Paint Mixer

grabcad

If you’ve ever had to mix paint, primer, or lacquer in a 5-gallon bucket, you know it’s a tedious task. Pulling the lid off, manually mixing the liquid with a stick, or drill mounted mixer and splashing it everywhere is not fun. With this design I have created a way to mix paint more easily. Most 5-gallon buckets have a lid with a hole in it for pouring, so why not use that hole to your advantage? My design is a drill mounted stirrer that will fit through that hole and mix the liquid with a simple pull of the drill trigger. The lid remains on, therefore, eliminating the effort required to remove the lid, and eliminating splashed and spills. This design consists of an outer head that is attached to a ½” pipe that will be the connecting point to the drill. The second part is the inner head, that sits inside of a pocket in the outer head, and will be attached to a 5/16” rod. The second to last piece is a plate that attaches to the bottom of the outer head that will hold the mixing fingers. The last parts are the 4 fingers that will mix the paint. The way my design works is you will insert the drill mounted stirrer through the hole, and then attach it to the drill. When it gets attached, the inner 5/16” rod will push the inner head out of the pocket, which will force the 4 fingers to spread out and be ready to stir. Once it is attached, all you have to do is pull the trigger. This design is easily manufacturable, since I used bolts, rods, and pipes that are easily accessible, and a 3D printed design that represents a metal model since metal will be many times more durable than the 3D printed material. The 3D printer I used was the Polyjet printer due to high resolution required to print prototype with threads ½-13 and 5/16-24. The struggle that painters, carpenters, and even everyday people just trying to renovate their house have to go through, that need a painless method to mix the liquid they are using, is my motivation to create this design.School: Windsor High SchoolInstructor: Dustin Ricci