Black Ti Trimline, first cast

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betwisted

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So, one of the things that intrigued me most, and is a driving factor in my pen creating hobby, is the idea that you can create your own materials. I picked up a white and clear alumilite kit last week just to play around with casting. I've never used any of these materials before. I also picked up some pearlex powders for coloring the resins. I mixed up a lavender and silver, stirred them for what I thought was about a minute then went to pour them in the PVC tube mold I set up. The silver set up as I was pouring it and I had to break it off, but I was lucky enough to quickly dump the lavender in before it set. I don't have a pressure set up, so the final product had a bunch of small bubbles in it (and one big one which I hid behind the clip).

Anyway, I turned the pen, filled the holes with CA, sanded to 600 and then ran the barrels through the 3 wheel buffing system. This pen represents a number of firsts for me: casting, filling, and buffing.

The picture doesn't do the pen much justice as there are a lot of subtle variations in both the lavender and silver that are apparent under close inspection. I also love the way the Black Ti looks and look forward to using more on other pens.

Thanks for reading, and questions, comments, and suggestions are appreciated.

Joe
 

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I like the colors in this pen.

It sounds like you really looked things over in the forum before you did this and I really think it is a winner. I use a pressure pot when I pour alumilite, you can get an inexpensive one from Harbor Freight that is what I use. It is rated for up to 65 psi and is all you should need for a pot. I know that some here don't like them because they talk about failure but mine is well built and seems very stable I use it to 60 psi all the time when I am casting.
 

plantman

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:bananen_smilies046:Joe; Variations are good, they make the pen interesting. Good job on first time. The little white dots on your pen are from one of two things. Either you did not wipe the sanding dust out of the holes before you filled them with CA, or you used thin CA to fill the holes followed by excellorator. This will turn white. Use thick or gap filling CA to fill holes and excelorater to cure. This will not turn white, fume, or bubble like thin CA will. Good casting comes from practice and exparimentation. There are no bad casts, only good lessons learned. Jim S
 
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betwisted

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Jim, thanks for the pointers on the white dots...they were bugging me as I thought I wiped out the dust well enough. And I did use thin CA with accelerant. :embarrassed:
 

reiddog1

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Joe,
I sometimes get the same small bubbles when I cast with Simlar 41. I do not have a pressure pot yet, but I first blow out all the sanding dust with my compressor and then two light coats of thin CA with no accelerant. Sand back down then buff as normal. I tried it with medium CA, but didn't work as well. Great job on all of your firsts!!!

Dave
 
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