Using aluminum flashing

[F6maniac]

What are you using to attach flashing? I've sanded the aluminum and tried both med CA and 5 min epoxy, but I don't get a good hold with either of them. Any thoughts?

 

[mark james]

Try Gorilla Glue and wait 24 hrs.... (I'm doing that as we type!).

 

[Trees2Pens]

Agree

I use Gorilla glue and have also used med CA but I agree the pieces do come apart sometimes. Go slow on drilling the blank too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEFbbCoDrd0&list=UUqcyyZMat0_Y5nyQl-TNY7Q

Above link shows my alum flashing Knights Amour pen.

John

 

[Janster]

DRILL the hole in the aluminum and "then" do your glue up. YMMV, but it has always worked for me!

 

[plantman]

I use thick CA and accelerator. Make sure you rough sand both sides of the metal !! Same with brass. Jim S

 

[plantman]

DRILL the hole in the aluminum and "then" do your glue up. YMMV, but it has always worked for me!

Good for straight segmenting, but not so good for angled cuts !! Jim S

 

[Krudwig]

Gorilla glue has worked best for me, but even when you do everything right your going to have a blowout or two. If you drill too fast or turn too aggressively it can all come apart rather quickly so just expect to have a failure along the way.

 

[Janster]

DRILL the hole in the aluminum and "then" do your glue up. YMMV, but it has always worked for me!

Good for straight segmenting, but not so good for angled cuts !! Jim S

I do it all the time! Angles or not! I use my Mill for this procedure!

 

[Mike8850]

All I use is medium CA for all my segmenting.



As others have said be sure to rough up both sides of flashing.
Mike

 

[BSea]

Drill a pilot hole 1st. Most glues we use will fail when they get hot, so take your time when driling and turning to let the blank stay cool.

You can also wrap the blank with tape and/or rubberbands when drilling. Also, dental floss works good. After you wrap the blank with the floss, soak it with thin CA. Then after it's drilled, it all turns off.

 

[StuartCovey]

I always used medium ca for glueing my aluminum. I've made several Celtic knots with it and not had any problems.
Just make sure you get enough on.

 

[gbpens]

For any segmented piece, metal flashing or not, it is a good idea to tape the pieces together in horizontal AND vertical directions. This keeps the pieces from separating as the bit goes through a layer. Someone on this forum suggested this some time ago and it works.

 

[preacherman]

One thing I noticed when I made a blank a few weeks ago with aluminum was a residue on the flashing. I bought the pieces at the home center used for roof flashing. I was testing glues to see what would stick and almost nothing would stick to it with that residue. It was a thin oily film.
I cleaned the aluminum with acetone, scuffed up with fine sandpaper and glued up with epoxy and it stuck great. So great in fact when I had a catch while turning it took away part of the wood.

 

[Krash]

I alway have used medium CA. Make sure when drilling to use a normal twist bit, not a brad point. You may also want to flatten the drill bit leading edge so that it scrapes instead of cuts to avoid splitting the segments. Read some more on this technique here

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f56/drilling-largest-diameter-holes-suggestions-126178/

It really does work!

 

[sparks71]

I thought this discussion was interesting and thought I would give this a try. I just happened to have a piece of aluminum flashing nearby and plenty of scrap wood on the floor so... I gave it a shot.
If you look at my picture, it is pretty clear I ran into some issues. I tried to follow the video posted earlier in this thread. I am very new to all this so I am sure I made rookie mistakes. How did I end up with wide spots in the aluminum? Also, as I was turning it (I used a carbide tip tool) the aluminum was bright and shiny like chrome, then after sanding it turned very dull, it almost doesn't even look metallic anymore. It seems like I missed a step with polishing it along the way. I finished it with a few coats of ca glue. I have plenty of scrap to try again and get it right but I thought I would ask to save some time.
I love this hobby. If anything, I have impressed myself with some of the pens I have made.

 

[StuartCovey]

I thought this discussion was interesting and thought I would give this a try. I just happened to have a piece of aluminum flashing nearby and plenty of scrap wood on the floor so... I gave it a shot.
If you look at my picture, it is pretty clear I ran into some issues. I tried to follow the video posted earlier in this thread. I am very new to all this so I am sure I made rookie mistakes. How did I end up with wide spots in the aluminum? Also, as I was turning it (I used a carbide tip tool) the aluminum was bright and shiny like chrome, then after sanding it turned very dull, it almost doesn't even look metallic anymore. It seems like I missed a step with polishing it along the way. I finished it with a few coats of ca glue. I have plenty of scrap to try again and get it right but I thought I would ask to save some time.
I love this hobby. If anything, I have impressed myself with some of the pens I have made.

It looks like your tool was dull. Instead of shaving away the aluminum it was sort of rolling it over giving you that look.
Try and use a skew to ever so slightly shave away just a little bit and it should take off those edges.
If that doesn't work for you just try sanding more with a lower grit before going onto the final sanding process.

I actually usually do not sand my blanks when I am using flashing or doing segmenting. It always tends to bleed the colors of the wood with the dust and it also takes away the shine of the aluminum.
I find that there is not really any difference between sanding and not for me.

Remember that it will always differ between every tuner though based on techniques.
Good Luck!

 

[avbill]

Always clean the aluminum with acetone.