Painting tubes

[jodoidg]

Just made my first acrylic, white marble. I did not paint the tube and now have a white marble w/ minerial streaks.
What do you paint, the tube or the blank?
What do you use?
Will the CA interact with the paint?
Many thanks,
John

 

[Mikey]

I use paint made for lexan R/C car bodies and an airbrush. The colors I have are Pearl black, Pearl White, Pearl Silver, and Pearl Blue. I coat both the inside of the blank and the tube. I then let dry for about a day, then CA the tubes in. With wood, I always work the tube in and out a few times spreading the glue around. With the paint, I onlt slide the tube in once and leave it there. Once I glue in the tube with thick CA, I go back and drizzle some thin in there in case the thick did not adhere and then use the accellerator. I know it's a lot of work, but no tubes show anymore and I have not had a single tube come loose.

What's really cool about the paint is that depending on the color used, you can manipulate what the final product will look like once finished.

 

[wayneis]

A lot of people just paint the tube with a marker and ca will react with the marker most times. I prefer to paint both tube and hole, I use any paint that closely matches the color of the blank. I don't use ca I use epoxy for several reasons. Mostly I use epoxy because ca causes so many problems when assembling the pen. I usually take a long tooth pick and spread glue in the hole of the blank and then slide the painted tube in.

Wayne

 

[DaveC]

I've never painte the inside of the blank. I use cheap spray paint to baint the tubes. I usually use black or white depending on the color of the tube and the effect I want to achieve.

 

[Johnathan]

There is a great aricle on dipping the tubes in an oxidizer to make them black, you can find it on the homepage..[8D]

 

[terrymiller]

I have used the method talked about by Johnathan several times. You can use either the chemical used for blueing gun barrel (available at Wal-Mart sporting goods) or I have also used a chemical for stained glass used to turn the solder black (available at stained glass supply stores).

 

[jodoidg]

Thank you all. My wife had a can of silver metalic stashed. I made another, looks great behind the white
John