Identifying Acrylics

[bjbear76]

I'm starting to get my feet wet with making kitless pens. I've accumulated a decent stock of different kinds of acrylic blanks and am finding that some types of acrylics work better than others, like alumalite. Is there any way of identifying a "workable" blank from the kind that won't work? I've run into some blanks that were "powdery" and couldn't even begin to thread. Unless it's labeled, can you tell by sight or any other means what type of acrylic it is and if it is suitable for kitless?

 

[Rockytime]

Really good question. I would also like to know.What materials are the best for threading aside from the obvious like brass, aluminum and other metals.

 

[Curly]

What I would do is to get some blanks that you know what they are made of. Take a knife and scratch one of the faces and to cut a corner. Plastic that cut without crumbling or as chips will likely thread well. That will give you a "controlled" test to make comparisons with when you pickup an unknown blank.

 

[Joey-Nieves]

We had this discussion last week, again, and we finally got a good answer. www.penturners.org/forum/f14/aacrylester-acrylic-rhino-139243/ hope this helps

 

[jttheclockman]

http://content.penturners.org/library/general_reference/The_Acrylic_Revolution.pdf