first post & a question

[Ron Oastler]

Hello All, this is my first post here and I am looking around, this question my have been asked before but not sure i can find the info, when turning acrylic pens, what is the best speed to drill the blanks and also what is the best speed to turn the pens at, is there a finsih that is better than others, so far I have only turned pens (mont Blanc style) from various woods, but have seen many very interesting pens here, thanks in advance

Ron in Kingston Ontario Canada

 

[TellicoTurning]

Ron,
You will get a variety of answers to this question... a lot of the answer will be your own turning skill and techniques.

For me, I drill almost all of my pens on the lathe now at about 450 rpm, or sometimes at 600 depending on whether I forget to lower the speed or not... either speed works. When I was using my drill press, it was set at 1100 and never changed for any blank. If you use a DP, suggest you might find it advantageous to drop a little water in the hole to keep the drill bit cool... it's messy, so be sure you protect your DP table... also back out frequently to clear the drilling.

For turning, I do most of my pens on a Jet 1014 at about 1800-2000 + rpm... just make sure your skew is sharp. Some will use other tools to do acrylics, but I think the skew works best. Some will tell you to round the corners before you start, good idea. I don't but that's me, not necessarily the right way.

 

[jkeithrussell]

I turn all pen materials on the lathe at full speed -- about 3800rpm on my lathe. True acrylic blanks are very easy to turn.

 

[spiritwoodturner]

Chuck's right, if there's 1200 members here you'll get 1200 variant answers, because whatever works for you...well, it works. I don't use a skew much, so there's answer #2 of 1200!

Chuck's speed ranges sound good. I'd second the backing out often on the drill press. When I started, that was probably the number 1 reason I'd blow out especially acrylics.

Try everything, don't be afraid to make mistakes, experiment but do take classes often. My goal is still 1 class a year, from someone WAY better than I am, which is everybody but Joe in the produce department at my grocery store! Classes are the best way to improve quickly, IMO. Do you have a local woodturner's club? I think for those that do, it's almost a crime not to take advantage of that. We had Dennis Liggett at ours just 2 days ago, he demo'd spiral turnings. Not my cup of tea, but interesting and I still learned something. Next month is Trent Bosch, one of the world's finest presenters, period. Cindy Drozda is a member of our club and was there Tuesday night with her partner David Nittman. Both are demoing at either Provo or AAW, I can't recall which. IAP's own Ed Davidson has demo'd at our club before, and he was awesome. He has stuff you just won't see often, even at AAW National.

My 2 cents would be, drive an hour to a woodturner's club meeting if you can. Even if you are too far away to get the Internatinal talent, there will be local guys that will be great. Or start one!!! Let us know how you do with that!

Dale

 

[reddwil]

I've got to agree with Chuck and Dale, everyone has an opinion and all of them may be right. You just got to play around and find out what works best for you. I personally like slow speeds(600-800rpm). You'll find to that not all acrylics drill and turn the same. Play around, experiment, blow out a few, you will figure it out. Good Luck and have Fun

 

[Rmartin]

Welcome to the best pen site on the web!

I turn at the highest speed possible. I also drill at the highest speed I can get away with. This is not recommended by most here, but I think you need to find the limits of drilling.

 

[Ron Oastler]

thanks for all the help, I now have 50 plus pen blanks drilled and ready to turn, used medium speed on my drill press and all worked okay going slow and steady and backing off to clear thing out, again thanks ron

 

[babyblues]

As far as finishing acrylics, I wet sand usually starting at 400 grit, then 600 grit, then use buffing wheels to buff with tripoli, white diamond, then polish with blue rouge. You can also use TSW or ren wax as a further step if you like. You could use micromesh but buffing is quicker for me and a whole lot more fun.

 

[JohnU]

One thing Ive noticed about acrylics is make sure you get enough epoxy on the tube and in the hole so there are no air pockets, or you make get a blowout or breakaway when turning. After pen milling the ends, I put a few drops of thin CA around the edge of the tubes to help seal them and protect against cracks during assembly. (just what works for me) Also, when sanding, make sure you dont get the acrylic too hot or they will soften and sag away from the tubes. when finishing, I use micro mesh and then an acrylic polish from Penn State.

 

[ldb2000]

Hi Ron , welacome to the group . I paid about $150 more for the variable speed feature on my jet mini so of course I do everything at high speed ....:biggrin:

 

[Rudy Vey]

As said already, everyone does it a bit differently, and for most of us the method we chose works out just fine - as someone said there are many ways to skin a cat.
Here is my way: I drill fast, about 1300 rpm, but carefully! Back out often and do not force the bit. Some recommend to add a few drops of water, I do sometimes for certain acrylics. Sharp bit is a given, I also have a piece of wood under the blank where the bit exits - some drill short and cut off the end - whatever accommodates you will work. I normally color the inside of the drilled blank and the outside of the tube with a color that matches the blank best. Rarely I color my glue - I use 5 min Devcon epoxy. Btw, drilling the tubes a smidgen larger helps with the layer of paint you add to blank and tube. Turning is done with a sharp gouge and finished with a skew. I sand dry and MM (dry as well) through 4000 sometimes 6000 and finish with Novus plastic polish (fine). Sometimes you see some built-up from sanding crap, forming small rings, if this happens I sand along the blank with the lathe off, but you know the MM needs a wash. I turn and sand fast, full speed. Worked on many, many acrylic and other resin/plastic blanks for me. And sharp tools will always help.