How do you glue on inlay kits?

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angboy

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Jul 29, 2005
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I got two of the laser cut inlay kits recently and tried to work on the first one and totally blew it. I used thin CA to glue the pieces in place, and then went over basically the whole blank with medium CA and let it sit for 2 days. Well when I went to use my barrel trimmer today to get rid of the excess length, as soon as I started, it blew out. It was clear that it blew out along the joints where the smaller pieces were glued in, so I think it's my fault for not making sure things were glued well both to each other and to the tube well. I've never used CA glue to glue any kind of blank to a tube, so I was a little leery of that. For some reason I feel better using something like gorilla glue, it just seems like it'd coat and cover better. But I knew that wouldn't work for gluing in those inlay pieces.

The second blank that I have is VERY special to me and I really don't want to mess it up. I think it'll be a little easier anyway, because there aren't any smaller pieces so close to the end of the tube as there was with the first one, but I still wanted to find out what other people do and how they glue these in to make sure they don't ruin one like I did.

(And just for the record, I don't want anyone to take this question as any sort of criticism of the kit maker, and am purposely not saying where I got it from for that reason- I am totally confident that I am the one at fault here, so I just want to learn what other people have done...)
 
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timcbs

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Oct 27, 2009
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Villa Park, CA
Hi,

Depending on what Kit I use Thin CA or Black Med. CA, I sand the ends flat, I believe the instruction say not to use a Barrel Trimer, most of the time I just turn down the blank most of the way and then I sand it the rest of the way, be very careful and each end, if it is a Sierra Kit be extra carful because the ends are paper thin and I alway screw them up.
 

bitshird

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Aug 27, 2007
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Adamsville, TN, USA.
I either sand my ends or turn the ends flush in my scroll chuck using the side of a carbide scraper, most of the time I use my tool, I can see when I'm getting close to the tube.
 

PaulSF

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Oct 9, 2009
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San Francisco
I was looking over the instructions for an inlay kit (one of constant laubsher's??), and it said specifically not to use a barrel trimmer. It said to use a belt sander instead.
 

penmanship

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Sep 23, 2008
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Winnipeg, Manitoba
I'm going to be in the same boat.......Where does one get black CA? First time I've heard of it?!?

Thanks,
Tim

Hi,

Depending on what Kit I use Thin CA or Black Med. CA, I sand the ends flat, I believe the instruction say not to use a Barrel Trimer, most of the time I just turn down the blank most of the way and then I sand it the rest of the way, be very careful and each end, if it is a Sierra Kit be extra carful because the ends are paper thin and I alway screw them up.
 

its_virgil

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Jan 1, 2004
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Wichita Falls, TX, USA.
The glue was not the problem, the pen mill was. Squaring and trimming needs to be done using some type of sanding...either a squaring jug for the disk sander or the pen mill that uses a small sanding disk instead of the cutters; especially if the inlay kit is made from several pieces glued together like the puzzle pen.

Take a look at this: http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42098&highlight=sanding+pen+mill\ I have one and really like the way it works.

Do a good turn dialy!
Don



I got two of the laser cut inlay kits recently and tried to work on the first one and totally blew it. I used thin CA to glue the pieces in place, and then went over basically the whole blank with medium CA and let it sit for 2 days. Well when I went to use my barrel trimmer today to get rid of the excess length, as soon as I started, it blew out.
 
Last edited:

KenV

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Oct 28, 2005
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Juneau, Alaska.
The use of a transfer punch fitting closely inside the tube and mounted in a drill chuck in the tailstock allows you tp use a small piece of sandpaper on a face plate as a sanding disk that is true to the alignment of the tube. This is a good way for doing an occasional sanding of ends (laser patterns, panache, etc) --

If you are doing a lot of these, there are a couple of members who sell jigs like rherrell.
 

angboy

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Jul 29, 2005
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North Las Vegas, NV
Thanks everyone, I think I'm going to try out the sanding mill idea. I definitely don't want to have the same thing happen on my next kit, so that looks like a great investment!
 
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