rick_lindsey
Member
Whee! It worked! Amazing how much better new thin CA works than old "thin" CA! I just sanded the barrels to 220, applied sanding sealer, sanded to MM3200, took the barrel off the short mandrel and replaced the Euro bushings with slimline bushings, and started applying CA at 1800RPM. I had my folded up paper towel held under the blank, wetted out the blank and started rubbing back and forth. Repeated until I felt like stopping (6 coats? maybe 8) and just let it spin a few minutes. Then I went at it with micromesh again up through 12000 (I lost my 3600 pad though so I skip from 3200 to 4000 or whatever the next one is). I sanded the end by hand with some 600 grit (sandpaper was flat on the table, pen barrel held perpendicular to table) to get rid of a little buildup on the end, and voila!
It's not the crazy high shine finish that I see on alot of other pens, but I rather like it. It's kind of "soft", and doesn't look plasticky at all. I may try lots more layers on the next one (it doesn't take long at all for each application) to see if I can get a deeper shine, but as I said before I'm quite pleased just the way it is.
If I can do it, anyone can!
-Rick
It's not the crazy high shine finish that I see on alot of other pens, but I rather like it. It's kind of "soft", and doesn't look plasticky at all. I may try lots more layers on the next one (it doesn't take long at all for each application) to see if I can get a deeper shine, but as I said before I'm quite pleased just the way it is.
If I can do it, anyone can!
-Rick