Using Gorilla Glue

[Daniel]

Ed,
Withthe standing on edge method I do have to watch for a severly uneven end. othewise I stand them so the the edge of the tube is at the lowest edge of the blank. Hope that makes since. what it looks like is one point of the brass tube will be flush with the end of the blank. wile the other side whill be below the surface somewhat. when trimming I try to insure that eh barrel trimmer has cut a circle completely around the tube. at least far enough for the final shape of the pen at that point. on most pens this is a very thin margin. I havn't had a problem yet. but you do need to pay attention for severly uneven blank ends.

 

[pecartus]

Daniel,

I glad you pointed that out, I was wondering what you did to compensate for a uneven end before turning. Now here comes the question, to make a pen tube to float like that, wouldnt you have to be using a lot of poly glue to make this happen[?] I just use a very thin coat of glue (using a Q-tip)on a wet tube and a thin coat of poly glue on the inside of a wetted blank and never have experienced the problem with floating tubes nor do I experience any problems with a tube spinning or a blank blowout on the mandrel.

 

[Daniel]

Patrick,
I wooudl suspect you are correct withthe to much glue assesment. I wills tart using your method. hopefully it will cut down on the foam that oozes out the ends of the blank as well. my current method is to pour glue directly into the hole int he blnakk. then with a tube that is plugged at eh ednd i simply push it through. the idea is to have enough glue that it beads on the end and thouroughly coats the surface of the hole as it is riding along on the top of the tube. as this bead begins to come out hte other end of the blank, I am able to pour it into the next blank. I keep this bead going until I have glued the last tube in. it oes very quickly this way and have glued up to 200 blanks in just about a half hour this way. but he glue will foam up so much it completely covers the hole at one end. I have to peel it off with my fingernail and sometimes cut it away with a box knife. a real pain and practically nulls any time savings from the gluing method. nearly no waste of glue though, and being a hard core tight wad. well let's just say such benefits are hard to ignore []

 

[bjackman]

Just thought I would toss my 2 cents in on this one.
I use PU glue on probablly 90% of my blanks. The only times I use something else is when I:
1. did not plan far enough in advance, and _must_ turn quickly, (5 min epoxy)
2. need to use a clear glue for light/thin semi-tranparent materials (5 or 30 min epoxy)
As for plugging tubes to reduce foam clean-out I have come to prefer play-doh. I tried BB's baseplate wax, and while it works well to seal the end of the tubes, I don't like how it clogs and sticks to the drill bit I use to clean out the remaining glue/foam. Compared to my play-doh, which dries completely in the day it takes the glue to dry. So, when I ream with the drill bit, it just drills out and crumbles away, (in a fairly colorful way
My next purchase of PU glue will be Titebond brand, as it claims to dry in 4-8 hours instead of 24, and is cheaper than Gorilla Glue as well.
I also always try to add a drop or two of water into the drilled blank and shake it back and forth to coat the inside before I add a glob of glue at the top of the hole to let the glue slowly drip downward. By the time I have coated the tube with glue on my insertion tool, the glue in the blank has drained all the way down to the bottom of the blank, making a little pool at the bottom.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Originally posted by bjackman
<br />Just thought I would toss my 2 cents in on this one.
I use PU glue on probablly 90% of my blanks. The only times I use something else is when I:
1. did not plan far enough in advance, and _must_ turn quickly, (5 min epoxy)
2. need to use a clear glue for light/thin semi-tranparent materials (5 or 30 min epoxy)
As for plugging tubes to reduce foam clean-out I have come to prefer play-doh. I tried BB's baseplate wax, and while it works well to seal the end of the tubes, I don't like how it clogs and sticks to the drill bit I use to clean out the remaining glue/foam. Compared to my play-doh, which dries completely in the day it takes the glue to dry. So, when I ream with the drill bit, it just drills out and crumbles away, (in a fairly colorful way
My next purchase of PU glue will be Titebond brand, as it claims to dry in 4-8 hours instead of 24, and is cheaper than Gorilla Glue as well.
I also always try to add a drop or two of water into the drilled blank and shake it back and forth to coat the inside before I add a glob of glue at the top of the hole to let the glue slowly drip downward. By the time I have coated the tube with glue on my insertion tool, the glue in the blank has drained all the way down to the bottom of the blank, making a little pool at the bottom.

I have used Gorilla in the past and found now Titebond. About half the price of the Gorilla glue, is a bit thinner and better spreadable.
It sets and dries much faster than Gorilla glue and foams a bit more. I have not found any difference between the two during turning or on the finished product.

Rudy

 

[jwoodwright]

Poly is the best. Terribly messy though. I use disposable gloves when I remember. Otherwise stained fingers...

 

[jwoodwright]

Don't forget that Poly needs moisture to set-up. Most times there is enough moisture in the air. I usually swab the inside of the blank with a wet Q-Tip. This way the Poly works better. Foam is good.[]

 

[terry q]

I also use Poly on my pens. For glue removal I use a hardened bolt slightly smaller than the pen tube. The threads pull the glue right out.

Terry

 

[Fred in NC]

No potato or plate wax to plug the ends?

For 7mm tubes, I have a size D drill bit (.246") that I put a wood handle on. It cleans the tube real well.