watch_art
Member
Jim, just a note on the clear acrylic tubes and solid rods.
A few years ago I started using clear acrylic rod and tube on my bulb fillers with ink windows and since the clear acrylic was cheaper than "common pen blanks", I decided to buy extra rod and use for experimenting. I mentioned this in the past but think it's worth mentioning again.... The clear rods and tubes are a bit more brittle thus harder to thread than the softer acrylic used in the "common pen blanks". I have always said that if one can master threading the clear acrylic then they would have no problems with the common pen blanks or alumilite.
With that said, don't get discouraged if you have some threading failures at first, just keep at it, use cooking oil spray as a lubricant and don't force the taps and dies and you'll be fine.
You can get clear lucite from pipemakersemporium that turns and threads just as well as any pen blank acrylic.