Cactus blank question

[Firefyter-emt]

Ok... This is starting to bug me. I did now like the way the painted blank looked, I could see imperfections where the paint did not get 100% coverage. I had powdercoated some tubes so I figured I would try to heavily CA the inside of the pen and the tube and give it a shot. Well I got quite a bit of air visable. Now I didn't have thick CA just the med. Are there any tricks to putting a PC tube in the blank and having the glue fully coat the blank?? Would epoxy be clear enough?? I want to try diffrent powder colors down the road because there is no way to damage the finish on the tubes while putting it in the blank and would love to play with more colors..

 

[MesquiteMan]

Lee,

I have tried all kinds of things to get COMPLETE glue coverage inside the blank and have yet to find the solution. I have tried epoxy, CA, Alumilite, etc. I have put the tubes in with extra glue and then pressure cast it to try to eliminate the voids/bubbles with no luck. I have simply give up and just realize that I have to do a good job of coloring the inside of the blank. My trick, since I have a Paul Huffman vise, is to drill the hole 1/32 larger than required. I then put some tape over the bottom of the hole and fill it up with resin of the color I want. I after curing, I put the blank back in the vise in the same orientation as originally drilled and drill with the proper bit. This will leave a 1/64" thick layer of colored resin between the tube and blank and works GREAT. I know it is way overkill but I am quite the perfectionist and despise having anything show up through my blanks.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Thanks Curtis, I guess if you have not been able to, then it's unlikly that I will get it!
Not a bad idea about the "recast" but that sure is pushing it to get an exact hole again. However, with black it might not be too bad if you needed to use the powdercoated tube for the color. I will have to try that, but I think it's going to be a bit hard on the Serria kits, I would have to pick up some if the Vistas to give that a shot.

Hmmm.. Curtis, did you ever try to pull a vacuum on the blank with say CA glue??? I am not sure if it would set up too fast or not though..

 

[Russianwolf]

idea based on what Curtis mentioned.

Drill the hole.
tape one end.
fill hole with paint.
pour out paint and let dry suspended upside down.
glue in tube.

Should work. You might get a few drips at the one end, but they should be easy enought to remove.

 

[MesquiteMan]

Lee,

If you have a Paul Huffman vise and mark the blank so you get it back in the right orientation, it is a snap! That is a real testament to the accuracy of Paul's vice for sure. The only problem you may have if you try it is the fact that PR shrinks A LOT more than Alumilite that I use. I am not sure if it would pull away from the inside of the blank or not. The ONLY experience I have is with Alumilite on Alumilite so caveat emptor!

 

[alamocdc]

Originally posted by Russianwolf
<br />idea based on what Curtis mentioned.

Drill the hole.
tape one end.
fill hole with paint.
pour out paint and let dry suspended upside down.
glue in tube.

This was my first thought as well.

Originally posted by MesquiteMan
The only problem you may have if you try it is the fact that PR shrinks A LOT more than Alumilite that I use. I am not sure if it would pull away from the inside of the blank or not.

PR will shrink away from the sides in places. But it will be random and scattered throughout. Some places will stay stuck and some will separate (tried something similar on another project a few months back). Short of the filling w/paint idea above, or using Alumilite, the next best bet might be to use Marine epoxy colored with your favorite coloring and filled like Curtis does his. It would take substantially longer to cure through, but you wouldn't get any shrinkage. PC powder should work for coloring and not prevent the curing time. I've used automotive polyurethane base coat successfully, but it's expensive and prolongs the curing time a few days.

 

[ctwxlvr]

hmmm wonder if doing the plug the tube and cast cactus tube as one piece would solve the problem?