Trustone - Suggestions?

[CaseyK]

Always turned wood blanks. Turned two acrylics two weeks ago, they turned out pretty nice, gave me some confidence, I'll be doing more of them. Tried my hand at trustone, 3 white/black marble matrix to match with 3 Noveau Sceptre rollerball & fountain pen kits, all from PSI. Got some issues/observations.

1. I got 3 blanks and 3 kits. Planned to use the gun metal rollerball (my first rollerball kit as well) as my learning curve exercise. Glad I did that.
2. It's harder to turn. Not a big deal, can work with that, just takes longer/more patience. Used a carbide chisel and it took time but it worked and turned out well.
3. Got to the final shape and did the initial sanding and there were a couple of open spots in the material. Very tiny but there. I filled them with dust and CA and that seemed to be fine, no issues. Was surprised to find voids in the middle of the blank. I say voids as these were at the junctions of the black matrix lines, just a couple. And they went right into the material, I thought I could see through to the tube in one of them. I would think that I had chipped/blown it out it would have been a bit more noticeable. These were voids in the material, I was not expecting that.
4. Sanded and then the 9 foam pads. That went well. Then polished with some auto polish that seems to work well with the acrylic/CA world. The finish was very nice, took longer to turn than to finish which I'm not used to since I'm mostly CA on wood.
5. The material, before turning, seemed to be 'cleaner' than when I was done. The white areas were white, clear of any marks/dust/imperfections. When I was done with the finishing the white areas seemed to be impregnated with dust/dark spots. No idea what I did to introduce these but I have to think that something in the finishing process put them there. Not sure what though, will have to work on that.
6. Assembled the pen, the rollerball. This went fine until I saw that the material on the ends of each blank had cracked from inserting the components. Both ends of both blanks. I have one of the hand press rigs (from PSI) and have not had this issue before. Again, I was not expecting this behavior from the material. The bushings fit into the tubes just fine so I figured the couplers/cap would fit as well. Ruined the blank, the pen now goes into my 'wounded' collection to see what I can do with it later on.

Is trustone always this finicky? Small voids in the material? 'Dust/imperfections' in the open areas? Cracking when inserting components?

Things I'm going to do with the next blanks:

1. Turn them to shape, then sanding to get to bushing size. Then remove the bushings and replace with nylon bushings to finish. That might keep out the dust/imperfections.
2. Much, much slower on component insertion. I didn't think I did anything different here but I must have done it too quick or something. I'm also going to use less pressure on it, go minimal, I may have put too much on each insertion.
3. Check for voids earlier in the process. by the time I found them I was cleaning with alcohol and had to do a good amount of rework after I did the dust/CA thing.
4. Hope for the best. I know this stuff hates heat, which I tried to account for, but I wasn't expecting these other issues.

I like the material and know that I have a lot to learn about it so any suggestions you might have on how to work with the material would be appreciated. I've done the YouTube videos, read the posts here, read online stuff, and made some dust so I'm not starting from zero.

Thanks for any input you may have on this.

 

[jttheclockman]

Certain trustone is finicky especially ones with veining such as what you have. yes you can get voids as you call them. You are doing the right things fixing, turning with carbide and finishing. I am in the camp of I always and mean always finish my pens using a good sharp skew and many times I can skip sanding because finish is so good. least of all I will just go straight to MM to finish. Always wet sand. protect lathe when doing this.

Hints even trustone can need the blank to be back painted. because of see thru. I suggest never assume a kit will slide over the tubes. That is a no no. If there is build up of plating then there will be toughness to push on. I always and again always ream the ends of the tubes with a chamfering tool. I always inspect for debris or glue inside tubes. I will attempt to start to push kit into blank and if at all abit of resistance I will take a round file and file the inside of the tube. If I happen to make the opening a little too loose I will use red locktite to adhere the kit. Works every time. Make sure you are pushing straight and keep things aligned. Sometimes anything you do just does not work out and it happens to all of us. just move on and try again. Good luck and have fun.

 

[thewishman]

With brittle or expensive blanks I file or sand the inside of the brass tube until it is almost a slip fit with the components, then I use Loctite or epoxy to secure the tube. You can also sand the sharp edge of the pen component.

 

[randyrls]

I will confirm what others have said. Drill blank and paint the inside of the tube with a rattle can spray. WEAR GLOVES! Before gluing in the brass tube "expand" the tube ends by inserting a transfer punch just a bit smaller than the brass and apply a twisting motion to expand the last 1/4" or so. The fitting should be a close slip fit. Glue the tube in the blank. Turn. Take loctite and put a dab on the inside of the brass tube (NEVER on the fitting). Twist to spread the loctite on the inside of the fitting. Allow to "dry" overnight.

Before sanding check carefully for any voids. fill them with CA mixed with a bit of paint.

Sand the blank using wet sandpaper at about 500RPM. The slurry caries away any loose grit and the sanding swarf. Clean and wipe the sandpaper and the blank after every grit of sandpaper. Lastly polish on a buffing wheel.

Trustones vary a LOT in hardness. Some are soft, others are so hard it it difficult to get a "bite" with HSS tools. For those I use a carbide tool presented below center. You should get endless streams of ribbons.

 

[Dustman]

Part of the problem may also be the PSI pen press. I ruined several pens on that press until I figured it out. First you have to go slow. Second, you should strongly support the middle of the pen so it stays straight. Third, buy a different press. This is why; mount your next pen in your press, watch the components of the press carefully as you begin applying pressure and you will notice the parts will offset, of flex some vertically. The result is as more pressure is applied it is at a slight angle. If the pressure is not straight on, getting cracks like you did with your Trustone is not uncommon.
I looked at several different presses from different companies and all of them with a long handle had the same flaw I described. Check out the different presses that use a hand screw. Some companies have videos. Get the one with the least amount of flex. I hate to use specific company names here but I will say mine is blue. There is some flex in the tool but so far I've used it on about 200 pens with no problems. Caveat - you still need to be careful and support your pen with your free hand.

 

[Colin]

Always turned wood blanks. Turned two acrylics two weeks ago, they turned out pretty nice, gave me some confidence, I'll be doing more of them. Tried my hand at trustone, 3 white/black marble matrix to match with 3 Noveau Sceptre rollerball & fountain pen kits, all from PSI. Got some issues/observations.

1. I got 3 blanks and 3 kits. Planned to use the gun metal rollerball (my first rollerball kit as well) as my learning curve exercise. Glad I did that.
2. It's harder to turn. Not a big deal, can work with that, just takes longer/more patience. Used a carbide chisel and it took time but it worked and turned out well.
3. Got to the final shape and did the initial sanding and there were a couple of open spots in the material. Very tiny but there. I filled them with dust and CA and that seemed to be fine, no issues. Was surprised to find voids in the middle of the blank. I say voids as these were at the junctions of the black matrix lines, just a couple. And they went right into the material, I thought I could see through to the tube in one of them. I would think that I had chipped/blown it out it would have been a bit more noticeable. These were voids in the material, I was not expecting that.
4. Sanded and then the 9 foam pads. That went well. Then polished with some auto polish that seems to work well with the acrylic/CA world. The finish was very nice, took longer to turn than to finish which I'm not used to since I'm mostly CA on wood.
5. The material, before turning, seemed to be 'cleaner' than when I was done. The white areas were white, clear of any marks/dust/imperfections. When I was done with the finishing the white areas seemed to be impregnated with dust/dark spots. No idea what I did to introduce these but I have to think that something in the finishing process put them there. Not sure what though, will have to work on that.
6. Assembled the pen, the rollerball. This went fine until I saw that the material on the ends of each blank had cracked from inserting the components. Both ends of both blanks. I have one of the hand press rigs (from PSI) and have not had this issue before. Again, I was not expecting this behavior from the material. The bushings fit into the tubes just fine so I figured the couplers/cap would fit as well. Ruined the blank, the pen now goes into my 'wounded' collection to see what I can do with it later on.

Is trustone always this finicky? Small voids in the material? 'Dust/imperfections' in the open areas? Cracking when inserting components?

Things I'm going to do with the next blanks:

1. Turn them to shape, then sanding to get to bushing size. Then remove the bushings and replace with nylon bushings to finish. That might keep out the dust/imperfections.
2. Much, much slower on component insertion. I didn't think I did anything different here but I must have done it too quick or something. I'm also going to use less pressure on it, go minimal, I may have put too much on each insertion.
3. Check for voids earlier in the process. by the time I found them I was cleaning with alcohol and had to do a good amount of rework after I did the dust/CA thing.
4. Hope for the best. I know this stuff hates heat, which I tried to account for, but I wasn't expecting these other issues.

I like the material and know that I have a lot to learn about it so any suggestions you might have on how to work with the material would be appreciated. I've done the YouTube videos, read the posts here, read online stuff, and made some dust so I'm not starting from zero.

Thanks for any input you may have on this.

View attachment 394769

Sorry for your loss, it sucks. As the others have said, rat tail file until you can assemble by hand & a drop of medium or thick CA.
I like segmenting, so this is how I keep tru-stone away from the ends (orange is resin, just for ideas)