Drilling blanks

[scroller99]

when I drill my blanks and paint the tubes, you can see the tube a little but mostly I see the marks from drilling the acrylic and a white haze, am I drilling too fast? I know my bits are sharp, any thoughts would be appreciated thanks Howard

 

[rherrell]

Try painting the inside of your blank too.

 

[CharlesSharp]

I was watching the how do they make that show the other night. On plastic handle screwdrivers they dip them in Acetone after turning the ends to make them smooth and clear. Perhaps if you pour a little acetone in the hole, shake it for a minute and pour it out, it might work.

 

[Phillip]

I watched the same "How It's Made" program and have tried the acetone in the blanks. It does work but you have to let the blank sit a couple of hours after the acetone treatment. My blanks seemed to become sticky inside the hole and cause a lot of frustration inserting the tube. After a couple of hours it was back to normal. Hope this helps.

 

[Scott]

Interesting! I will have to try that. So, where the acetone evidently softens the acrylic on the inside of the hole, did that change how big you had to drill your holes, to eventually fit the brass tubes?

Scott.

 

[Phillip]

The hole size did not change when I used the acetone. I drilled the blanks as I would normally. The area the acetone touched just became real sticky but went back to normal after a while. I just let mine sit for two hours and everything is OK. My neighbor suggested nail polish remover if you don't have acetone handy, but I have never tried polish remover before.

 

[bkc]

A silly question perhaps.... but if the acetone gets the acrylic 'sticky' could you just insert your tube and it'd stick like being glued?