Nice pen. I was wondering what materials you use for the white and black accent bands? I've tried using black styrene for segmenting and had trouble with it heating up and coming loose when drilling on the lathe. I've had it come apart with both epoxy and CA glue. Usually I've been able to just take the parts and re-glue them back together on the tube and save the piece but it was such a pain I've been reluctant to use that material again.
Gil
I use pick guard (sanded to rough the surface) and thin CA. I immediately spray thoroughly with accelerator, which allows me to drill or cut with my chop saw right away. I always drill carefully--slowly, at 360 rpm on the lathe holding the work piece in spigot jaws, but sometimes the drilling will cause a separation. I've reduced these failures by taking it very slowly whenever I drill through an angled joint. The straight 90 degree joints don't seem to separate so much. I'm thinking I should predrill with a 1/4 bit before drilling at the tube size.
All of that being said, I do experience a high failure rate (at the joints) when drilling and later when turning. I'm looking for help with that.
I have done some scalloping also and use a jig for that. It's a sled I push through my table saw that holds the blank at a very slight angle. When I get home, I'll post a picture of this jig and one I use for cutting the corners off my segmented blanks before turning.
