This week--"reverse painting"

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ed4copies

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Every week there seems to be one topic that I get a number of phone calls about.

In an effort to help "newbies", I will try to post answers (and elicit answers from you) to the topics I am hearing.

"Reverse painting" is painting the inside of the hole, before inserting tubes.

This can be done with a spray can (makes very thin coats, causing less interference with the brass tubes going in) or a "que tip", used like a paint brush.

The question I have had frequently this week, "Can I use _________paint?"

My answer to this is simple. Experiment!!!

Take a piece of acrylic (assuming you are asking about plastic pen blanks) and paint the piece with the type of paint you would like to use. Let dry or cure for several days. Then, smear the adhesive you plan to use to hold in your tube on the painted section of the acrylic.

If the paint is thinned and smears, you should find a different choice of paint OR adhesive.

If the paint holds up fine, your selected paint and adhesive WILL work together.

Pretty simple and logical, dontcha think???

All other suggestions are welcome!!!

Ed
 
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jttheclockman

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One thing I would like to add to this which makes great sense and I had seen it here but will not be able to give credit because I do not remember names. It is the color stick. Make several color sticks with different colors that you would think you want to use to paint the inside of blanks. Could just be shades of one particular color or various colors. Make the stick thin enough to be able to slip in just about any size pen hole. You will be surprized how much the look of an acrylic looks just by changing the color used to paint the blank and or tube. I still think painting the blank is the most important instead of the tubes. Hold the color at various points on the blank too. Also it is a good idea to get the blank at least close to finished size before deciding on paint colors. The thinner the blank the more the color chosen becomes a factor.


Also one other thing painting the blank may change the inside dimention a tiny bit and this can be corrected by using some sandpaper rolled on a stick or just rolled up to smooth the drill marks and slightly enlarge the opening.
 

Chrisjan

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Some of the lessons I learned the hard way;
1) A pen where you can see the scouring marks on the tubes through the finished blank looks really cheap and unfinished... Sand and paint the inside!
2) Even thicker pen kits turn down to a thin wall thickness at the ends where they join the hardware... Sand and paint the inside!
3) I don't want to contradict what John had said, but I paint my blanks before turning - to get a more accurate picture of the final project, I slice a wall thickness thick sliver of the leftover blank material to paint and hold it up to the light. This way I can experiment with the colors until I'm satisfied.
4) I put my painted blanks in the oven at a low heat setting (115°C) to dry the paint before gluing in the tubes.
5) Hot blanks' holes are slightly enlarged by the material expansion. If your tubes are nice and cold when you stick them into the hot blanks with enough CA on, it reduces to a nice tight fit without scratching the inside of the painted surface - just don't take your time to do the gluing!
 

PR_Princess

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One thing I would like to add to this which makes great sense and I had seen it here but will not be able to give credit because I do not remember names. It is the color stick.

JT, I'm not sure if this is the person you are thinking of or not, but could it be Stephen (from Singapore)?

He had made a wood dowel and painted it with differently coloured stripes. He then inserted that dowel and moved it around inside the tube hole to see the various effects. My apologies if I missed someone, its just that Stephen (from Singapore) is the one that I remember.:)
 
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Haynie

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Another helpful trick especially in the colder months but works any time, is heat the tube with a torch. I use a propane soldering torch or butane before painting. I use spray paint so be careful. If the tube is too hot it will flare. After painting hit it with the torch again quickly. Picked this up painting boat outdrive casings.

I have also noticed that flat spray paints work better than glossy in the adhere department.
 

PenMan1

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I use a QTip (long ones) mounted in a variable speed drill and a polish such a Meguire's PlastX cleaner to clean the inside of the pen blank before painting it.

If I skip this step, sometimes two things happen and both are bad. First, if I fail to clean the hole before painting, the white residue left from drilling PR, etc can cause the paint to not fully adhere to the blank. This can and will result in a glue failure.

Secondly, the polish removes the "swirls" left by the drill bit. Without polishing out these swirls, on pens that have little "meat" left after turning, this swirls will resemble "cracks" to the blank.

It MAY BE imigination, but the blanks that I polish before back painting always seem to make a better looking product and results in fewer "glue failures".

When I glue in the tube, I always use 5 minute Epoxy glue AND ADD 1 VERY SMALL DROP of acrylic paint of the same color used to reverse paint the blank.

These steps take a few extra seconds, but IMHO makes a much nicer finished product. YMMV.
 
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I am/was having a problem of the paint being scraped off in spots when I inserted the epoxy covered tube. I saw on the forum of members putting a drop of paint in the epoxy when it is being mixed. Seems to be working well so far.
 

brownsfn2

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Nice Idea Andy. I usually mount the drilled blank on the lathe and use a piece of micromesh on the end of a stick. I need to try the Q-tip.

Does anyone have trouble with Spray paint? I tried it and the inside of the blank was rough when I was done. It seemed like less hassle to use a Q-tip to paint the inside.

I use Model Master paints from testors and they seem to have good coverage.
 

Rob73

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I've done this, first time though I put in too much paint and the epoxy didn't hold. 1 or 2 small drops is enough.

I am/was having a problem of the paint being scraped off in spots when I inserted the epoxy covered tube. I saw on the forum of members putting a drop of paint in the epoxy when it is being mixed. Seems to be working well so far.
 

PenMan1

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Ron:
I wasn't having a lot of success with spray paint either. My best results have come from Delta Ceramcote acrylic paint from Michael 's, Hobby Lobby, et. al. It is usually priced about $1 per 2 oz bottle and 1 coat covers nicely with a QTip.

Home Depot had a 32 - 2 oz bottle set of Pantone Acrylic Craft paint on special $9.98 for "Black Friday" special. SO FAR, it seems to be working OK and the set contains every color I could ever need. BUT, I'll likely go back to the Delta paint. When you consider that cheap paint ultimately costs an unusable blank, the prep time, the glue cost and perhaps a tube, I choose NOT to "cheap up" on back paint.

Respectfully submitted.
 

Lenny

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One thing I would like to add to this which makes great sense and I had seen it here but will not be able to give credit because I do not remember names. It is the color stick.

JT, I'm not sure if this is the person you are thinking of or not, but could it be Stephen (from Singapore)?

He had made a wood dowel and painted it with differently coloured stripes. He then inserted that dowel and moved it around inside the tube hole to see the various effects. My apologies if I missed someone, its just that Stephen (from Singapore) is the one that I remember.:)

Yes, here is a link to the old thread ...
http://www.penturners.org/forum/1110322-post1.html
 

TerryDowning

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My wife has boxes of the ceramcote acrylic paints. I just raid here stash. A few have even taken up permanent residence in my shop. I have also used these as opaque pigments for PR.
 

dow

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Boerne, TX, USA
One thing I would like to add to this which makes great sense and I had seen it here but will not be able to give credit because I do not remember names. It is the color stick.

JT, I'm not sure if this is the person you are thinking of or not, but could it be Stephen (from Singapore)?

He had made a wood dowel and painted it with differently coloured stripes. He then inserted that dowel and moved it around inside the tube hole to see the various effects. My apologies if I missed someone, its just that Stephen (from Singapore) is the one that I remember.:)

Yes, here is a link to the old thread ...
http://www.penturners.org/forum/1110322-post1.html

Cool. Now I have something to do with some of those ends that I've been tossing into the big coffee can in the corner. :biggrin:
 

randyrls

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3) I don't want to contradict what John had said, but I paint my blanks before turning - to get a more accurate picture of the final project, I slice a wall thickness thick sliver of the leftover blank material to paint and hold it up to the light. This way I can experiment with the colors until I'm satisfied.

I think combining Chris's and John T's ideas is a winner!
Make a thin slice of the material and use a color stick to judge the resultant look of the blank!
 

jttheclockman

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One thing I would like to add to this which makes great sense and I had seen it here but will not be able to give credit because I do not remember names. It is the color stick.

JT, I'm not sure if this is the person you are thinking of or not, but could it be Stephen (from Singapore)?

He had made a wood dowel and painted it with differently coloured stripes. He then inserted that dowel and moved it around inside the tube hole to see the various effects. My apologies if I missed someone, its just that Stephen (from Singapore) is the one that I remember.:)

Could very well be and if so then props go out to him for sure. I thought that was one of the most clever ideas that passed through here. Thanks for the memories. My brain cells are leaving. At one time they were taking a cab but now they are using jet liners.:eek:
 

jttheclockman

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NJ, USA.
One thing I would like to add to this which makes great sense and I had seen it here but will not be able to give credit because I do not remember names. It is the color stick.

JT, I'm not sure if this is the person you are thinking of or not, but could it be Stephen (from Singapore)?

He had made a wood dowel and painted it with differently coloured stripes. He then inserted that dowel and moved it around inside the tube hole to see the various effects. My apologies if I missed someone, its just that Stephen (from Singapore) is the one that I remember.:)

Yes, here is a link to the old thread ...
http://www.penturners.org/forum/1110322-post1.html


That was it Lenny. Good call. Great little trick too.
 

azamiryou

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Silver Spring, MD USA
In an effort to help "newbies", I will try to post answers (and elicit answers from you) to the topics I am hearing.

The question I have had frequently this week, "Can I use _________paint?"

My answer to this is simple. Experiment!!!

While in general I agree with the principle (experiment!), newbies are often not in a good position to risk ruining an "expensive" blank. (To someone who's been making pens with scrap wood, any bought blank is expensive.)

Also, a beginner may not have any suitable paints on hand, and need to buy some. If they don't know what to buy, what do they do? Buy several different kinds to experiment with? Buy something and hope it works, then have to go back and buy something else if it doesn't work? Small jars of paint are not that expensive, but it adds up when you buy several of them.

As such, I think it would be quite handy to have a chart of known compatible/incompatible paints and adhesives for different types of plastic blanks. Or even just a simple, "here's one combination we know works well for all our blanks; many other combinations also work, so it's worth experimenting with paints you already have."
 
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