Steel balls for stirring paints?

i put 2 or 3 in each jar of paint...does an OK job of stirring the paint..i'm thinking of using my dremel w/some sort of home made attachment..maybe a paperclip

I used to use stainless steel nuts (the rest of you keep quiet ) as I was worried about rust in the acrylic paints and did not want to have two different kinds of  "agitators" .  That worked fine, shook the paint  'til the nut broke loose ,and a few minutes more to stir the paint. Inexpensive, nearly fool proof (ie it worked for me, so... ) and gets the job done. 

Then a couple of years ago I, got more high tech  and started using  one of those battery powered  "single egg whippers"  (Squadron and micro mark   have 'em , I think.) to stir my paint;  really like the ease of use , clean up and with only one switch it fits my skill set............just dont pull the stiring end out of the bottle while it is  still spinning--don't ask me how I learned that bit of physics; clean up was just about an hour-

I have a Badger battery-powered stirrer, which I hardly use.  I don't enjoy cleaning it after stirring paint.  I've splashed paint a couple times because I accidentally pulled it out without turning it off.

Edited to add: I just read Duster's post. I'm not alone!!!

I use BBs.  Three or four per bottle/tin.  But still, you may to stir as well.

I experiment wit placing stainless steel nuts in a bottle of water and a bottle of acrylic pain medium left them for two week, after checking back there was not a hint of rust. Since them I drop one or two stainless nuts in to my paint bottles, and hand shake. You can tell by sound and feel when the paint is mixed.  Also the stainless steel nuts are sold in by weight and about 150 of them only cost a few dollars.

I have one of the Trumpeter electric stirrers identical to the badger one, clean up could not be easier, just turn it on in a  tiny bit of thinner (1ml will do)  in a mixing jar and a quick wipe with paper towel, 5 or 10 seconds. This is mine just in case I'm not thinking of the same thing.

www.ebay.com.au/.../271265934580

Works brilliantl but DEFINITELY turn it off before you remove it from the paint your mixing .

Dont think you will find to many panel beaters without balls or marbles in the spray gun, can't see why it wouldn't work on a smaller scale.

So many jokes here......bottom lip getting sore.

Just grab a handful of the free plastic coffee stirrers the next time you are at Micky D's.  Use 'em once and throw 'em out.  No cleaning and the price is right!

I'm low tech,I use the butt end of my paint brush and just wipe it off.

I use Hematite beads from Hobby Lobby

Hematite is "already corroded" in the chemical make-up, so I don't worry about copper or steel bb's corroding

they also don't have the sharp edges of hex nuts

I figure that if some paints come with steel bb's inside the bottle from the factory, then using BB's and shaking must be okay with them (Alclad's primer and Aqua clear both have MANY steel beads in each bottle, so many that they make a swooshing noise when shaken)

but, I also spend the money to replace the caps on my new Aeromaster and Polly Scale paints,,,,,,so, I definitely didn't take the cheapest route

I have a "non-hobby" beauty section product that I use for a battery operated paint stirrer, in addition to the Tamiya stir stick, and I shake my paints to mix all the ones I will use that day, battery stir them as I open them for actual use, and then stick stir them as needed while painting

side note,,,,,,a lot of the McD's don't have the stir sticks anymore, they use a skinny straw product to save on operating costs (per 5 McD managers in the Nashville area when I asked them),,,,,you can get a bagful of cocktail stir sticks made of plastic, one type has a bead sized ball on the stirring end

Rex

I'll check out local McD.  Since I love disposable stuff (I use disposable eye droppers and mixing cups), I once tried popsicle sticks.  That resulted in too much wasted paint.  

I'll have to hit the local McD's and lay in a good supply of the plastic stirrers before they are gone!  Thanks for the "heads up!"  (Cheap clowns- yeah I mean you, Ronald!)  

I've bought my share of burgers and stuff there that I don't feel guilty about a few plastic sticks.

yeah, my thinking too,,,,,,I was actually looking for something to stir coffee with the first time it came up

I was a bit surprised when I asked if they had them behind the counter or something, and the manager said they use those skinny straws now

Modern BBs are 100% steel, plated either with copper or zinc to resist corrosion. (I use Copperhead brand because that’s what Ranger Surplus happened to have in stock when I bought my stash.) I’ve had no trouble with copper plated BBs, 3×.

I throw a couple of BB's in the jars too.  You still have to stir and shake, but they help break up any clumping and settling of paint.  I'm interested in seeing and hearing more about this Tamiya paint stick!  Sounds cool.  I apologize for my ignorance with this.  I love Tamiya paints for spraying, and am in the process of finding a good paint to hand brush with.

Eagle90

A pair of Tamiya sticks sells for about $7. Works great. Maybe, I should get another pair so that I don't have to clean them when mixing colors. As for hand brushing, Vallejo acrylics work very well thanks to their excellent self-leveling ability. However, in my experience nothing else beats enamels in the hand brushing department.

I just started back into this hobby & my paints, mostly enamels, have been sitting in a box in the closet for over 7 years.  Out of about 30 jars, only a half dozen were frozen beyond saving. Most had BBs in them and even after all that time I could see no ill effects of having them in there.

I don't think copper, steel or iron oxidizes in an Enamel carrier

they can and will in a water based Acrylic carrier (which does NOT include Tamiya paints)

Ingineous way to mix paints

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMmMls-GYOI

I have the robart paint shaker ..prefect mix everytime .

5/HIGH

I use Nut Standard Pitch A2 Stainless Steel M3 (A2-70 cold-worked Stainless Steel, also known as 18-8 or 304 Stainless Steel) 

Though some recommend 316 Stainless would be preferred over 304 stainless, have a few sitting in water & ipa since I bought them, no problems yet with discolouration or rust, but I only salt the ones I'm about to use.

500 for UKP£4.50, way waaay cheaper and easier to get than Marine BB's in the UK.

9 surfaces to agitate the paint instead of 1, drop 3-4 in every Vallejo bottle & 6-ish in large primer bottles.

I also use an Ikea Coffee Frother, UKP £1.00, cut the end off, but with Tamiya pots, I cut a small hole in a clear lid, hold over the top of the paint pot & push the stirrer through.

You will soon remember not to pull it out while powere on....

You can glass beads, too, at the craft stores.

I just shake jars by hand, or stir with a toothpick.

I’d use my steel balls to stir my model paints but the openings on these hobby paint jars just aren’t nearly wide enough. 

Every year my son and daughter-in-law give me a fruit collection for my birthday.  My daughter-in-law is a dr. and feels I don't get enough fruit in my diet.  Anyway, these are prepared fruit collections, ready to eat (to encourage me to eat them), and each piece of fruit is stuck onto a plastic stick about eight or nine inches long.  There are about fifty of these sticks in a collection, and they pretty much last me a year!  I can use both ends, so it works out to be a hundred stirring sticks!

Hi ;

 I also use the Mc Donalds plastic stirrers . I cut them shorter and insert them into a generic top for the size bottle I am stirring . The top has , of course a hole punched in it the size of the stirrer shaft .

 Chuck it to my dremel and using the foot control run it slow . Well stirred paint is the result . Then clean the stirrer in to the bottle with a brush and clean both till the next time.