Acrylic pen turning....help me please!!!!.

[VikingAl]

Just a quick question for you pen gurus out there, When I get to wet sanding a pale/white/see through acrylic pen on the mandrel, the very fine particles that inevitably get sanded off the collets end up between the brass tube & pen body, thus highly visible & very ugly. I am using the glue I got with my pen pack from turners retreat ( at work at the mo & can't remember the name, purple label & expands when drying ), when squaring off the ends I then make extra sure there is no gap by then putting super glue @ the ends of the tubes to try to seal any possible minute gaps between tube & blank, but seepage still gets in there. I'm pretty sure what the answer is, don't sand the bl++dy collets!!!, but I have trouble in avoiding them!. Any help in my little predicament would be greatly appreciated!.

 

[nev]

once you've turned your blank to size, swap the bushings for tapered (or smaller) ones, then sand. That way you shouldnt catch the metal with the abrasive.

 

[VikingAl]

How didn't I think of that?!?!. Thanks Nev, you don't know how much I appreciate that simple but effective solution!!!.

 

[woodyturner]

I never wet sand translucent pen blanks finish with a sharp skew and just short burst with dry arbranet

 

[Melinda_dd]

I always catch the bushes when sanding and end up having to replace them...... why didn't I think of that!
To finish my acrylic ones I sand with 600 then 800 then 800 with plastic polish on it then a cloth with plastic polish only..... comes out like glass!!

I always paint my holes and tubes too... just incase it goes translucent