How are the lucite pipe rods to turn?

[angboy]

I asked these questions below Andrea's post about specials this month on the lucite pipe rods and didn't see any response, so I'm thinking that people who could answer the question didn't see it, but might see it here! So here are my questions:

Has anybody done a pen with the clear rod or the ice one (which actually doesn't seem to be on their website as an available color anymore, but it had been shown in a prior post here and it was clear with white sorts of swirls thourhg it)? If so, do you have a picture of it? I was wondering if you could color a tube somehow, maybe in a pretty (yes, girlie!) color like purple or teal and then have that show through the clear part- any thoughts on how that might look?

How are they to turn? What other kind of material would you compare them to as far as ease of turning, softness, brittleness. etc.?

 

[wdcav1952]

Angela,

I turned a Caramel Swirl and painted the inside of the blank and the tube black. I will have to look and see if I took a picture of it. The PA who works with my surgeon favors black clothes. I gave it to her, the surgeon got a desert ironwood, and she loved the way the black showed through.

I think your idea is certainly worth a try, just make sure to paint the inside of the blank as well as the tube. Give it plenty of time to dry and use epoxy as CA reacts with some paints.

As far as turning, rounding the blank is a bit chippy if you aren't very careful. After that it turns well, if a bit harder than the polyesther resins.

Another source of really beautiful resin blanks is woodpenpro.

FWIW,

(Edited because I called Angela Andrea, oops!)

 

[jbburri]

I turned two pens this morning with the rods I recieved form Andrea. I is about the same a turning acrylic blanks I have gotten from Woodcraft or Craft Supply. Make sure your tool is sharp and that you color, paint the blank and/or blacken the brass tubes.

 

[Deere41h]

Angela...The lucite rods are some of my favorite material for non-wood pens. It turns very nicely with sharp tools and will finish with a very beautiful finish. I'm sure you will like it.

One of the nice parts of it is that you can cut it to any length so it really works well for closed end pens that take a bit longer blank.

 

[gerryr]

Angela, I have made several with Phantom Gray and Caramel Swirl. Here's a link to the only one I have in my album http://www.penturners.org/forum/photo_album_view.asp?cname=Main+Album&mid=1665&cid=1834&page=4
On this one I didn't color anything because I wanted the brass color to show, but I did add extra fine glitter to the epoxy. I'll see if I can take a picture of two I made from Phantom Gray and post them.

 

[wayneis]

You have already recieved very good advice so I'll just add to it by saying that although I have not turned the blanks that you are refering to I have turned probably all of the rest of the colors that Andrea offers. Your idea will work as long as you paint the inside on the blank as both responders have alread said. If you do not paint the inside of the blank you will see the globs of glue and air bubbles, not pretty in my opinion. Painting the insides of the blanks is more important than painting the tubes themselves but I would still paint both incase you end up with a small scratch when you slde the tubes into the blanks. DO NOT try to slide the tubes inside the blanks until you have glue on the tube. The paint will stick and come off and you will end up with a mess. Like William said, use epoxy as it will not react with the paint, ca usually does react and in fact sometimes changes color from one to another, really strange reactions.

Good luck and be sure to show us what you come up with.

Wayne