Mini Vortex Mixer

This thing works great and seems to be made of quality materials. It’s an excellent value from a company that appears to specialize in laboratory equipment.I had no problem at all mixing 30 bottles of Vallejo 17ml paints, although it’s certainly easier to to the upside down than right side up. I may try to create a little holder for doing the bottles right side up, so I don’t have to hold them at an awkward angle.Be sure to remove the clear plastic protectors from the feet before you use it. The people complaining about it moving around clearly didn’t do that. It has sticky, gummy feet after you remove the protectors.

Works great

You have to hold the tube or whatever you want to shake the whole time. I returned the item

I got one of these to help mix my acrylic miniature paints. I have a large number of them and after they sit a while they can separate and can be difficult to mix by shaking. I decided to try one of these out to see if they are as good as everyone is saying they are.I got my first one and it didn't work. It wouldn't power on no matter how much I pressed the connector in and out of the back, spun it, twisted it, or adjusted the speed knob through the entire range. I suspect it was the power supply as the blades of the plug were not coming out of it at a right angle. They were coming out at about a 100 degree angle. So I returned it and got a replacement.The second one works, but not without a little hassle. You have to make sure you are pushing it down just right or the switch doesn't engage or engage all the way. I tried mixing about 20 bottles of 19 ml of various brands of miniature paints in eye dropper bottles. For the most part I had no problems getting it to activate. But about every 6 bottles I found that I had to "find" the right spot to push down on to get it to activate. This was likely because I didn't peel the protective fill off the feet and it tended to spin on me. Once it spun far enough it could be difficult to activate it. I found that if I turned the front of it to face me again, it allowed me to activate it again without problems. After mixing those 20 or so bottles for around 30 seconds or more each, it didn't feel like it was over heating.I got the one with variable speed, but I honestly can't see myself ever using the lower speeds to mix paint. With a max speed of 3500 rpm, this mixer is faster than a lot of vortex mixers I've seen people recommend, but its slower than some of the higher rpm models which go up to 5000+ rpm. What I found is that at 3500 rpm it mixes the paint very well after about 30 seconds of mixing. It can take a bit longer with paints that have settled and separated for a long time. On the ones that have separated a lot I find that after that first mix if I give it a hand shake for 10 or so seconds then back to the vortex mixer again for 30 seconds tends to get them mixed very well. None the less if I ever find a need to mix something at a lower speed, it will be nice to have the option.I'm quite pleased with it and I will put it to good use, despite its somewhat finicky activation.

Would give 6 stars if it was possible.

Boyyyyyy isssss ittttty shakeyyyyyy

The media could not be loaded. This is a nice little sturdy unit that seems fairly well built. I like the adjustable speed, because there are some paint viscosities that seem to mix faster at slower speeds and some that get bubbles if you mix them at too high a speed. I attached a video of mixing a duo-chrome mica pigment into some clear nail polish. This stuff is thick, but it was still able to mix it in under a minute. I tried another by shaking it and gave up after a few minutes without having fully mixed it (no, I'm not posting a video of that sad attempt :D ) You can see in the video my two complaints about this unit; it moves around a bit on smooth surfaces and the little rubber skirt pops out at the edges. Neither is a big deal to me personally and the little rubber stick on feet could easily be replaced with something more grippy if it ever became an issue. I look forward to using this when painting miniatures instead of shaking it next to my head like a muggle and occasionally realizing I didn't put the lid back on as well as I should have and having to explain random colored spots on my face.

Use it to mix small bottles of hobby paint and does so very wellOnly complaint is that it doesn't have enough grip on its base and walks around on whatever surfaces it's sitting on