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andersonec

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A friend saw a clock made using pencils and resin on y-tube and asked if I could make one for them, of course says I, they duly bought the pencils and the resin, after cutting the pencils into 40mm lengths, much experimenting and watching a couple of you tube videos I found the best way to line them up was a square box with a piece of Oak in the centre to be used for chucking, I didn't want to force the pencils apart with the chuck.
I got this all sorted, mixed the resin, poured it onto the pencils and spent a few minutes making sure it was well distributed and between all the pencils, it stank the house out for a couple of days until I took it out to the garage, cut the circular blank and mounted it onto the lathe. I was in the process of flattening the back and making a dovetail chucking point when the thing came apart and pieces hurtled across the garage(and it was on a slow speed) luckily I was at the front working on the chucking point and not in direct line with the blank, phew :shock: .
After doing a little research on the resin I concluded that it was the wrong type, I was supplied with Polyester Resin which I have since discovered has almost no bonding/adhesive power, it is used for casting or making free standing items, not bonding two items together, what I should have been using was Epoxy Resin which has powerful adhesive qualities (and no smell problems) but at about twice the price I can see why I was supplied with Polyester Resin.
I have bitten the bullet and forked out to replace the items and will be using the Epoxy Resin this time so if anybody out there has the same idea, please do not use Polyester resin for the job. [-X

Andy
 
We had a guy do a demo using coloured pencils at my WT club. I can't remember what he used to fill the gaps but I do remember that he actually glued all the pencils together using cheap super glue.
 
I've seen videos where a thick CA is used (not the water-thin type).
 
woodpig":9og0fjnv said:
We had a guy do a demo using coloured pencils at my WT club. I can't remember what he used to fill the gaps but I do remember that he actually glued all the pencils together using cheap super glue.


Presumably it held together ok when it was being turned Woody?

Andy
 
Spot on Andy. I have found exactly the same. I order the polyester resin as it was a lot cheaper. Even if it worked as the glue the smell is unbearable and it lasts for nearly a week. As a material, I have found it will handle a compression force with no trouble but any sort of expansion force and it will blow apart.

Have had 4 or 5 failures just cutting it on the lathe.
Have switched to Epoxy but yet to turn my latest blank but the lack of smell already makes it worthwhile.

Thick CA would work as well but a lot of hassle if you make a big blank. Have seen people just use CA for a bottle stopper blank. Works great.
 
If you put the pencils together and then pour on resin, how does anything actually get in between the pencils to hold it together? You'll end up with the small gaps at the corners being filled, but nothing on the main contact surfaces I'd think.
 
andersonec":2gcf97co said:
Presumably it held together ok when it was being turned Woody?

Andy

Yes it turned fine. He also had other examples with him that he'd turned.
 
Mal":2wl8qsdm said:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/coloured-pencil-bowl-t97089.html

This was my one and only effort :)
Used CA glue for this and held together no problem at all. Just took hours, and hours..... :)

Nice job Mal!
 
paulrockliffe":3f64y1l8 said:
If you put the pencils together and then pour on resin, how does anything actually get in between the pencils to hold it together? You'll end up with the small gaps at the corners being filled, but nothing on the main contact surfaces I'd think.


I made a shallow box of a pre-measured size, added the pencils which fitted snugly but were moveable, poured the resin, spent a couple of minutes fiddling to make sure the resin was well introduced down and between all the pencils and that they were all nice and straight.

There is a strength-test vid on y-tube and the Epoxy resin brought away the Granite it was stuck to whereas the Polyester came unstuck with little pressure.

Andy
 
buzzby":10iddon6 said:
Spot on Andy. I have found exactly the same. I order the polyester resin as it was a lot cheaper. Even if it worked as the glue the smell is unbearable and it lasts for nearly a week. As a material, I have found it will handle a compression force with no trouble but any sort of expansion force and it will blow apart.

Have had 4 or 5 failures just cutting it on the lathe.
Have switched to Epoxy but yet to turn my latest blank but the lack of smell already makes it worthwhile.

Thick CA would work as well but a lot of hassle if you make a big blank. Have seen people just use CA for a bottle stopper blank. Works great.

Thanks Buzzby, at least that finally confirms my doubts that it was the resin and not my fault.

Andy
 
While I am sure you want the fun of making a pencil clock, if you get stuck let me know. I have 2 up on my etsy store (PM me if you would like a link, not sure I can post it here) I have 5 more on the bench just waiting for finish.
 
buzzby":3intiubl said:
While I am sure you want the fun of making a pencil clock, if you get stuck let me know. I have 2 up on my etsy store (PM me if you would like a link, not sure I can post it here) I have 5 more on the bench just waiting for finish.


That would be good but the problem is we have already bought the stuff (which wasn't cheap) and we had already decided on a clock. I have pm'd you for your shop name and included the name of ours.

Andy
 
Finally got round to doing this clock effort and used the correct Resin this time (Epoxy) no terrible stink and held together like stuff to a blanket, really solid..
IMG_0917.JPG
 

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That looks great =D>
What were the shavings and dust like, explosion in a paint factory? :lol:
 
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