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Paint or Plaster Mixer aka Stirrer - Scale to size

Paint or Plaster Mixer aka Stirrer - Scale to size
I made it at TechShop SF http://www.techshop.ws

Pretty Simple (as long as you have a *3D printer) Feel free to scale them up and probably have to change your media at 1 gallon and above.

I used a Thing-o-matic MakerBot with a Stepstruder MK7 to print the adapter.

I'm stirring 33oz batches of Plaster of Paris to make a baking template for a plastics component of an invention that will be going up here soon as well. 

I made my STL file then scaled it to 10 to get the best blend between size potential and the right amount of strength to withstand the torque from the drill.

I was going to just use a rod and tap a hole in it, or even salvage an old electric beater head, trim the whisk parts off and just make it work as a drill bit that way.

I thought: you know if I can make the head in Inventor, I can make the bit adapter in Inventor too!

So I did.

First I made it so the whole part was laying on the XY.

Upon seeing the disparity between the top and bottom I thought I was going to have to build it vertically.

10% through I was sure it wasn't going to work because of the distance I was lofting.

Much to my surprise it got handled with very little detail loss. I did have to file it a touch (in step II), but in the end I was quite happy that I let the job keep running.

NOTE: The 'Plaster of Paris' was way more viscous than I thought. It was actually like concrete. I'm sure the head will hold up to this, but the drill was far too weak to support it. So, being a true martyr, the bit went ahead and broke off to save the drill's life. In short "Make your bit out of metal if you're working with anything of a higher viscosity than oil based paint. So since you want this to last you should probably do that anyway. I'll leave the bit STL up though.
 
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Step 1Gatherous up all ye parts

Gatherous up all ye parts
Since this is a bottom up build you're going to need to gather your parts first if you want to scale it to the size of your rod, or you can edit the STL file yourself in the CAD program you like then you have to scale your entire design to work around your diameter of rod exceptions.

OR

You can build it then hunt for the parts that will allow you to use the printed head. I made it at TechShop SF so I have the advantage of being able to scrap hunt from leftovers that other makers have left in bins after they finished their projects.
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7 comments
Feb 9, 2012. 10:22 AMdzurn says:
Can there be a separate instructables website for all the "you must have a 3D printer or Laser Cutter or CNC Machine" instructables?

How about www.replicator.com?

Then those of us who are trying to make do with our regular hand tools can still find useful things to do, such as pfred2's suggestion, is far more useful than "print this with your 3d printer".
Feb 25, 2012. 11:18 PMmegaduty says:
I'll buy that for $0.02 :) 3D printers will be much more visible in the consumer market very soon...
Feb 25, 2012. 11:36 PMmegaduty says:
This is an interesting idea talking about recycled plastics; I could actually use something like this for all my scrap filament: http://grabcad.com/library/mini-plastic-shredder-grinder-crusher 
Feb 5, 2012. 9:54 AMpfred2 says:
I've some mixer blades off an old hand mixer I use for stirring small containers. When I need to stir 5 gallon buckets I made something that resembles a T out of some welded together 1/2x13 threaded rod. I run that with a corded 500 RPM single speed 1/2" chuck drill. I've stirred stuff like roofing sealer with it. It really whisks it up!

You just can't beat a corded drill for real power.

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