Chipped Acrylic Blank

[Phil Labowski]

Hey gang,
I have a slight problem. While doing the finishing cuts on an acrylic blank I some how took about a BB size chunk off of it. I put CA on the tube and basically mashed a bunch of the shavings on it. It's at the very end of the tube and will wind up in the middle of the pen, so I'd like to know if my "fix" is going to work,or if I have to redo that part of the pen.
Oh, also I have Woodcraft's 7mm pen drill bit, yet the holes in my, just the acrylic, blanks are really big. I use my lathe as a drill press when I'm drilling the holes.
Thanks in advance!

 

[1080Wayne]

If the pen is uniform in colour , your fix is probably okay . If it is a patterned blank , you will have to be the judge - but you may need to complete the finishing process before making a decision .

I don`t drill on the lathe , so can`t comment too much except to ask if you also get oversize holes with the same bit on a drill press , A bent bit could give that problem , and so could mis-alignment of the headstock with the tailstock .

 

[DSallee]

I agree with what Wayne said on both issues. Only thing I have to add is I tried drilling with my Jet mini, I got the same results as you MOST of the time especially with the smaller drill bit sizes. My headstock was spot on too. The only thing I came up with was possibly drilling too fast or how I was securing the blank to be drilled. After I got a bench drill press and a proper clamping device for it, my problem went away. I never could get it to drill properly on the lathe no matter what i tried.

 

[fiferb]

Drilling too fast on the lathe may also be the problem. Acrylic blanks will sometimes melt a bit if they get too hot and if the drill bit gets hot it will tend to bend a little or vibrate more.

 

[Phil Labowski]

Thanks guys! I'm off to see if everything looks passable, or if it's back to woodcraft for a new blank lol.

 

[CrimsonKeel]

I chipped an end on one of mine and just added in straight CA. filled up the hole and unless you know it is there you never notice the little extra depth in that spot

 

[Phil Labowski]

I think my patch job worked great! All it looks like is a lighter purple spot. I post pic when I replace the pencil part. Right now it's a lead dispenser instead of mechanical pencil. lol