DIY: Paint Shaker

 Tired of shaking your paint? Lazy? Either way, here's a solution.

In planning the interior details of Project Monolith, I stumbled across this mini paint shaker for sale at various supply stores online. Not willing to spend that much money on what is effectively a single oscillating piston. So I decided to build my own, and it turned out fast and easy. I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with this, but I wanted to share regardless!

Step 1: Save money by already owning a recirculating saw. This is the tricky one. I already had the saw, and it was old enough to warrant being used for this project. Bingo, money saved!

Step 2. Obtain a small quick-release clamp, usually found for $5 or so at hardware stores.

Step 3. File/grind the end of the clamp down to the dimensions of your saw's replacement blades. (You see where this is going...)

Step 4. Chuck the clamp in the recirculating saw. Make sure any saw blade guides are snug against the clamp, to limit vibration.

Step 5. Load paint. Make sure it is snug, but don't crush your paint bottle.

Step 6. Profit! This will now shake the daylights out of any paint bottle. Not only will it accept just about any paint bottle you may own (you're only limited by the clamp size), but since we never modified the saw itself, you can swap a blade back in and continue to use it normally. Win-Win!

*Note* Make sure that when paint is loaded, there is still enough room for the clamp to oscillate back and forth through the full range of motion. If you load a bottle that is too large, it could cause the clamp to collide with the body of the saw. Chaos will ensue. Carpets may be ruined. Don't say I didn't warn you!