Possible Acrylic Blank Group Buy Feeler

[Daniel]

Link to rizhengs web site:
http://www.penturningsuppliers.com/login.asp

I have been considering a group buy for acrylic blanks from Rizheng.
They have a selection of about 50 at this time. Prices would be in the neighborhood of $2.50-$3.00 for acrylic blanks. and $1.50-$2.00 for acrylic rods. I have also considered a bottle stopper group buy. They have 4 or 5 styles in stock with prices ranging from $2.07-$4.12 depending on style and quantity we can reach. the lower priced stopper would be $2.07-$2.71 and the higher priced model would be $3.11-$4.12

Now for the hard part. Rizhengs supply of Blanks is not real reliable. I am in contact with them about getting prepared for a group buy. of 50 acrylic blanks and rods right now they are out of stock on 10 of them, and very low on half of the rest. this means that a group by could be delayed until Rizheng can fill the order, or giving Rizheng a reasonable number to get prepared for. That is the reason for this thread. I am trying to get at least a reasonable idea of what sort of demand there will be in such a group buy.

Some special rules will apply to this feeler. because the info will be used to try and get a supplier to actually order supply for us. members that respond here will be first in line when and if a group buy actually happens. the total volume of the group buy may be limited and when that limit is reached no other orders will be taken. I would also like to get an idea of just which blanks would be in demand but for now I will have to require that you look at rizhengs web site to choose colors etc.

For now just about anything is possible like a buy with limited selection etc. So although I am looking for replies that intend to follow through if a buy actually gets organized. I also realize that you may loose interest if the blanks you are interested in are not offered. I will do my best to include everything they offer.

So after all that please post what you think you would be interested in total blanks, as well as at least basic colors you would like to see offered.
I am pretty much re writing the way a bulk buy is done with this one. I have never asked a company to go out of there way to meet the needs of this group. I am now, maybe Rizheng can make up for a few of there past mistakes. post away and Thanks

 

[jcollazo]

I'm in! I was looking at their sight last night for the rods. I'll get around 50-75 rods.

 

[JimBobTucson]

I would in about 20 to 30 blanks, depending on price and availability (of course). I would also consider the stoppers and/or keyrings if they are offered.

 

[Daniel]

JB, I can add keyrings or anything else that there demand enough for. I am trying to break up what they offer into smaller buys. more managable and will also help weed out the things that simply are nto worth the savings. Pen mills where the best in my opinion, everything else is either marginal or has stock issues. with orders liek the ones above though we will fall to the lower price in a hurry.

 

[ed4copies]

Daniel,

If they are in short supply, they probably are NOT the manufacturer.

This could be good (quality consistency) or bad (inventory issues), but a manufacturer will certainly run more than a couple hundred at a time, therefore, they will be unlikely to be "low" on 20% of their offerings. (10 of 50).

No big deal, just a FWIW.

 

[mrcook4570]

I sent this info to Daniel earlier and he asked that I post here also.

I have turned some of the acrylics from Rizheng. Although they turn very nicely, the quality, IMO, is poor. Dirty brown spots are visible in the blanks once they are turned thin.This is especially true of the lighter colors. I did not have any issues with the darker blanks (reds and blues). YMMV

 

[Daniel]

Thanks Stan, I am going to order a few of these during the Pen Mill Bulk Buy. I am not doing this to have all of you end up with junk. I will see what an eyes on opinion I have of them and get back. in the mean time if you are still interested keep posting but this is starting to sound like the plating issue on their pen kits.

 

[Monty]

I would also be interested in about 40 blanks depending on price and what you find out about the quality.

 

[Ligget]

Daniel is this open to international penturners too?

 

[Daniel]

Mark yes but postage will be adjusted for whatever the extra cost would be

 

[sbell111]

Originally posted by ed4copiesIf they are in short supply, they probably are NOT the manufacturer.

I'm pretty sure that they manufacture pen parts, but sub out the acrylic.

 

[sbell111]

I have turned some of the acrylics from Rizheng. Although they turn very nicely, the quality, IMO, is poor. Dirty brown spots are visible in the blanks once they are turned thin.This is especially true of the lighter colors. I did not have any issues with the darker blanks (reds and blues). YMMV

I am expecting an order from them any day now. I'll report back on the quality of the blanks I receive.

 

[Daniel]

From the e-mail I sent them they said there employees where off for a holiday and did not know when they would get back to making some of the out of stock acrylics. Basically the buy would be limited to what is in stock.

 

[GaryMGg]

The acrylics I purchased from Rizheng some months ago showed absolutely no problems -- no dirt, no embedded dark spots, no holes, no issues what-so-ever.
I got the RZ-SHnn product line. My customers have had no complaints.

 

[Daniel]

I just placed the Rizheng order. I got 5 various colored acrylic blanks and I don't know how many rods. will let you know in a few days what they look like. could have been a bad batch that stan got and could happen again.

 

[jcollazo]

Originally posted by Daniel

From the e-mail I sent them they said there employees where off for a holiday and did not know when they would get back to making some of the out of stock acrylics.

I had placed an order for collets and centers last week. The sales manager said that February is when their Spring Festival takes palce and the factories shut down for almost a month. May have to wait until the end of Feb.

 

[Daniel]

I ordered 13 different acrylic blanks or rods. I was careful to verify from the web site that they where still in stock. after placing the order I was told that 4 of those 13 where not in stock. That is almost a 25% loss do to a web site that is not up to date.
I will at least post a big warning about this if I do a buy.

 

[Jarheaded]

The first buy went well. I'm in for some exploring.
Johnnie

 

[sparhawk]

Daniel I tried to look at thier site but have to register. Went to register and they wanted company ,fax,department. Cant an individual sign up with adress ,phone and such?

 

[Daniel]

I am not sure what fields are required. I think I just put my home phone in the fax space or something. put your name in the space for business etc. all the program cares about is that there is something in the space

 

[Daniel]

I just went and looked at my profile. the only required info is.
E-mail, address, and phone number.

 

[Jarheaded]

Hugo,
For most of the info they asked for in the registration, I just filled in my dogs name and I got on. I don't want to give out that much info to anyone until I am buying directly.

 

[sbell111]

Originally posted by Daniel

I ordered 13 different acrylic blanks or rods. I was careful to verify from the web site that they where still in stock. after placing the order I was told that 4 of those 13 where not in stock. ...

My order included 9 different blanks and three of them ended up being out of stock. I merely chose different ones and continued with the order.

I think part of the problem is that they keep the blanks open on the site even if they have few left. Therefore, if somebody snaps those up earlier in the day, they end up being out of stock for us. Also, they are something like 14 hours ahead of us, so our orders often are placed well after close of business for the day.

 

[Daniel]

OK the blanks are here. in all I have 9. FIrst I see no issues from the surface of any contamination bubbles or other problems. in fact they are pretty nice looking blanks for the most part.

I have 4 Acrylic Blanks (using Rizhengs listed name) I will represent them with this photo.

All these are approx 3/4 inch square and 5 inches long

The ones I got are
RZ_TB 39 (photo above) not very transparent and better in this department than most. colors are divided from top to bottom of cast with most of the black being on one side and most of the white on the other. This could end up creating a two tone pen in a way.

RZ-TM 38 (A sea foam green with pearlessence mixed in) Very nice blank the swirls are fairly tight so you would get a good pattern on a pen size item. low transparency

RZ-SH 32 (Orange With swirls as in blank above) same comments as above

RZ-SH 31 (Red and black with pearlessence) this is my favorite. extrememly tight patterning something like a cross between cruched pearl and crushed velvet blanks.

patterning on all the above appears to be consistant through out blank withthe exceptions mentioned on the first one. I woudl still color the tubes for any pen I made withthese but could probably get away with it if I forgot if there was any thickness to the material at all in the finished barrel. Simply I am impressed with the acrylics.

Next I got 5 of the acrylic rods. I will represent these with this photo

RZ-BS 02 (image above) This blank is desribed on Rizhengs site as a light pink. it is a very good description and the photo above demonstrates a problem with rizhengs site. in a few instances, only a few the photos do not represent the blank color very well. On my monitor the photo looks white. in reality the blank has a light but distinct pink color to it contrasted with white swirls. My wife claimed it immediately. All of the rods are extremely transparent with one of them I can actually read through. these could really be a challanging material to work with with the possible need to actually do something about the look of the insides of the pen beyond just coloring tubes. This one is transparent with a rough finish on the surface. I can only imagine what it will be like when polished.

RZ-TM 15 (white with a white line) as you can imagin with white on white, contrast is practically non existant in this blank. It looks like a white rod with some faint suggestion of swirls in it. possibly polishing would help. although this is the least transparent of all the rods it is also the one I am least impressed with. upon a second look while writing this I notices a fairly large void in this blank. as if it was a bubble during casting. this is large enough to be a significant issue for turning a pen.

RZ-DJ 01 (Very faint pink transparent like glass) This Blank could open some whole new avanues for all the creative types. I can literally read through this one. It has a very very light pink cast to it but other wise is clear right through. The sample I have is nearly 3/4 inches round but the bottom and top surface of the cast is still on it. those surfaces are smooth and I can see all the way through 3/4 inches of material. fasinating but not my cup of tea.

RZ-BS 18 (Pink, sorry boys was trying to stay on the lighter side with colors) This is a darker version of the BS 02 above. Again to transparent to get away with uncolored tubes. Nice pattern in both samples. I like these very much.

RZ-BS 16 (Even darker version of BS 02 and BS 18) The next step in these pink toned blanks with white lines swirled through them. This one has crossed the line into purple. Fellas you could almsot get this one into the macho catagory if you squint just right and imagine the darker areas are really black. Although this one is getting into the Dark tone transparency would still be very much an issue. I am of the opinion that all three balnks in this line are well worth the extra effort required to get a siutable pen from them.

Hope I have not bored you to much but at this time I think that quality is well worth conducting a group buy. there is some very new looking material here as well as a lot of blanks we are more accustom to. Quality is far from out of line although there is an issue or two. I still need to do some prep work to organize this but hope to have something up fairly soon. I will have to coordinate what Rizheng has in stock with what I offer in a buy. I also plan to get more feedback on these blanks than just mine.

 

[B727phixer]

Hi Dan,
I also would be interested atleast 5 blanks.
Thanks for all your efforts.
Jim

 

[DozerMite]

If there is a void in the one that is transparent that is seen before turning, is it possible to have the same issue with the opaque blanks? I seen the pictures of the blanks you have and would be interested in a few if you can turn a couple and give feedback on voids or any other problems.

 

[Rojo22]

I have purchased over 100 acrylics from Rizheng and have never had an issue with the blanks. Most of the colors I ordered were very light, and or white. I colored my tubes, but there are no inclusions, bubbles, or any defects so far. I might be lucky, but I certainly have gone through my fair share of them (turned about 60 of the 100) and never have seen an issue.

I would be interested in ordering some additional blanks when you decide to order some.

 

[Daniel]

Dozer, I personaly am in pretty deep with the bulk buys I am doing, as well as ones I am planing. I sent four of these blanks out to to other members for them to make pens from and give there reports. This will probably take a while. my overall impression was very good. I have had other acrylics with voids in them so I didn't take that as some huge sign of pour quality. In fact I am very much moving forward on thsi one but it will take a while to get it all together. much more prep work.

 

[DozerMite]

Originally posted by Rojo22

I have purchased over 100 acrylics from Rizheng and have never had an issue with the blanks. Most of the colors I ordered were very light, and or white. I colored my tubes, but there are no inclusions, bubbles, or any defects so far. I might be lucky, but I certainly have gone through my fair share of them (turned about 60 of the 100) and never have seen an issue.

I would be interested in ordering some additional blanks when you decide to order some.

I guess that is a pretty fair assessment. I've never had any voids in the acrylics I've purchased, so the one that was seen, had me a little concerned. After 60 with no problems I'm convinced. I would probably go for some to try out.

 

[DozerMite]

Originally posted by Daniel

Dozer, I personaly am in pretty deep with the bulk buys I am doing, as well as ones I am planing. I sent four of these blanks out to to other members for them to make pens from and give there reports. This will probably take a while. my overall impression was very good. I have had other acrylics with voids in them so I didn't take that as some huge sign of pour quality. In fact I am very much moving forward on thsi one but it will take a while to get it all together. much more prep work.

Daniel, I'll keep watch for the responses on the outcome of the blanks, but I think I would try some. Thanks.

 

[johncrane]

Daniel what size's are the round blanks.

 

[simomatra]

Originally posted by johncrane

Daniel what size's are the round blanks.

John

I measured mine,I have 20 at the moment and they range between 16mm and 18.2mm the average is 16.22 though. The only ones that are large are the orange ones.

The square ones are 3/4 x 3/4 x 5 and have all been good quality the only problem I have had is the rainbow ones, evryone mad a lage bow in the length.I asked Rizheng and they just said thats how they come of the plate. They were also very sticky as if the compound had not fully set

 

[Daniel]

John, What Sam said. Diameter is not dead on consistant but think of them for Euro diameter pens and smaller.