paper.

It gives me a strange, primitive pleasure. I grew up using Humbrol enamel tinlets.......

A few months ago I bought a "dental plaster shaker" with a rectangular rubber covered plate. Quite efficient. Before that I bought a small nail laquer shaker which lasted for exactly two days before it died. Do you really need one? I painted models for more that 40 years without. But lately my hand joints are not the same. And I experience the luxury of a well shaken homogenous paint bottle when I sit down to paint. Next on the list: a brush stick warmer !

Just stick the paint bottles in my glove compartment and go for a quick drive around Glasgows streets.
Every pothole's worth a 100 shakes.
Actually why don't you all just paint in oils

Are any of them any good for martinis ?

Rubber band on my cordless jigsaw works just as well ,with regards to hand shaking it my arthritic old shoulders won’t put up with vigorous shaking

Love my vortex mixer!

It is clear from all responses that preferences differ, but to me this €50 was a great investment in painting pleasure. I hate the chore of properly mixing those blues and reds and now it has changed from a nuisance to a joy, not even counting the time saved (5-10 min per hour?) and the paint mix quality.

And to anyone hesitating to spend money on this: it is the price of one or two figures....how many are already sitting in your grey army, unused...?

Looking forward to some paint-mixing tonight!

Cheers
Adrian

Do all these wonder gadgets not produce air bubbles when the paint is shaken?

For me, 'stirred, not shaken' (pardon, Mr. Bond) works best. Used simple stirrers (popsicle sticks, coffee stirrers, etc..) for years, finally invested $15.00 for one of the battery powered stirrers sold by Badger, Micro Mart, Trumpeter, etc..

I did find the wheel too wide for the types of bottles Vallejo and such come in, so bought a 2nd one ($10.) and filed the wheel to a smaller diameter. A couple of seconds stir and good to go, no bubbles.

Jim F

That'd work here in PA, too.

Prost!
Brad

I "appropriated" the wife's nail polish bottle shaker. It seems to work okay with Tamyia and Reaper paints - the little jars they come in I mean - but not so well with Vallejo, Scale75, Andrea and similar bottles. I still have to lever the tops off and get in there with a toothpick to swirl around the goop at the bottom of the bottle. It's whatever works for each individual I guess.