Brass tube showing

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Pauls

Pauls

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I'm a novice so I'm after a bit of help. I have turned a Euro twist pen in acrylic that is fairly translucent and because the nib end is quite thin you can see the brass tube through the acrylic. The top tube is okay because it's thicker. Any ideas that will help?
 
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Pauls said:
I'm a novice so I'm after a bit of help. I have turned a Euro twist pen in acrylic that is fairly translucent and because the nib end is quite thin you can see the brass tube through the acrylic. The top tube is okay because it's thicker. Any ideas that will help?
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Paint your drilled holes prior to gluing in the tubes on acrylics. I use a q-tip (or similar applicator) to spread the paint in the hole. You can also mix a bit of the same color paint with the epoxy used to glue in the tubes.

I use acrylic paints such as Testers, but others use spray paints. Use a color that will complement your blank as it will likely look decidedly different after painting the holes.
 
As far as that pen goes, I have no suggestions or solution. For future pens paint the inside of the drilled hole using the same color paint as the acrylic before gluing in the tube. Allow the blank to cure overnight before gluing.

Ah, I see John posted his answer as I was typing mine. His is better and more thorough.

John
(Also USN retired)
 
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I do what Ed does basically for all non-opaque purposes. I just shoot the paint in hole of the barrel (sloppy, but I don't mind) I also paint the tubes (just a extra step - heck, the paint can is out and well-shaken, why not?). I do wait a full 24 hours before gluing and I only use epoxy. Keep in mind, that many, many others have excellent results practicing different processes. It is only a "poor" process, if it doesn't achieve the results that you are looking for. I like the Rustoleum and Krylon lines. I try to find flat colors or the primers.

Enjoy!
 
Woodchipper said:
I bought some tubes at WC that are painted white for such occasions.
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I'd paint the holes even when using white tubes because the glue can still show up splotchy if the blank material is translucent enough. Some blanks are so translucent that at least in my hands, they look awful even when well painted- you can still clearly see the painted surface of the hole
 
Practice. Get a lot of transparent, or nearly transparent blanks and practice. I'm still working on it. Epoxy helps a lot. It gives you extra time to work and it won't set in a few seconds before you are ready. Even as it thickens, you can still work the tube slowly. I have done reverse painting with spray paint and it was horrible. I don't think it is possible to get a perfect glue job, so I've taken to making the epoxy match the color of the blank, add pearlessence, and use silver tubes where possible to get a mirror affect from the tube. Then I market them by talking about the interesting patterns made when gluing the blank on. If you can't beat it, embrace it! :D
 
Another suggestion that may have been on the you-tubes:

Don't rush it. Let the paint dry and cure overnight. Otherwise, by adding the tubes too quickly, the CA or epoxy can cause more havoc with uncured/dryed paint. DAMHIKT.

Edit: I just noticed that it was mentioned earlier!
 
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mg_dreyer said:
Here's one I did for the AAW


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2F6I_yUU8Q

Color and tube painting starts at 2:28
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That's a really great video, thank you!

I've done about a half dozen acrylic pencils thus far. I haven't tried painting the inside of the blank yet, but have painted the brass tube. I still seem to be having problems with the blank showing on a couple of pencils, even letting the paint (acrylic paint for models) dry overnight.

Any sense on whether epoxy will eat away at paint? Or is it mostly a matter of the paint rubbing off when the tube is inserted into the blank? Certainly trying to drill the blank slightly oversize might help a lot if the issue is from the tube rubbing against the inside of the blank.

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi Paul, a standard technique you can use to rescue a pen that has a flaw that can't be filled is to take your parting tool and carefully peel the part of the bank that is showing the brass tube and remove the blank down to the brass tube. You can then either glue on a contrasting / accent color acrylic piece that is hopefully more opaque. When cutting blanks, I always keep the small extra pieces for such an event should it happen. If you have a longer scrap that is a good contrast / complement, you can of course remove as much length as your scrap is long.

Make sure whatever glue you use that you give it overnight to cure completely as you obviously will not have as much glue surface area to hold this new piece. I would also make sure your chisel is very sharp and to sand down the corners of the patched part round before turning to minimize the stress on the turning the repaired part. You may think this is too much trouble, and maybe it is, but it is good practice for when you have that really special blank that you want to rescue. A lot of us keep spare tubes for the various kits we use frequently so we can just toss the tubes & blanks and still have a kit we can use again. For the 7mm kits, just buy the tubes in bulk length and cut them to size when needed. There have been many threads on how to cut brass tubes, the method I prefer is using a small cutoff saw from Harbor Freight as its only $35 and does a great job for me https://www.harborfreight.com/2-in-mini-bench-top-cut-off-saw-62136.html

From experience, I know its disheartening to invest so much time and effort and to then get a result that is not optimal. We have all been there many a time. One pen you might try making is the designer slimline. It is easy to make and it has some of the thickest remaining blanks after turning that I have seen. I just made a dozen of these for a friends charity auction with a matching letter opener and I had zero issues, even with blanks that I thought might be an issue. Good luck and keep turning...
 
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