turning acrylic

[sbwertz]

I'm a beginner and just turned my first acrylic pen. I was frustrated because every few seconds I had to stop and remove the long strings of plastic shavings that wrapped themselves around the blank and the mandrel. Is there a special technique to control these ribbons of plastic?

The pen turned out nice, though.

Sharon

 

[jedgerton]

The only technique I can think of isn't really special, just use a dust collector but even then, the ribbons wrap up on everything.

One consolation, if you are getting long ribbons of plastic, you must be doing something right ;-). Far more times people get chip outs or just total blow ups.

Don't you just love the smell of acrylics being turned!

John

 

[ed4copies]

Get a wire brush, brush off the ribbons with that.

 

[Jim Smith]

I find that a 2 inch paint brush works well also. No need to stop the lathe, simple brush at the ribbons a bit and they come right off.

Jim Smith

 

[sbwertz]

The only technique I can think of isn't really special, just use a dust collector but even then, the ribbons wrap up on everything.

One consolation, if you are getting long ribbons of plastic, you must be doing something right ;-). Far more times people get chip outs or just total blow ups.

Don't you just love the smell of acrylics being turned!

John

I DO use a dust collector, and sometimes the ribbons get picked up and stream back into the hood, but most of the time they just make something that looks like my bait casting reel when I screwed up a cast!

Sharon

 

[sbwertz]

Get a wire brush, brush off the ribbons with that.

Won't the wire brush score the plastic?

 

[ed4copies]

After about 500 pens that way, I'd say no.

Remember you don't get ribbons from sanding or buffing-so if there are any marks, they will be eliminated in future steps

 

[witz1976]

I use a wire brush I picked up at the hardware store for a buck. Works great!

 

[steeler fan1]

After about 500 pens that way, I'd say no.

Remember you don't get ribbons from sanding or buffing-so if there are any marks, they will be eliminated in future steps

To followup Ed's comments. You don't want to be real agressive, all you're doing is removing the waste. As someone else mentioned, use a paint brush or any small nylon type brush.

Carl

 

[sbwertz]

I have a small stiff nylon bristle brush about the size of a large toothbrush. Would that work ok?

Question two, I was given a PVC blank. Does it turn like the acrylic?

Sharon

 

[sbwertz]

Since this was my first try at acrylic, I used a roughing gouge to round it then a 1/2" round nose scraper for shaping. Is there a better tool to use?

I am still scared to death of the skew. I have used it on my canes, but if it catches I have lots of wood left to recover from the catch. On a pen a catch is pretty disasterous. I used my skewchigouge to shape the tip down to the bushing.

I used a VERY light touch, so it took much longer than turning a wood blank. I was afraid of ruining the blank so I was very cautious. But It was a lot easier than I feared it would be.

Sharon

 

[ed4copies]

OPINION!!! The smaller the tool, the more likely you are to wreck a plastic (acrylic, PR, inlace) blank.

A scraper is a good, non-aggressive tool, but try to find a one-inch so there is more surface area touching the blank--less likely to "pierce" it and create a mess.

END OPINION

 

[sbwertz]

Thank you, Ed. That is the kind if info I need. I do know that the 1 inch oval skew I bought is much easier to handle than the 1/2 inch one that came in my initial set.

Sharon

 

[ed4copies]

You can grind a "flat" on the end of a one inch round scraper.

(An area about 3/8" wide that all touches the blank at the same time) This renders the scraper relatively harmless. And yet, you remove a little more material each pass!!

BTW, this also makes the scraper useless for bowl turning and next to useless for faceplate turning--so you need TWO round nose scrapers if you plan on doing either of these activities.