First attempt at acrylic...

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
See more from penhead

Status
Not open for further replies.

penhead

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Aug 21, 2004
Messages
2,097
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia, USA.
First time I turned acrylic...easy to turn, but found it a bit touchy to get a shine on it.

Thanks for looking,
JohnPayton

200412144555_acrylicwallstreet.jpg
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

wayneis

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2004
Messages
1,948
Location
Okemos, Michigan, USA.
Nice job John but actually its pretty easy to get a shine on. If you can get some sand paper so you can wet sand with water and then what I do is to polish up to 12000 with the little MM pads. That'll get you a darn nice shine but if you want more than use some Novus or Hut plastic polish or Meguires Mirror Glaze MM has some stuff that also works very well. That will be about all you need. I think that you could also use the regular MM too.

Wayne
 

PenWorks

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2004
Messages
5,186
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
Nice pen John, the resin Wall Street sells real well and it is a real good kit. If it is black, which it looks like. You picked the hardest color to polish. Just like that nice black car, shows everything. If you can polish that one, the rest are a breeze. Anthony
 

penhead

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Aug 21, 2004
Messages
2,097
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia, USA.
Well, this was suppose to be the second one but something went wrong and I'm not sure what it was...everything seemed ok up to the point where I accidently grabbed the alchohol rag and gave the blank a swipe to clean it...then maybe I just noticed it then but there is a dull spot on it..close to the top in this pic...is there something in the blank that went bad or was it the alcohol on acrylic..or what..


2004121534423_blueacrylicbad.jpg
<br />
 

Daniel

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
5,921
Location
Reno, NV, USA.
cold it be the brass tube starting to show through?
not sure by this picture. also a sanding tip. stop the lathe and sand by hand with the length of the blank before going on to the next grit. sand until you see no more scratch marks from the previous sandpaper.
 

wayneis

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2004
Messages
1,948
Location
Okemos, Michigan, USA.
John I'd go ahead and finish sanding and polishing if you hav'nt already. I would guess that either it was the alcahol or like someone said the tube starting to show through. I use rust-O-leum on all of my tubes for acrylic before I glue them in. Just sand like always, spray paint with ROL and when dry glue with either epoxy or CA. Painting the tubes makes a big difference and if you use rust-o-leum and you are carefull it won't rub off.

Wayne
 

penhead

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Aug 21, 2004
Messages
2,097
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia, USA.
Thanks all..appreciate the comments. Wish I could take bette pictures..these really are pretty shiny.

The first (black/yellow) acrylic sold to the first person it was shown to..that was a first and made me feel good...

The second (blue/white) is also pretty shiny except for what I would call a bruise, except its a just a dull blue spot..guess I will start over with the sanding and go from there...next time might have to try painting the tubes i guess...

Thanks,
JohnPayton
 

WoodChucker

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
1,799
Location
Mi, USA.
John, you did a great job on that pen and I can see why it sold so fast. Are you using a flash on your camera? Sometimes flash will wash out the shine, just depends on the camera. But on my new camera flash works good, so go figure, hey? Now was that a lot of help or what? [:D]

R.T.
 

jkirkb94

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
1,093
Location
Oklahoma City, Ok, USA.
John, I agree with others that using wet sanding with micromesh to 12000 will give you a great shine followed by some sort of plastic polish. I would forget the alcohol. I have MM pads that I "scoop" up some water and use to sand the blank, always keeping some of the water against the blank as I apply pressure with the pad. The lathe is turning. As you get to about MM 4000 you will begin to see the shine. If you still see some tool marks, go back down on the MM and follow through with higher numbers again. Hey, we all had to learn. With this group we can help each other decrease the learning curve. Good luck. Kirk[8D]
 

penhead

Local Chapter Leader
Joined
Aug 21, 2004
Messages
2,097
Location
Chesapeake, Virginia, USA.
Grrr, tried sanding/polishing that blue tube/blank all over again, even grabbed some of the multi color MM pads for acrylic...still has that one dull spot on one end of it...must be the brass shining through somehow.

And yes, the only way I can get any picture to come out with the camera I have is to use the flash.

Maybe I should have asked Santa for a new camera instead of the Oneway Talon chuck...oh well, guess my pics will just suck for a while longer...

Thanks,
JohnPayton
 

DCBluesman

Passed Away Mar 3, 2016
In Memoriam
Joined
Aug 22, 2004
Messages
7,679
Location
WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA
John...I'm betting the problem lies within your acrylic blank. Acrylic is resin and hardener, in very exact proportions. I think the one area just didn't get a good mix.
 

jkirkb94

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
1,093
Location
Oklahoma City, Ok, USA.
John, it is possible that it is the brass tube showing through. I have one pen that this happened. The way the acrylic was made left one small portion more translucent than the rest[:(] Kirk[8D]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom