First Attempt at an Acrylic Pen

[jimbob91577]

Okay, so I'm getting ready to attempt my first acrylic pen, and I'm wondering a few things:

- I don't have any epoxy and am wondering if CA glue will be sufficient if I make sure I smear it around in the inside of the blank before inserting the tube.

- Drilling, should I plan on cutting the blanks about 3/16" oversized in anticipation of the blank blowing out the bottom?

- Turning - I've read countless posts saying use light cuts and make sure your tools are sharp - the blanks I have are the Acrylic Acetate (AA-30) blanks from Arizona Silhouette, will I have a problem with these trying to blow out at the ends closest to the bushings?

- Turning - The kit that it is going on is a Classic American kit I ordered from AZ Silhouette - it requires that I part about 1/8" off of the Cap side of the blank to allow the center band to be pressed onto the cap - will I have a chipout problem trying to part off 1/8" of the acrylic?

- Finishing - I'm assuming I can take it down to MM 12K and put some HUT wax on it and all should be well - and additional suggestions?

 

[jskeen]

Ok, I'll take a stab at this one, all opinions are just that and no warranties implied.
1. CA will be ok to glue the tube into the blank, but unless the blank is specifically designed to be opaque, you will want to paint the inside of the drilled hole, or else you will probably be able to see the bubbles in the glue, and the brass tube through it at the ends where it is thinnest, and that won't look good. Be sure to use some wax/putty/playdough/something to plug the ends of the tube to keep the CA from getting in there and causing problems.

2. For your first plastic blanks, YES, I would definately recommend you cut the blanks long, drill almost but not quite through, and cut off the extra. All plastics are succeptable to cracking when the cutting edge of the drill bit exits and grabs the acute angle formed by the cutting face and the end of the blank.

3. the biggest myth of turning plastics it that you MUST be super carefull to take light cuts and use razor sharp tools as soon as you start to turn, IMHO. It doesn't really matter what you do to the first 3/4 of the blank, as long as you remove it without cracking it down to the tube. You can hog it off as fast as you want, with whatever tool you want to get the blank down to size. What is critical, is first that you don't crack it, (and most cracks occur while drilling, not turning), and second that you don't chip the plastic below the final diameter. So, bottom line, you can crank off most of that blank however you want, but when you get close to the shape and size you are aiming for, stop, go sharpen your tool, and THEN, take it slow and carefully down to final shape and size.
4. You should not have any problem with chipout when cutting the tenon down to the tube on the end of the cap blank if you use a sharp parting tool and present the tool to the work surface at a very acute angle using light pressure. What you want to ensure is that you account for the part you are removing when you turn the outer diameter of the blank. IE, you don't want to turn the end of the blank at the end of the tube to the exact diameter of the fitting, and then part off the 1/8 inch, because unless you are turning a perfectly straight blank, the diameter of the end of the blank after you make the part will be slightly larger than the centerband. Also you want to undercut the blank very slightly, so that the centerband fits tightly against the OUTER edge of the blank, instead of hitting the blank material in the center right against the tube and leaving a gap at the outside junction of the centerband and blank.
4. Finishing. MM to 12000 is a pretty good finish on plastic, but remember, for it to work you must remove ALL scratches from the previous grit before moving on to the next. Plastics are notorious for showing off that ONE scratch from the 400 grit paper you left when you switched to the first MM sheet. I use a paste polish like meguiars swirl remover or flitz metal polish after the final MM step, just because, but it's not an ironclad requirement. Some very successfull turners just sand to 600 grit and buff, some others use renwax or HUT, or whatever. As long as it's shiny and all the scratches are gone, it's going to look fine.

I know this is a long and rambling post. It's not intended to be the final word or the ultimate best solution, rather just some hints and guidelines for you to use to find what works best for YOU. All other suggestions, corrections, and modifications welcome.

OK I gotta quit drinking red bulls at midnight! Time to go to bed.

 

[DurocShark]

Listen to the sound of the acrylic hitting your tool. Look at the cut you just made (lathe off) and match it to the sound it made while cutting. Acrylic makes a very distinct sound when a cut is tearing or chipping, as opposed to when it's properly cutting.

You'll get it down pretty quick. I love turning acrylics. I find they're easy and interesting.

 

[scotti158]

For gluing tubes in acrylics, and everything else, I use polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue). It's available just about everywhere.

 

[Daniel]

My first suggestion is to choose another pen style. The Americana upper barrel gets to thin to work well for most acrylics. you will actually turn out most if not all of the swirls etc in any acrylic unless you turn it with a thicker than bushing to bushing shape.

I have never had a problem getting a clean parting cut.

you can try to allow for whatever might chip out when drilling or take steps to prevent any chipping. not drilling all the way out the end is one way. using a backer block is another. Since most blanks have that extra inch or so of waste. you might as well get some use out of it and save yourself the trouble of finding a waste block of wood.

Sharp tools are always good. read again what jskeen wrote about that.

The hardest thing for me when I first started turnign acrylics was that all the shavings stick around and get in the way.

Just take your time, get a feel for the material, and in no time you will be off to the races with it just like any other material.

 

[Tn-Steve]

I've done a whopping 4 acrylic's so far (in part because I got a bag of 30 or so wood blanks for 30 bucks at woodcraft), but here's what I've learned, from the Newbie's perspective.

ROUNDING OFF / ROUGHING OUT
With WOOD I can grab the roughing gouge and whale away, in a minute or two I've got to down to where I'm starting to do shaping. With ACRYLIC it starts to make that "SZZZZZSHHHHH" noise that means that it's shattering. Takes me longer to get it turned down, in part because I'm not confident how much shattering it can take before it starts getting down too deep.

SHAPING
With WOOD I use my SpindleMasters and a Skew to get it down to shape, still proud of the bushings, and then do the smoothing and shaping with sandpaper, 240 grit usually, at the upper end of the low speed range of my lathe (around 1000 rpm or so I guess). I do the final shaping at low speed with sandpaper, 650 or so, (slow as it goes)
With ACRYLIC I use the Roughing gouge more (since the process, for me, is slower), then the SpindleMaster and finish off my int ital shaping with a scraper. My Skew has told me that it would prefer not to be used on acrylics, and gets a bit out of control when I try it. (Has to be the tool, can't be me :biggrin. I do the smoothing and shaping with sandpaper, starting at 240 grit and a medium speed, and working up thru 600 grit, all at low speed. For the Acrylic I WET SAND all the way, plenty of water
For both I make sure to sand lengthwise between grits to smooth things out and wipe of the dust / slurry.

FINISHING:
WOOD: I do a CA /BLO finish (can't quite get a straight CA to work yet)
ACRYLIC: It's a different animal, the material IS the finish, you just have to get it smooth. I wet sand MM all the way Thur, sand lengthwise, wipe off slurry, etc. When I get done it's looking REALLY good, a quick hit on the buffer with Tripoli, White Diamond, then back on the lathe for a quick hit of Hurts Plastic Polish. I use a "Micro Fiber" Cloth that I got at HF for the final buffing, it comes out as close to perfect as I can get.

Other notes: I've noticed that I've got to work a bit slower with acrylic, work one blank for a bit, then hit the other side, then come back to the first one again. Otherwise they tend to warm up and instead of cutting it's more like I'm molding it.

I hope this helps, I'm a newbie at this too, so getting it from somebody who is still working the issues may help ya. Then again, I'm self taught at this, and my instructor doesn't know any more than I do

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

[nightowl]

I have done alot of Acrylics since I started last year. I haven't had any blow outs yet. I use medium CA on the tubes and insert them with an insertion tool. Using this dosen't allow any glue to get inside the tubes( usually ). I just make sure I wipe the tool off after each tube. I turn the blank at a fast speed an I take light cuts until I get the corners rounded a little. I do keep my tools sharpened also while doing this. I use a 3/4 spindle gouge to round the blanks. After that I use a rounded skew to finish. I sand to 400 grit and then use EEE polish. This gets most of the scratches out. If more is needed, I then use my Beal buffing system, which takes it to a glass finish. After this I sometimes use Ren Wax to add just a little more shine. This is not necessarily needed though. Micro Mesh pads are good but if you put any beads or coves on the blank it is hard to keep the pads from building up heat and actually melting off on the blank. Good luck and show some pic's.

 

[marcruby]

Only thing I'd add change to the recommendations is don't use CA to glue in the tube. Five minute epoxy works fine, and you don't wind up with the occasional tube glues halfway down. In addition, if you paint the tube or blank, some of the solvents in CA glue will dissolve some paints.

Gorilla glue will probably work fine as well - I just don't care for it.

Marc

 

[Stick Rounder]

Just one thing to add... If there is a particular swirl or design that runs the length of the blank, you preserve this line by measuring from the center out for each tube. I use a sharpie marker to mark the center cut, so that I know which ends will be the center of the pen. Also, when drilling, drill from the center to the ends, this helps in two ways, first the drill bit generally starts center, second, one rarely blows out the top of the drilling blank. Lastly, when placing your pen tubes, position the tube with the least amount of shaving/squaring to the center marked end, again this will preserve the continuity of the swirl or design in your acrylics.

 

[jimbob91577]

Follow Up

Okay, so here is my first attempt:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43059

I think it turned out pretty good, I used 3min Epoxy but for some reason after 3 hours next to the pellet stove it was still tacky - it held up though. I used playdoh in the tube ends, cut the blanks about 3/16 oversized, drilled from the bandsaw cut towards the ends of the blank, and trimmed the excess from the ends to try and keep a matching swirl pattern (as suggested).

I will definately do more Acrylic, but I cannot stand the smell. It is almost as bad as hot antler.

 

[Bear-31]

I would like to add one thing that I didn't see in the above posts. Make a practice of painting/coating the tubes with similar color as your blanks. As opaque as a blank looks before turning, when you get it down to proper size, chances are you will either be able to see the tube through parts or it will be apparent that there is something brass just under the surface. I have turned blanks that looked completely opaque, but when turned had places near the ends that became translucent or even transparent. Just my .02.

Bear

 

[DurocShark]

Looks good!

Did you treat the tube at all? I usually just sharpie it and mix a bit of dye with my 5 min epoxy.

Yeah, 3 min, 5 min, whatever, they all need 24 hrs to fully cure.

 

[jimbob91577]

Looks good!

Did you treat the tube at all? I usually just sharpie it and mix a bit of dye with my 5 min epoxy.

Yeah, 3 min, 5 min, whatever, they all need 24 hrs to fully cure.

No - I didn't paint/color the tube or the epoxy. I found that the acrylic wasn't very translucent. Even on the ends, you can't see the brass underneath. Now if I were doing a cactus blank or what have you, I'd be all over coloring the tube and the glue.

I got some epoxy on a piece of scrap wood when I glued the tubes in. It is still tacky today...I wonder if i just didn't mix it enough...I figured 30 seconds worth of mixing on a 3 minute set time would be sufficient.