Gluing Ebonite Sleeves into Wood Blanks

[d_bondi]

Question for those of you that make kitless pens that are wood sleeved with ebonite.

I am working on my first of this type and have made the sleeves from ebonite and drilled out the blanks. Things went well and everything fit nicely.

Here is the issue... when I went to epoxy the sleeves into the drilled blanks, it was really hard to get them seated all the way in. This was not because they were too tight, but because of the epoxy that must be displaced with nowhere to go. I tend toward using too much because I don't want to leave voids, so I usually have to scrape some off, fit again, scrape more off, etc. This pen will have no separate finials so the ends of the blanks are solid wood. I had to use a squeeze clamp to get it to stay in while the epoxy cured. I wasn't really comfortable with the amount of clamping force I needed to use.

There must be a better way. I am hoping that someone out there has some trick that I haven't thought of.

How do you do this?

Thanks!

 

[Dalecamino]

Without seeing what you're working with, could it be an air pocket? Too much epoxy? Maybe just a thin film on both surfaces to be bonded. Is the blank drilled all the way through? Pictures would be great.

 

[darrin1200]

I drill my sleeves out prior to putting them into the wood. If it's a blind pocket, I drill a hole all the way through the sleeve, to allow glue/air to escape. I'll then re-drill after the glue sets.

 

[duncsuss]

^^^ what Darrin said

 

[d_bondi]

I drill my sleeves out prior to putting them into the wood. If it's a blind pocket, I drill a hole all the way through the sleeve, to allow glue/air to escape. I'll then re-drill after the glue sets.

Thank you Darrin.
I guess that is what I get for doing this late at night.
Yes, my sleeves are drilled out and yes it is a blind pocket into the wood. Drilling a small hole all they way through the end of the sleeve allowing the air and excess glue to escape makes sense (and is even in the instructions for the cap liner on the Apollo and Artemis kits from Kate at Bullseye) but I didn't think about that last night as my epoxy clock was ticking. Oh well.
Re-drilling to remove any squeeze out makes total sense.
Thanks again!

 

[d_bondi]

^^^ what Darrin said

Thank you Duncan.

 

[d_bondi]

Without seeing what you're working with, could it be an air pocket? Too much epoxy? Maybe just a thin film on both surfaces to be bonded. Is the blank drilled all the way through? Pictures would be great.

Hello Chuck.
Sure it could be an air pocket, the drilling of the blanks and turning of the sleeves was pretty precise. It might be too much epoxy, I mean I don't put it on in big gobs, but I hate to use it so sparsely that I leave voids that create problems when turning the wood down since it gets so thin. No the blank is not drilled all the way through.

The solution I was missing late last night is what Darrin posted above. Drill a small hole all they way through the sleeve to allow air and any excess glue to squeeze out and then after curing redrill away any epoxy that squeezes through.

Here is a picture of the finished sleeves and the drilled blanks. You cannot see into the blank, but as I noted above, they are not drilled all the way through.

 

[d_bondi]

Update...

Now that I have the sensible solution from Darrin and Duncan above, I thought I'd at least post and say that the brute force squeeze clamp method seems to have worked, at least for this time. The epoxy has been curing for about 12 hours and I removed the clamp and all seems good. Hopefully I haven't created too much stress in the forced glue up that causes problems when turning. I guess I'll find that out soon enough.

Next time, I'll do it right (per Darrin and Duncan) and drill a relief hole all the way through the end of each sleeve and re-drill out any squeeze out after the epoxy cures.

Here is a picture of the blanks with the sleeves epoxied in.
I couldn't resist including the section and Bock #6 nib.
It is a bit chonky right now, but I can't wait to see it turned. Hopefully I'll ge to that later today.

 

[Hippie3180]

Be sure to score your sleeves before gluing as or drill a small hole in the ebonite for air to escape.

 

[d_bondi]

Be sure to score your sleeves before gluing as or drill a small hole in the ebonite for air to escape.

Thanks Michele.
I did remember to score the sleeves ,I scuffed them with 80 grit, but think next time I may actually score rings in them on the lathe (a little like the Delrin cap sleeve in the Apollo and Artemis kits).
I just didn't think about the air hole in the ends of them .
Oh well, live and learn and TAKE NOTES!
I didn't expect everything to go smoothly for the first one and have been pleasantly surprised so far.

 

[Curly]

I could be wrong but I think Michele was saying to scoring along the blank to let the air and excess glue escape.

 

[d_bondi]

I could be wrong but I think Michele was saying to scoring along the blank to let the air and excess glue escape.

I hadn't considered that, maybe so, thanks Curly.

 

[Dalecamino]

Hello Chuck.
Sure it could be an air pocket, the drilling of the blanks and turning of the sleeves was pretty precise. It might be too much epoxy, I mean I don't put it on in big gobs, but I hate to use it so sparsely that I leave voids that create problems when turning the wood down since it gets so thin. No the blank is not drilled all the way through.

The solution I was missing late last night is what Darrin posted above. Drill a small hole all they way through the sleeve to allow air and any excess glue to squeeze out and then after curing redrill away any epoxy that squeezes through.

Here is a picture of the finished sleeves and the drilled blanks. You cannot see into the blank, but as I noted above, they are not drilled all the way through.

A small hole through the sleeves will let the air escape when you insert them. Maybe I'm not understanding. No surprise there.

 

[d_bondi]

A small hole through the sleeves will let the air escape when you insert them. Maybe I'm not understanding. No surprise there.

Yes, that is exactly what Darrin had suggested and what I will do next time. Thanks Chuck!