CA glue - Pen turning

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lots of suggestions and personal preferences. One thing to be aware of with some acrylics is that they are see through once turned so you can see the brass tube. In these cases it may be preferable too paint the tubes an appropriate colour before inserting them. mixing a little paint in while mixing epoxy will give you coloured glue.
 
Hello Nev

Thank you for the heads up, I like the tip about painting the brass tube

But I don't think I've articulated my self correctly the CA Glue is for the finish on the pen

Tom
 
ok. I ve only done a few acrylics and they have just been sanded to 600, then micromesh pads then some brasso and recently friction polish. You can get polish especially for acrylics, but I havent tried it yet.(too tight :) )

And more here - has anyone tried this stuff? http://www.theturnersworkshop.co.uk/sto ... rod_id=288

The titebond CA will be good for wood pen finishing (but i use the pound shop stuff too) but Ive not known it used on acrylics. but I am definitely no expert.
hth
nev
 
I just sand to 600 (wet) then use a coarse polishing compound, (Tcut scratch remover) then move on to normal Tcut.

Seems to work well.

For CA, I tend to use the ones from Toolstation, mostly I seem to get better results with the low viscosity ones.
 
Purely by coincidence, last nights demonstrator at the West Oxfordshire club was Mark Raby who, as an aside whilst waiting for some liming paste to dry, brought out an acrylic pen blank & proceeded to polish it using 600 grit abranet & oil. I think he said that it was citrus oil but that Danish oil would be ok too. The blank was then ready to take any desired finish without the need for any micro abrasives.

Robbo
 
I can see you've all had your tea and gone deaf to the wife LOL

Thank you all for the replies all I need to do now is make a jig for my new fingernail chisel and I've seen on a old post some one made one from a drill jig from axminster so I'm of to axminster again (second time this week) I might buy a new chisel as well (IT JUST FELL INTO MY BASKET DEAR) how much O'I think it was a fiver sweet heart


Tom
 
Robbo3":1dvr9z3o said:
Purely by coincidence, last nights demonstrator at the West Oxfordshire club was Mark Raby who, as an aside whilst waiting for some liming paste to dry, brought out an acrylic pen blank & proceeded to polish it using 600 grit abranet & oil. I think he said that it was citrus oil but that Danish oil would be ok too. The blank was then ready to take any desired finish without the need for any micro abrasives.

Robbo
I use the cheapest cooking oil when sanding acrylic, reconstituted stone, soapstone and cast polyester and have been for years
 
Can anyone suggest a machine speed for turning acrylic

It has been suggested a machine speed of 600 for sanding but what about turning

Tom
 
Tom,
For Acrylics I use Gorilla glue (an epoxy) Fairly slow setting, gap filling, water resistant a good glue for both acrylic and wood.
It's just that on wood CA glue is quicker to set and it sticks to wood better than Acrylic.
It is a good idea to colour the brass tube first in view of some acrylics being somewhat transparent.
Turn pens at high speed. 1500 to 2000 or more, if you consider the circumference of a pen blank and say a 10" bowl blank.
With the same RPM, a given point on the blank will pass the cutting tool 20 or 30 times slower with a pen blank than a 10" bowl blank,
hence the need for a higher speed.
I sand my wood pens at around 700 RPM particularly at the micro mesh stage and when applying CA for finishing.
Acrylics I sand down to 600 then on to Acrylic micro mesh (different to wood micro mesh) with water which makes a slurry to attain the smoothness,
then finish at high speed with metal polish or EEE ultra shine. When the high gloss is attained polish with Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish to keep off the fingerprints.

John. B
 
Another posting, another view!!

I can't get the hang of micromesh, keep burning the stuff and going through to the foam bit in the middle. I sand with wet and dry (dry) to 400 then wet and dry lubricated with burnishing cream to 2500 grit, finishing with a quick spin of neat burnishing cream with a blue paper towel. Works a treat.

Someone mentioned speed to turn the acrylics. Acrylic, sometimes used as a generic term to mean "Not wood" but in my experience true acrylic, polyesters, acrylesters, crushed velvets (what ever breed of plastic they are) all need treating differently. I might be dreaming it but I think the ambient tempreature makes a difference, the colder it is some of them are more brittle.
 
Neil Farrer":28tvzt6z said:
Another posting, another view!!

I can't get the hang of micromesh, keep burning the stuff and going through to the foam bit in the middle....

IMHO lathe too fast or too much much pressure or both. and if its a wood blank I use the MM with the lathe static and go with the grain. very therapeutic.
 
Well I started to turn my first Acrylic blank and after drilling I saw a crack or a line/scratch so I just carried on and guess what it was a crack (break out is a puppy) and the acrylic just smashed up at the end, so now I'm off to Axminster for one of there end grain pen drills more brass tube and more Acrylic.

I did turn a honey stick, well kind of but I'm going to use it as a small dibber in the garden.
I may have a lot of dibbers/dowels by the end of the weekend LOL


Tom
 
Tom,
I'm assuming you are drilling with a drill press and not by hand.
Drilling acrylics is somewhat more delicate than drilling wood, It's rather prone to heat.
So, very small bites, clearing the swarf frequently. You can use brad point wood drills stopping just as the point breaks
through the bottom but NO MORE,
then either turn the blank upside down and drill through the last bit or cut off the last millimeter or so by hand,
Alternatively using machine drills, measuring again carefully and marking the drill so you stop drilling before breaking through the bottom,
again cutting off that last bit by hand.
If it's a slimline type pen needing a 7mm drill it's no problem using that size drill bit.
If however it's a large type pen when the need is for a 13.1mm or so drill, I find starting with a smaller diameter drill bit advantageous.
When it's glued up you should square the end until the brass tube shows with an appropriate sized end mill, (best on the drill press)
I know some pen makers square the blank end using jigs on a disk sander but IMO an end mill is best.
Don't get put off with early failures, all pen makers break something or other some time.
Best of luck, don't forget pics of your first pen good or just good.

John. B
 
+1 for what john says. DAMHIKT but.....if you go too slowly (or your bits blunt) you generate too much heat and the acrylic starts too melt. too heavy handed and you may crack or shatter the blank.
I found that sitting the blank on a small bit of wood whilst drilling usually prevents the bottom blowing out, or if you have a generous blank or a short pen kit, cut the blank 'long' and trim to length after drilling.
 

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