Feeling annoyed

[Tony]

a short while ago i "invested" in a tub of AK Interactive steel shakers designed to add to your paints so that you can shake up your paint and get a better mix.

I added 2 each of these to a new bottle of Vallejo acyrlic thinner, a bottle of Deluxe Sand n Seal, and a new bottle of AK Interactive Ultra Matt Varnish.

Each of the 3 items have been completely ruined as what i took would be stainless steel balls have rusted and tainted all 3 bottle listed above.

I recovered 2 of the balls from the sand n seal and they are totally black.

Has anyone else had this issue with this product?

While the sand n seal can be used despite the fact its coloured the thinners and the varnish are bin jobs - and annoyed because these were not cheap to buy.

I know the above products will have a water base but there is no mention on the shakers label that they can only be used with solvent based products (were i presume i would not have seen this rusting problem).

 

[John Rixon]

Feel your pain. Those should have been stainless by default, shoddy business.

 

[Tony]

Feel your pain. Those should have been stainless by default, shoddy business.

Thanks John.

I do feel really angry because these model products are not that cheap that you can just throw them away. I find a lot of these acrylic type products settle and are a so and so to mix so thought this the ideal solution - especially based on the brand.

My sand and seal can be used but the thinners and varnish took on a browny/yellow tinge so unless i am thinning a dark colour the thinners is no good and similar with the varnish.

Some place i have one of those badger battery paint stirring tools so will have to dig that out i guess for use in the future.

 

[Jens Andrée]

Bummer...

Sadly they are very clear on the fact that you can't use the steel balls for any acrylics.

From AK:

Steel balls to use with all enamel paints. Add to your jar and shake, to help mix your paint quicker. Contains 120 steel balls, at a very low price.
WARNING!!! This product cannot be used with water based products like acrylics, for these products use AK892 Stainless Steel Shakers.​

However, it doesn't make sense that they would sell such a product to begin with since most paints today, and all varnishes and similar, are just - water based acrylics!
Better to only sell stainless steel balls instead, and they're not much more expensive - just twice as expensive in fact, but profits seems to be number one and anything else secondary...
Steel/iron balls cost less than a 10:th to buy so they're making a bigger profit by selling these I guess?

This means, sadly, that you won't be able to refund and get compensated for your loss. Just write it off to experience and try to forget it. You can though create some "real" red iron oxide primer if you want to with these balls!

I try to view paints, thinners, varnishes etc as just consumables. Sometimes I fudge things up and have to throw away some of these consumables, otherwise I'd worry too much when trying new things that might work. I don't know how much paint I lost in the beginning by using the wrong thinner...? Lesson learned and today I'm almost an expert on acrylic thinners :D

You have now learned something new about your products and steel balls. See that as some form of bonus in this ordeal

 

[Tony]

Bummer...

Sadly they are very clear on the fact that you can't use the steel balls for any acrylics.

From AK:

Steel balls to use with all enamel paints. Add to your jar and shake, to help mix your paint quicker. Contains 120 steel balls, at a very low price.
WARNING!!! This product cannot be used with water based products like acrylics, for these products use AK892 Stainless Steel Shakers.​

However, it doesn't make sense that they would sell such a product to begin with since most paints today, and all varnishes and similar, are just - water based acrylics!
Better to only sell stainless steel balls instead, and they're not much more expensive - just twice as expensive in fact, but profits seems to be number one and anything else secondary...
Steel/iron balls cost less than a 10:th to buy so they're making a bigger profit by selling these I guess?

This means, sadly, that you won't be able to refund and get compensated for your loss. Just write it off to experience and try to forget it. You can though create some "real" red iron oxide primer if you want to with these balls!

I try to view paints, thinners, varnishes etc as just consumables. Sometimes I fudge things up and have to throw away some of these consumables, otherwise I'd worry too much when trying new things that might work. I don't know how much paint I lost in the beginning by using the wrong thinner...? Lesson learned and today I'm almost an expert on acrylic thinners :D

You have now learned something new about your products and steel balls. See that as some form of bonus in this ordeal

Jens

Many thanks for that. The hobby shop i purchased them from never had any of this detail on their web site so looks like my mistake for not looking into things further with my research.

I had incorrectly assumed they would be ok as i know some of the acrylic paints you buy now have these balls in.

My mistake and as you say a learning experience which i will not forget

Kind regards

Tony

 

[Jens Andrée]

Jens

Many thanks for that. The hobby shop i purchased them from never had any of this detail on their web site so looks like my mistake for not looking into things further with my research.

I had incorrectly assumed they would be ok as i know some of the acrylic paints you buy now have these balls in.

My mistake and as you say a learning experience which i will not forget

Kind regards

Tony

If you bought them in a physical shop you should probably point out the fact what happened and that it would be sensible if they could enlighten future customers of the problem.
Perhaps they will make you a deal for the products you had to bin since they omitted the fact that they wouldn't work with acrylics? Perhaps even free???
(it never hurts to ask!)
Chances are that the shop doesn't even know...
If you ordered the balls from the web then the warning text I referred to should (read; must) be added to the product details in order to help others.

As I previously said that regardless of warning texts (which they wrote after the fact that so many have ended up in your position) it's a really stupid idea to sell steel balls for paint mixing when they aren't compatible with the vast majority of the products being sold today! Just makes you think who came up with that idea that they could make money on selling something dodgy that wouldn't work?

I try to tell myself that learning is more valuable than the stupid mistakes I make costs in order to feel better, but that wouldn't be totally honest... :oops: