First Experience with Acrylic

[starnovice]

Today I finished my 2nd acrylic pen. What an education.

First I had been told to darken the brass tube with permanent marker so it would not show through the acrylic. Remember this I will come back to it.

The main thing I learned is sharp tools are a must for a good clean finish. Also the 3 part plastic polish put out by Novus is wonderful!.

I also learned how to dis-assemble a pen, the hard way. As happens, I pushed the clutch in too far (actually I think I let the blank get too short). So I read the threads on how to disassemble a pen. First I tried the transfer punch and hammer. Did not work, what happened was the brass tube came out, part way, instead. Rember that permanent marker? Apparently it makes a good insulator for CA glue. The black stuff stayed in the pen but not the tube.

Frustrated (always a good time to stop for a while) I grabbed my pliers and yanked on the clutch. Did you know they are really fragile? :frown:

So, after reading more threads I decided to use the drill press. I drilled a hole in a board big enough to let the nib through but would catch on the thickest part of the turning. This actually worked really well for the nib. But when I tried to press the clutch out the whole tube came out. :beat-up:

Next was how to get the clutch out of the tube???? I used pliers to flatten the part of the clutch that was left. This let me rest the tube on the nearly closed wood vise and using the punch tap out the clutch.

Cleaned up the flared ends of the tube with some sandpaper, re-drilled the turning (actually I used the drill to ream out the CA). Glued the tube back into the turning. Stole clutch from another kit and finished assembly. arty:

All in all, frustrating but I am kind of glad I got all of those mistakes out of the way. Now I can move on to new mistakes.

Pat

 

[redneckmedic]

I Actually have a title for an experiance like that..."bad shop day" one of those days where the harder you work the less that gets done, and nothing you do is right.

So after all that work.... no pics?!?

 

[ed4copies]

This is a good reason to have extra brass tubes.

Don't fight with it, when the tube came out, say "Thanks" and put in a new tube, grab a new kit and life goes on!! Slimlines are no longer the $6 or $7 investment they once were!!

For under $3, live a little!!

 

[Coysquibbly]

I had that exact same day once:biggrin: Good to see you have a sense of humour.

Kevin

 

[Crashmph]

I have been there and done that more than I care to admit.

It is always good to have a extra tubes of what ever you are working on. Cheap investments to save future headaches that are bound to happen.

 

[Dale Allen]

I found out that a 16 penny nail, or is it a 10 penny, will slide into the threaded part of the twist mechanism. Grind the point flat and you can use that to drive the nib out. Then a hinge pin works for driving out the twist mech.
My previous method was always destructive to the twist mech.
Now I use a small brass hammer and hold the blank in my hand while I tap out the parts.

 

[Rob73]

My first acrylic attempt taught me to wear my face shield. I also had no luck with the marker.. I now paint the inside of blank.

 

[mmoncur]

I was finishing a last-minute Christmas gift last night, a modified slimline. Pressed the mechanism into the tube, then discovered that I had a bad mechanism that wouldn't turn. I had lots of other mechanisms, but had to get the bad one out first.

I tried everything I had in the middle of the night but I didn't have a long enough 1/8" rod to reach through the mechanism and knock out the nib. I had a screwdriver that almost reached, but not quite.

After spending about an hour clamping the mechanism in vises and pliers and trying to pull it out without damaging the beautifully CA-finished barrel, I finally gave up and sliced off most of the mechanism with the band saw and then used the screwdriver to tap out the nib. Stuck a drill bit in the other end and tapped out the mechanism.

It worked great but that was about 3 hours I didn't plan on wasting...

 

[mmoncur]

Oh, by the way. I had the same brass-tube-not-sticking problem with my first acrylic pen. It turned out that my hole was way bigger than it needed to be. If you don't drill very slowly and carefully, the plastic starts to melt and enlarge the hole beyond the drill bit size. That blank ended up shattering after I turned a slimline out of it...