A high-quality inexpensive studio/lab mixer is here

For many years we have searched for a credible alternative to our Lightnin lab mixer. We found this unit on Amazon but then bought it from FristadenLab in Nevada. These are made in China but packaged, documented, shipped and supported in Nevada. This cost about $300US (a programmable one costs a little more but this is the better option for ceramic slurries). The first impression is how heavy the unit is. The base is 1/4" solid steel. The rods are all solid stainless 5/8". The clamp is also solid metal. The shaft is 3/8" and is held in place by a good quality chuck which enables easy release. The propeller is about 2 1/2" in diameter and screws on, it would thus be easy to 3D print other propellers and mount them on a hex nut (e.g. to fit into glaze jars). The locking mechanism enables mounting at an angle (important when trying to achieve the highest speed without sucking air bubbles). It plugs in via a 24v DC adapter (which means it has a DC motor). When switched on it speeds up gradually and the dial offers fine control of speed. On this occasion, we mixed 3500g of plaster in this 2 IMP gallon bucket (2.5 US gallon) with no problem. It runs completely silent and should easily mix this pail full of glaze or casting slip. A propeller mix like this is a great start to DIY glazes.

Related Pictures

A must-have: Laboratory variable speed propeller mixer

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.

If you are at all serious about testing glazes and clay bodies, you need one of these. There are other methods, but nothing else comes close to this. It is the most valuable and frequently used tool in any ceramic bodies and glazes testing lab or classroom. This is the Lightnin brand, they are expensive but high quality. This is a 1/20 hp variable speed unit, it could be $4000 new! But you can get them used on ebay.com (the industrial mixers are most common, lab mixers are jealously guarded). This one uses a 7.9mm dia (5/16") shaft. We adapted a mount (to give it vertical adjustment) from small drill press.

Learn to draw and print a mixer propeller

Available on the Downloads page

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.

Lilly will take you step-by-step through the 3D design process of drawing a propeller. We tried many methods of doing this to finally arrive at a simple procedure that produces a flexible parametric design. Follow the full transcript as you watch. Use the same process to create one in this or other CAD software. Our design has only nine steps yet is flexible enough to accommodate a different number of blades, changes in the blade shape, angle, thickness and size and different heights and diameters for the hub and hole.

Depending on the degree to which this can be secured to the shaft, it can be quite durable on a lab mixer, even for high speed mixing. Test, adjust the design and reprint (using PLA filament) until it is working well and then have a metal one printed at a 3D printing service provider. Or from a harder plastic.

Videos

Links

URLs	https://fristadenlab.com/ Based in the USA, Fristaden Lab provides core equipment for labs and industry at reasonable prices, without a middle man. They claim a goal of providing lab and industrial equipment at a fair price while maintaining the high standards.
Glossary	Propeller Mixer In ceramic studios, labs and classrooms, a good propeller mixer is essential for mixing glaze and body slurries.

Got a Question?

Buy me a coffee and we can talk