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How to mix my own paint?

I got a hvlp sprayer for Christmas and I've studied up on the ratios, thinner, viscosity and general best practices for the sprayer itself. Setup, cleaning, technique, filters and all that. Lets pretend I have that figured out and jump to how can I mix my own colors?

I've mixed press ink in the past and that was a matter of a scale and 40g of cyan and 50g of red --- and so on... Mix it all up and you have your custom ink. Assuming I could get Red, Green, Blue at the same viscosity first, then thin out as needed. Is there a website or an app that can give me the mixing amounts or is this not how it's done in the paint world? I'm not painting a house. These are small projects like refinishing tables or chairs or mods to my computer. I'm aware I won't be using the same paints for those different applications. I don't need my table to be rust proof. On the other hand if it's just easier than I don't care. I also don't need to be matching 100% to a paint chip at first. I need to be in the ballpark and learn from there.

2 Answers

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  • 8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Most paint shops have a program and a paint rack with colors and a place where you put your container on and then when you put drops it reads every drop down to the drop and when you see you have that amount you go to next paint etc etc etc, its not just a drop or measure to the eye its a pricy paint setup.

    Oh sorry i should add there are places online where you can buy car paints per the codes and then you just pour then in your sprayer and go. Just be sure to give them the right code because on some colors there might be alot variainces, might take it to a paint shop and get that code if your not sure.

  • CDZ
    Lv 5
    8 years ago

    You can mix various colors of the same types of paint. You will probably need a paint shaker of a mixer attachment on a drill.

    The only thing is that when you purchase paint at a hardware or home improvement store, they will mix the paint for you.

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