What do you use for mixing or even shaking your inks

[Rockers]

What is commonly used for mixing or shaking inks? We are getting our first automatic press soon and I don't feel like mixing all the custom ink colors by hand for much longer. I read all so often that it's better for inks to be shaken rather the stirred. The Red Devil 1 gallon ink mixers look very good for this purpose.
http://www.reddevilequipment.com/One-Gallon/1025-red-d-mix
What are you using in your shop?

[inkbrigade]

We do it by hand still. We do lots of pms quarts. I bought a cheap air powered shaker from harbor freight. It didn't work at all. I think plastisol ink is just to thick for a shaker.

Although M&R does make one that seems to work.

[Binkspot]

By hand, mixing blades with a drill or a kitchen stand mixer with dough hooks.

[Scobey Peterman]

We use mixing blades and a drill.
I have two drills.  One is just for white ink and the second one is easy to change from one to another.
I have about 12 different blades.  I try not to have to stop to clean a mixing blade.
We use a lot of poly inks and they need to be stired often.

[Prosperi-Tees]

would anyone like to share a photo of their ink mixing area? That is one spot I think I should improve upon.

[Rockers]

would anyone like to share a photo of their ink mixing area? That is one spot I think I should improve upon.

Same here. Right now my ink area is too small due to the size of our shop but that will hopefully change soon. So if one of you could post some photos that would help figuring out where I might need to improve and apply changes. By the way what do these mixing blades look like? I assume you mix on the lowest setting available with those blades?  Cheers.

[mooseman]

we like these about $3.00 at wally world, we keep one in every gallon. The end fitting pulls right off and these buggers really turn the ink over.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/1gal-Paint-Mixer/17165772
mooseman

[trebor]

If you are looking for a mixer......I have an M&R Turnabout for sale at $750.

[Rockers]

If you are looking for a mixer......I have an M&R Turnabout for sale at $750.

Is that one any good for mixing quarts or can it hold only gallon pots?
But honestly I'm more keen one something that shakes the inks.

[spotcolorsupply]

The M&R shaker works pretty well... plus it can mix multiple quarts at a time!!

Funny story... I had a 5 gallon of red explode inside of one back in the day (at my old job)... It took forever to clean out... Then (a few months later) for some reason the main shaft sheared in half...?? They never fixed it...

Also... The turnabout won’t do a quart...

The AWT Tornado mixer will supposedly, but I have never tried it..??

[Rockers]

The M&R shaker works pretty well... plus it can mix multiple quarts at a time!!

Funny story... I had a 5 gallon of red explode inside of one back in the day (at my old job)... It took forever to clean out... Then (a few months later) for some reason the main shaft sheared in half...?? They never fixed it...

Also... The turnabout won’t do a quart...

The AWT Tornado mixer will supposedly, but I have never tried it..??

How do you get it to hold multiple quarter gallon pots?
Just had a look at the product literature, apparently it can handle anything from 1 gallon to 5 gallon pots.

[spotcolorsupply]

The one we had used 2 rubber coated steel platens to sandwich the ink quarts and hold them in place... Does that make sense??... The platens were something like 16" X 16" so you could fit multiple quarts at one time... There was also a pressure setting to keep from crushing the quarts... (If I had a picture this would make more sense lol)

244 could prolly explain this better...

[Rockers]

Let me see if I get that right, there is the M&R turnabout that can't handle quarts and then there is a M&R mixer that is able of holding multiple quarts.
Can't find any photos of the mixer.

[Homer]

what about a drill press and a rigged up table? we use a drill right now but that's getting old.

[Rockers]

Ok, found some photo. Looks just like a standard ink shaker for paints. I assume a Red Devil one will do the job equally well.