Click pen questions.

[les-smith]

Well I just turned a click pen that I bought at Woodcraft, my first one. I used a resin blank that was green and pruple. One of the barrels has an area where you can see the brass tube. I didn't sand through the resin, it's like the resin is clear so that you can see the tube or the resin is so thin that your able to see through the color of the resin. The pen fit is great,the barrels aren't to thin. Could someone explain what might be going on. Should I have colored the tubes? Thanks, Les.

 

[JimGo]

Les...in a word, "yes".

 

[mrcook4570]

A lot of resins are fairly transparent in thin layers (as in a turned pen with tube inside). Painting the tubes and/or the inside of the blank will help to prevent this problem.

 

[les-smith]

Dang. This pen was to be sold to a lady at work, but the way it turned out it just doesn't meet my qaulity requirments. Besides my other post talks about how the ink cartidge of this pen won't fully retract. Well, guess I'll pull out another blank and kit and go to work.

 

[bananajeep]

I found out the same thing on my first acrylic pen. I have tried to paint the tubes black, but have had problems with some paint comng off during the glue up and insertion of the tubs. I have heard of people dying some epoxy black and using that to secure the tubes as well as painting them black. I'm going to try both next time.

 

[gerryr]

The problem with painting the tubes, is that you really need paint designed for metal and the metal surface has to be very clean. With transparent resins, you will still probably see the air bubbles in the glue, even if you paint the tubes. I now paint the inside of the blanks with Testor's enamel. It works great and is designed for use on plastic. Then I can use either epoxy or polyurethane to glue the tubes in.

 

[les-smith]

I went out and tried to glue one up a few minutes ago and I was having the same problem with the CA taking the paint off the tube. So, I didn't like that. So, I'm going to get some Testor's enamel paint and start painting the inside of the blank like gerryr suggested. Thanks for all your advice. The sad part is I've got folks at work willing to give me their money for some of these pens, but I'm losing some due to poor craftsmanship because I'm not experienced enough. Anyways, life goes on, all in due time.

 

[Randy_]

you have to remember that for most pens...even the big ones...the wood/resin shell is a mm or less in thickness. Just isn't very much material and even for plastics that are colored, they lose their color when they are that thin.

 

[GreggR]

Hey a thought... Oxy Clean turns copper black, wonder what it does to a brass tube? I gotta try that.

I know 1 ounce of copper nitrate dissolved in 6 ounces of water will turn our brass tubes very dark - almost black, and it doesn't wear off or affect fit/function on the ID of the tube.

 

[les-smith]

Very interesting. Where do you get copper nitrate? I noticed on a web site today that they sold black CA glue. There's another option.

 

[GreggR]

Les, you can order from chemical suppliers, but they want you buy a big jar, gets kinda pricy. If you have some printed circuit board places near you, call them and see if they use it. You could also check pharmacies. I bought the big jar!

Good luck!