Paint Shaker,AC Powered

When I saw this years ago, I thought "how ridiculous and lazy can you be". HOWEVER, having arthritis in your hands and trying to mix several bottles of paint, it gets hard on the old paws and fingers. So, when I was laid up for a few months due to a medical issue, I spent a lot of time building some plastic models that I had archived as I'll get to them someday". I bought one of these and I have to say, it works great. The manufacturer does state it's not intended for long duration operation so I limit the shake, rattle, and roll to approx 30 seconds and let the motor rest. Speaking of "rattle", I highly recommend using a stainless steel mixing agitator ball in the paint bottle while shaking as it helps break up the gunk at the bottom of the bottle.

It's does an excellent job at mixing bottles of paint where the solids are completely separated from the solvent with only about 90 seconds of shaking. When I first started using this machine, I always checked by stirring from the bottom of the bottle to confirm it was well mixed. After shaking, the paint had a smooth texture with no noticeable bubbles. This machine is loud and needs to be held down when it runs to keep it from wandering around the work bench. The rubber strap that holds the bottle broke after about 30 uses. However, ordinary rubber bands work just as well as the strap that it came with. It's not NASA quality, but it has never failed me after lots of paint mixing and therefore deserves the 5 star rating.

I use this to shake up 17ml dropper paint bottles such as the ones from Vallejo and Army Painter. So far it has worked great. I don't run it for more than 20 seconds at a time. Its especially good for my daughter who can't really shake the bottles proper. Now she can get another color without making me put down what I am painting to give it a shake first. I have also used it to shake some citadel paint pots. I worry about that so I rubber band the lid shut before I shake. It does generate quite a nice shake. It can be loud and will crawl across the table so you need to keep a hand on it while it is running. It is especially nice for new bottles. For those I may give an in-between up and down shake then another 20 seconds.

Works real good, not for production purpose

My wife and I have only been painting minis for a year, but in that time I've started to develop paint preferences not on color or sheen, but on how easy it is to shake vs which ones make me feel like my shoulder is coming out of the socket before I even hear the agitator ball moving. I found out about these devices in a YouTube tutorial, and knew I had to have one. This unit was listed as the go-to on a lot of mini painting sites, so we decided to get one. It's a game-changer. It's as easy to use as it absolutely should be, just strap the paint bottle in and press a button. The strap design makes it easy to shake paint pots or dropper bottles. A few seconds will mix a loose paint to usable consistency. Thicker paints might take 10 or 15, but just imagine how much shaking that is that *you* don't have to do! I still recommend agitator balls, just to get the smoothest consistency possible. I almost knocked a star off for the fact that you have to hold the button for as long as you want it to shake, since I feel like having a 10-second (or more) cycle wouldn't be too hard to set up. But overall, it's totally worth the money not to have to see a chiropractor after painting.

This shaker is very cheaply made. When it works it works very well, but the problem is it won't work for long. Either the linkage will wear or break or even more likely the motor will release the magic smoke. The unit does carry a 1 year warranty, but good luck with that. First you have to pay to ship it to Robart. Robart will then assess the unit and determine what repairs need to be made and if you the owner will have to pay for it. They will pay for return shipping. I am certain most of the positive reviews are only first impressions and yes first impressions are going to be 4-5 stars. If you choose not to heed my warnings give it a month or two before you write a review or come back when it fails and revise your review. This is a very expensive, cheaply made, chunk of garbage. Issues: 1. Cheaply made, it will fail on you (motor or linkages) 2. The unit will vibrate all over your bench so you must hold it while you operate it. Not a big deal, but you should know. In the pictures you can see the "cheapness" of construction. Look those wires and solder joints and the plastic linkages. In the video you can see what my unit is doing. The motor even starts to smoke. I could only upload a single video. In another video I have the unit in operation on the bench and you can see the paint holder just twitch ever so slightly.

This is so much better than shaking the little 1/4 oz model paint jars by hand. It does dance around the table while in use but, since I'm only using it for less than a minute, it's no big deal to hold the shaker until it's done.

After receiving Robart Paint Shaker, I started to use it right away. I had some old paints that I was in hopes I could salvage due to there age. I used the paint shaker on approximately 20 jars of paint, and used it off and on for about 2-3 hours. It worked great. It help recover almost 95% of my old paints. However, when I tried to use it the second day, about 5 jars of paint into use, it just quit working. I believe that if they would to redesign this paint shaker out of better parts and put it through numerous hours of testing, it would turn out to be a fantastic device to have as a miniature painter. I would gladly pay $20-$50 more if it would extend the life of this paint shaker to months even years, not just 2 days!.