DIY Ink Mixer with a drill press / clamp

[im_mcguire]

For a few months now I've been looking at ink mixers.  Not wanting to spend $2,100 on a new one, I decided to scour the forum here, and see what everone is using.  I know a lot of guys do already use a drill press, but I wanted to break down what I also did with the vise.

I bought a floor mount drill press from Harbour Freight for $192.  And their mountable 4" vise for $16. 

We took a piece of strap metal and bent it to match the shape of a 1 gallon bucket. 

We then grinded and smoothed a spot on each end of the vise, and welded it on there, making a adjustable bracket for our 1 gallon buckets to sit in.

We got some smaller 1/2" strap metal and made a double propeller for our mixing "blade".  We bent each blade in opposite directions of itself to make a whirlpool of ink while mixing in the bucket.

We just have to bolt on the vise, and flip it on.  It works better than I could have imagined, and our white inks mixes in the morning while our dryer warms up.

I just thought I would share.

[Northland]

Well done..... I use a foot pedal to stop/start mine. I've been known to make a mess and that way I can get shut down quickly.

[im_mcguire]

This drill press has 16 different speeds, and the slowest speed works perfect for not slinging ink everywhere, and just getting a nice mix going on.

[Doug S]

Nice and great idea.  I think I'll put that in the works here also.  Thanks for sharing.

[Prince Art]

Love it. I can't help but enjoy just how much DIY there is in the field of screen printing. It seems the majority of shops have an odd mixture of expensive pro equipment and cobbled-together-but-yes-it-works ideas.

[Maxie]

Looks good, you bent those strips very well.
Thanks for sharing.