Casting attempt with puzzling results...

[btboone]

I got ahead of ring orders today for a couple hours and here's what I worked on. I had a lot of problems casting with polyester never setting up properly, and ruined several blanks in the process, so I finally just used CA. I added the dyes and luster pigments that I got with the polyester and they seemed to work OK. Using the CA with the accelerator allowed me to use different colors whereas polyester would have to be one color. The wood is walnut and has a nice grain that's hard to see in the picture.

 

[DCBluesman]

Very nice. How you do that is a "puzzle" to me. [8D]

 

[Paul in OKC]

That's pretty slick looking there Bruce.

 

[cjthomas]

Now that is clever. Great pen Bruce.

 

[PenWorks]

Bruce, I guess you did order every color they had [] Did you use the powder dyes or colored dyes? That tube casting doesn't cut it. I don't think there is enough surface air to dry it.

Anthony

 

[J. Fred Muggs]

I really like the look of the color inserts, Bruce. The irregularity of the color gives it a "my kid just colored it" kinda look. My Question: Did you maybe paint the inside white or something to get the colors to show up better?? Just seems that they're really bright if they're only on the darker walnut background. Or maybe does the photo make them look brighter than they really are??

 

[btboone]

Hi Anthony, maybe that's it. I tried 3 different times with polyester, one of which I added enough catalyst to curl your hair. Still soft and rubbery in the middle. I did most of the colors on this one with a dollop of thick CA about a half inch wide on a newspaper slick insert page and mixed in a toothpick scoop worth of pearl luster. I did a couple with the colored luster pigments, but most were the dye with the white pearlized stuff. I made the pen something like .020" oversized and lasered it to a depth of around .08" deep. I squirted the accelerator on the pen and doused on the CA with the toothpick heavily until it piled up high and quickly squirted it with more accelerator. I think the aerosol can spray of the accelerator would work better than the spritz bottle since it won't whiten the glue. Needless to say, the roughly glued pen looks pretty hideous until it's turned again. I didn't run coolant on the final pass since the wood was there. I added thin CA over the newly exposed raw wood, and used micromesh for finishing.

I think the technique has great potential for any and all designs such as cursive engraved lettering or other inlays. The pearlescence adds a nice touch.

 

[btboone]

Fred, the color is bright because of the pearlescent stuff added to the glue. Those are the true colors.

 

[tipusnr]

You and that laser are getting to be real good friends...well done!

 

[Guest]

An enigmatic conundrum.
You did well with your dilemma!
HAve you thought of doing one where the pieces fit?

 

[KKingery]

Now that's definately a different look! Cool.

 

[btboone]

Hi Eagle, Yes, my first attempts were two different woods. It worked, but the pieces were tough to lock and unlock because of what I call the "Jack-O-Lantern Lid Syndrome." This is where the parts can only go together from one end due to the divergent lines all pointing to the centerline. The pieces were somewhat loose when it went together. That could have been fixed by compensating for the beam width, which is around .007", but the biggest issue was that it was a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle and was darn hard to put together!

I'll be working on a snake pen where there are two different woods. I need to do special wood mandrels to hold a thin tube while it gets laser cut because metal mandrels would reflect the beam. It's easy enough in concept, but I just need some time to hack on it.

 

[opfoto]

Clever looking pen. Original.

 

[Paul in OKC]

Could you use the laser and not rotate the barrel as it cuts? I guess that the pieces would have to be smaller.

Originally posted by btboone
<br />Hi Eagle, Yes, my first attempts were two different woods. It worked, but the pieces were tough to lock and unlock because of what I call the "Jack-O-Lantern Lid Syndrome." This is where the parts can only go together from one end due to the divergent lines all pointing to the centerline. The pieces were somewhat loose when it went together. That could have been fixed by compensating for the beam width, which is around .007", but the biggest issue was that it was a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle and was darn hard to put together!

I'll be working on a snake pen where there are two different woods. I need to do special wood mandrels to hold a thin tube while it gets laser cut because metal mandrels would reflect the beam. It's easy enough in concept, but I just need some time to hack on it.

 

[btboone]

Hi Paul,
I looked at that, but in this design, it wouldn't have worked well because of the way the pieces nest. You're right, if I went with 6 or 8 pieces going around instead of 4, it would have probably worked well. Each piece wraps pretty far around the barrel now, so the intersections would have beams coming in from 90 degree angles to each other and would undercut each other. The "Jack-O-Lantern Lid Syndrome" is not usually an issue unless the part has both male and female pieces like the puzzle pieces do. All of the pieces are actually different from each other, so it is a bear to assemble it when it's in a mass of pieces. Too much work! Maybe it's an idea to have customers do that part themselves. The helical snake shouldn't have an assembly issue.

 

[jwoodwright]

Nice work. Wow! a laser... [8D]

 

[Gary]

Very well done!

 

[Tom McMillan]

Interesting pen Bruce---nice work!!!

 

[btboone]

Thanks guys. I'll try some laser engraved signatures and see how they look.

 

[Chuck C]

Amazing

 

[J. Fred Muggs]

Thanks for the response, Bruce. The white pearlescent stuff explains it. I really like the look. it <b>will</b> be added to my long list of techniques I gotta try!! Guess I'm gonna have to give up sleeping completely. [|)]

 

[btboone]

I'm about to try the same technique on an acrylic pen. I hope it works.

 

[Gregory Huey]

Really neat job. sure wish I had a laser.

 

[btboone]

I've been into lasers since middle school. I've built 4 of them on my own and did homemade holograms. I worked for GT bikes for a time and programmed their huge laser that cut the bike tubes. It had 8 rotary axes. That was an amazing machine. I knew that I wanted a cutting laser and originally looked for one that would cut metal as well, but those larger ones generally don't do raster graphics like engraved fonts or image files. Everything has to be g-code programmed in lines and arcs for those like a CNC machine. I settled on getting the highest wattage laser I could find that still did that stuff and got it with a 4th axis. Maybe one day I'll get a metal cutting laser to add to the toy chest.

 

[PenWorks]

OT. I had laser light thearopy done on my knee & elbow this week,(first time) I must say, there is a science behind it and it helped my knee after one treatment. A lot less evasive than going to you Bruce and having your laser cut my arm off at the elbow. LOL

For those of you not into doctors here is a link to the company that makes this machine.
http://www.erchonia.com/

Anthony

 

[btboone]

That's true. I'd have to override the safety switch to cut your arm off though. It's funny, a CO2 laser has a far infrared beam (so you don't see it) and it doesn't follow the rules of visible light optics. The defocused beam can be stopped by a sheet of plexiglas, which will fog over if it's hit. Your eyes and normal glass or plastic lenses don't focus the beam. They have special lenses and mirrors tuned to the wavelength. The ones used at a doctors office are usually near infrared, and can be used with normal optics including fiber optics to steer the beam. They can also cause serious eye damage because your eyes do focus the beam into a pinpoint on the retina.

They are really great machines. The big limit is from the imagination on what else they can do for pens or anything else.