starnovice
Member
Today I finished my 2nd acrylic pen. What an education.
First I had been told to darken the brass tube with permanent marker so it would not show through the acrylic. Remember this I will come back to it.
The main thing I learned is sharp tools are a must for a good clean finish. Also the 3 part plastic polish put out by Novus is wonderful!.
I also learned how to dis-assemble a pen, the hard way. As happens, I pushed the clutch in too far (actually I think I let the blank get too short). So I read the threads on how to disassemble a pen. First I tried the transfer punch and hammer. Did not work, what happened was the brass tube came out, part way, instead. Rember that permanent marker? Apparently it makes a good insulator for CA glue. The black stuff stayed in the pen but not the tube.
Frustrated (always a good time to stop for a while) I grabbed my pliers and yanked on the clutch. Did you know they are really fragile? :frown:
So, after reading more threads I decided to use the drill press. I drilled a hole in a board big enough to let the nib through but would catch on the thickest part of the turning. This actually worked really well for the nib. But when I tried to press the clutch out the whole tube came out. :beat-up:
Next was how to get the clutch out of the tube???? I used pliers to flatten the part of the clutch that was left. This let me rest the tube on the nearly closed wood vise and using the punch tap out the clutch.
Cleaned up the flared ends of the tube with some sandpaper, re-drilled the turning (actually I used the drill to ream out the CA). Glued the tube back into the turning. Stole clutch from another kit and finished assembly. arty:
All in all, frustrating but I am kind of glad I got all of those mistakes out of the way. Now I can move on to new mistakes.
Pat
First I had been told to darken the brass tube with permanent marker so it would not show through the acrylic. Remember this I will come back to it.
The main thing I learned is sharp tools are a must for a good clean finish. Also the 3 part plastic polish put out by Novus is wonderful!.
I also learned how to dis-assemble a pen, the hard way. As happens, I pushed the clutch in too far (actually I think I let the blank get too short). So I read the threads on how to disassemble a pen. First I tried the transfer punch and hammer. Did not work, what happened was the brass tube came out, part way, instead. Rember that permanent marker? Apparently it makes a good insulator for CA glue. The black stuff stayed in the pen but not the tube.
Frustrated (always a good time to stop for a while) I grabbed my pliers and yanked on the clutch. Did you know they are really fragile? :frown:
So, after reading more threads I decided to use the drill press. I drilled a hole in a board big enough to let the nib through but would catch on the thickest part of the turning. This actually worked really well for the nib. But when I tried to press the clutch out the whole tube came out. :beat-up:
Next was how to get the clutch out of the tube???? I used pliers to flatten the part of the clutch that was left. This let me rest the tube on the nearly closed wood vise and using the punch tap out the clutch.
Cleaned up the flared ends of the tube with some sandpaper, re-drilled the turning (actually I used the drill to ream out the CA). Glued the tube back into the turning. Stole clutch from another kit and finished assembly. arty:
All in all, frustrating but I am kind of glad I got all of those mistakes out of the way. Now I can move on to new mistakes.
Pat