first Stratus kit on acrylic

[Cloven]

A few orders ago William Wood-write threw in an 'orange slice' acrylic blank. I decided to pair it with a gold plated Stratus kit. It was my first time working with an opaque/transparent blank, and I was aware of all the stuff about painting, etc. I reverse painted the drilled out blank, I gave the tube a painting (giving them a full day to set), and I even mixed in a bit of the acrylic paint with the epoxy when I glued it in. The 3/8" hole was a bit of a snug fit, though, so the effing leading edge of the brass tube scratched the paint off the drilled out hole as it was pushed in. I tried spinning the brass tube to redistribute the painted glue, but though I was able to minimize it to some extent, it was still beyond fixing. It's not so bad I guess, I'm a bit obsessive compulsive and a perfectionist when it comes to my crafting, so I feel that it is not up to my professional standards and I'm personally disappointed with working with that acrylic blank. If there was some way of plating the tube the colour or otherwise making a micron thin coating that was 0% transparent on the inside of the drilled hole to allow for the snug fit of the tube, or if the orange was not at all transparent, then I can see this material being useful. I kind of like how the white stripe swirls around inside it, but I do not at all like the way the tube shows through the material, especially given my efforts to eliminate it. Live and learn, I will certainly never use an acrylic acetate blank that has any transparency to it again.
I like the stratus kit. It went together so easily, I like how it feels in my hand, and I like how easy it is to unscrew the writing end to access the refill.

Cheers,
David

 

[Chasper]

I agree that the tube showing is unacceptable. Painting the inside of the drilled hole is adequate, but be sure to use a round file to smooth out the hole first. Painting the tube was not only unnecessary, you also created the fit problem. I've made about 75 stratus with resin blanks, 3/8 bit, always back painted, never had a fit problem. I glue with CA but epoxy works as well.

 

[Rockytime]

I really like the blank. The show thru is that the slightly darker portion I see near the clip? I think most people would not notice. I had to look hard to see it. Perhaps seeing it up close it shows more.

 

[1080Wayne]

As Chasper said . The hole needs to be just large enough to allow the tube to fall through it , without being pushed . That allows for a thick enough layer of paint inside the hole to give you the needed opacity , yet shouldn`t get scraped off when the tube is carefully inserted .