First thing I did was open it up and plug it in. tried to turn it on.. and Nothing.. the switch would not work. Being the technicaly inclined fellow that I am I opened up the back of the shaker.
The problem was the hole that the on/off switch went through was drilled out enough for the diameter of the switch all the way through. there was a ridge of plastic left at the top. (i don't know if this was intential or not. but it allowed the switch to go through just enough to get the cap on, but not enough to be able to be turned on and off.. so I used my dremal and drilled it out enough for the switch to go through correctly. Problem one solved.
I also got the 110 version because I don't see a need to pay for batteries. And without the batteries the shaker is a very light affair. This became apparent after I put the first bottle of paint in and turned on the shaker. I noticed about a third of the shaking was going to shake the entire paint shaker, and that when I held down the body of the shaker itself the bottle was shaken a little better. So I opened it up again.. there is plenty of room inside.. and taped 2 large craftman sockets from my toolbox in oppisate corners.. closed it up.. started back up and the shaker didn't move a bit.. Problem two solved.
the shaker has a nice size footprint not to large or to small it is aprob 5 1/2 inches x 5 1/2 inches square. Inside the plastic case the shaker is fairly simple. It consists of a small electric motor attached to a cam which revolves inside a small shaft that goes back and forth to shake the paint holder.. there is also just 1 simple on / off switch.
Now as to how it works.
Test #1 was with a bottle of model master enamal. that had been sitting for several months.. the carrier was seperated and on top and the bottom was very thick and gummy.
Results.. shook for a few mins.. opened checked.. was a little think on bottom stirred a few times. put back on shaker for a bit. checked. was perfectly mixed.
Test #2 same deal as above with seperated enamal.. this time dropped a small screw in the bottle. (small screw, nut or bb with work).. put on shaker.. shook for a bit..
Results.. opened and checked paint was perfectly stired..
Test #3 bottle of Tamiya acrylic that looked a bit seperated had on shelf for about a month... put on shaker.. (no screw insereted for this test) (flat flesh was color)....
Results.. Perfect mix first time..
So after a couple of problems at the first Overall I like this product.. although Micro Mark will be getting a note from me about the defect in the one I recieved.
and just so no one thinks I only ordered this out of laziness here is why I got it. I ordered this item for my birthday (wink) and thanked my wife for it..(works for me) because my new job has givin me a near constant low level tennis elbow.. so I have gotten to hate shaking my paints.. and my fingers start to ache when I stir the paint a lot. (very low level CTS)
