Mixing paint questions

[ryans69chevy]

Looking for some ideas/procedures on how you guys mix primer/paint. Tonight I sprayed epoxy for the first time and I just want to make sure I'm doing it right and not being wasteful. Its always nice to learn other tips and tricks.

I have small mixing cups (pint size??) that I bought from the paint store that has different ratio marks on them. I mixed a small batch since I had no clue how much I'd need. Ended up needing to mix up another batch since I ran out so I used another mixing cup.

Do people clean these out to re-use them or are they a one and done type item?

Is it smart to put a funnel or strainer or whatever they are when pouring the paint from the mixing cup into the gun hopper? I dont have any, not sure what the point of them are, just remember seeing them on different shows.

Nason's tech sheet shows an induction time of 30 min if over 70 degrees. How precise does a person need to get on that? If you mix and then spray right away, what happens?

I had trouble telling when the first coat "flashed". It was probably 5-10 min between my coats. Once I was spraying my second coat, I could tell where it was laying down. Maybe I was expecting more of a drastic sign or something or maybe I didn't wait long enough between coats for the first one to flash?

If you want to share a step by step procedure from mixing, to spraying, to cleaning the gun that would be awesome.

Thanks,
Ryan