Join line when gluing solid surface

[PTsideshow]

Ok just got the hole in the basement large enough to set up the lathe, and the other toys. Figure I would use my pen pro and practice on some solid surface material. Well the pen pro worked a treat and even though I had the blanks 1"x3/4" No drilling just turning used a center point drill and then turned between centers.

After using the abranet abrasives from 150 through 600. Great stuff by the way. I switched to the micro mesh to 1500 then since is just practice I used some good old paste wax for a friction polish and buff.

Do the join lines show when the blank is turned down to pen size?

If they show is it from not enough clamps?

Or not enough adhesive on the blank halves or is it the use of activator on one side?

Thanks
:clown:

 

[PTsideshow]

Micro Mesh abrasive Cleaning the pads and how do you tell they are worn out

Duplicate

 

[alphageek]

It depends on the material... Some of the solid surface materials hide the seam better than others. I normally lightly scuff them and glue with medium CA. No accelerator, and just a couple of squeeze clamps - nothing too extreme. But if I recall, one face of the material is smoother (the top) and I think its better to glue top to top.

 

[PTsideshow]

Well have to try that next time I was told to do the rough side to each other. The light colored one came out better than the blue one with the kines on each side. Guess I will be turning lots of stick type pens to give to the shop that I get the solid surface material. They use it all as far as brands go. They do commercial office medical and high end kitchens, so the use what ever the customer wants. So far no bright colors :frown: but plenty of whites and dark's.
Will also not use the activator, I did use the medium CA!
:clown:

 

[corian king]

Each color has a special adhesive that matches the material.Using this adhesive will help hide the seams much better.The adhesive is expensive it runs around 9.00 for a 50ml tube but it goes a long way.It also requires a special gun to mix the two parts together.

 

[JAZNCARR]

If your doing solid colors like reds and blues or yellows laminating colors will be hard. There's a finished side that's smooth and a deck side that feels likeorange peel. Wipe the shiny side down with denatured alcohol and. Only use ca. With out accelerator and use a couple or 3 springclamps. . Corian kingalso. Made a valid point about the matched adhesive. Just know. Some colors have specific uses. Like. Red is used on red and black for black. But. Then there are primary and secondary color choices. It depends on where you buy your adhesive( its all the same. Justhas differentlabels)corians dawn beige is a secondary adhesive colors for about all of the lighter colored stuff. If you buy the color opal from the glueware house or get integra. Glue off ebay or etsy. Its the same color as dawnbeige and still. Will do the same thing...
*******caution. Don't buy glue from anybody unless they are willing to send you clear pictures of the dates on thetubesto show the glue isn't out of date. People like to scam the mis informed buyers andtheyare left withglue cylinders. That are congeled.... alsobuying the smaller 50cc tubes. Gets you 2 free mixing gun tips. And the bigger tubes. U have to buy the big mixing tips separate and they are 2bucks a piece....
let me know if you haveany questions jason

 

[PTsideshow]

Well since the consensus, form those that know is that there may be some kind of glue line. Since I'm not planning on gluing up blanks for mass sales. I think the color match adhesive isn't needed.

The colors I have all have other color flecks or what look like small chips of material in them from white, tan, brown, blue and black as the base colors.

Since it would be easier, cheaper and faster to buy solid colors when and if needed.

Thank you all for responses!
:clown:

 

[alphageek]

Just one more tip/note.... I rough the top sides with 400 grit, just a tad. I've heard not to put extreme pressure to try and eliminate the line cause the joint may get glue starved. (Thats part of the reason I rough it just a tad).

 

[PTsideshow]

Just one more tip/note.... I rough the top sides with 400 grit, just a tad. I've heard not to put extreme pressure to try and eliminate the line cause the joint may get glue starved. (Thats part of the reason I rough it just a tad).

As I found out, all forums and the people on them aren't created equal or even close. I see that with the original information I was given from another forum and following a google search. I did just about everything I could do to do it wrong, I did that is everything but use Elmer"s glue! :monkey:

I'm glad of a couple of things that I found this forum, and I'm out only the cost of the adhesives, and time.

I will do the top surfaces, no activator, rough slightly. I also will cut the blanks so the end up 1" square instead of 1"x 3/4"
:clown:

 

[ghostrider]

I got my methods from watching Capt. Eddie's video.

I lap both pieces if needed (glossy side), then clean with denatured alcohol, and glue with spring clamps and medium CA.

That's when I'm not using the 3mm stuff I have. No gluing necessary for that, however it does require a little more turning.:biggrin::biggrin:

 

[randywa]

I've been having good luck scuffing the smooth side and using 2 part epoxy. I normally wrap the glue-up in wax paper and sandwich between 2 blocks of scrap. Instead of trying to hide the glue line I'll mix a tiny bit of a contrasting color to make it stand out. Kind of like like hiding it in plain site.

 

[PTsideshow]

Turned a couple more of the solid surface material blanks last night. The light colored ones seem to hide the seam better. The darker ones leave more of a white line in spots. One of the blanks split back in two along the seam.

So from the looks of the two sides, I have to say that being told to use accelerator for the CA is not a good idea(another internet source). As it appears that some flashed off before the heaviest adhesive set. will follow the recommendations from here!

Will try to get some photo's later the ones that I have taken are not turning out clear enough to be useful.

Definitely I can see that a slightly heavier application of the Medium CA or other adhesive along and either side of the center line for the width of the widest pen blank. Say 3/8" on either side of the center line is also needed.

Going to have to check too see if any of the other blanks are candidates for a readhesive application. This time with the top surfaces scuffed and then cleaned with alcohol, before the adhesive is applied.
:clown:

 

[JAZNCARR]

try this

the white lines in the darker colors are from you sanding with the 400 grit paper Capt eddie videos are good but take things alittle too far sometimes... the splitting in to comes from drill bits being dull and heating up the CA glue or your drilling to fast and the drill bit essentially becomes a big wedge... start there and experiment some

 

[PTsideshow]

This is the one that split, as I was cranking the tailstock center into it, so I could TBC.
You can see were the adhesive had dried before the halves were joined. And were the adhesive sort of held the two pieces together before splitting.

Here are three of them that have seams or part seams on them. You can feel were the adhesive didn't connect with the other half, as it catches the finger nail.

Here are the two that came out pretty good.

I'm using a center point drill bit to put the 60° live and dead center holes in the ends. Too true/round up the blanks,it is giving me a chance and practice to follow Ken"woodchuck" directions in using his pen pro.
:clown: