Paint Agitators advice

[Magos Takatus]

Hi. I recently purchased some new paints that require a heck of a lot of shaking and I was wondering if anyone has tried adding their own agitators into their paints? From what I hear most metal bearings will corrode in one way or another. Should I be looking for small glass or ceramic beads? does anyone have some first hand experience?

 

Thanks for your time.

[Brother Captain Arkley]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Natural-Lava-Rock-Round-Beads-6mm-8mm-10mm-Jewellery-Making-Strand-Gemstones-/361907690002?var=&hash=item5443611a12:m:mJrvDsbRfm7OKFwCU1Cyizg

 

I use Lava Beads :)

[Magos Takatus]

Thank you for your advice. I've got some 4mm beads ordered, they won't break the bank but will hopefully keep my metallic paints mixed more consistantly. :)

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

A bit too late but 4mm may be too small and light. I would suggest 6mm at a bare minimum, preferably 8mm if you can find them. You can always just add 2 or 3 beads instead though. I am using laboratory glass beads which may be lighter than lava glass so hopefully your 4mm will be hefty enough for your purposes.

[Magos Takatus]

Hopefully. I was a bit worried about not being able to get them into a dropper bottle very easily so I went for extra clearance to be on the safe side, otherwise I'd just have some unusual basing materials. Regardless, it'll help mix them better than not having beads at all. I suppose I can get larger beads for thicker paints.

[Imren]

If the paint in question is thick and you intend to use it for brushwork only then go ahead and use beads as agitators. The best ones are ball bearings in 316L stainless steel, these will not corrode. I use them with 1/4" (6.35 mm) diameter and they work fine in thick citadel base paint.

 

If the paint in question is thin and intended for airbrush (such as vallejo air, tamiya etc), then don't use agitators. They are thin enough to mix itself up properly with just shaking, but the main reason is that the paint can dry up in the inner walls of the bottle (especially in half empty or less) and when shaken with agitators those dried small paint flakes chips (small enough to flow out of a dropper bottle) off the inner walls by the agitator in the bottle and can clog up your airbrush pretty bad (happened to me, had to soak up the airbrush tip in acetone to clean out the paint plug). 

[Magos Takatus]

That puts me in an interesting dilemma. The paints I'm referring to are Scale 75 metallics which need a lot of mixing to get a consistant colour out of the bottle. As far as I can tell they are intended for airbrush use due to them being very thin and from the company tutorials make heavy use of airbrushes. Since they are smaller agitators they will be less likely to scrape up dry paint from the bottles?

 

I guess I'll have to experiement. Thanks for the advice.