First Acrylic

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
jd99

jd99

Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2010
Messages
764
Location
Ontario, CA United States
Decided I better get my feet wet doing Acrylic since I have a couple of folks interested in the lepoard blanks I have.

Turned this today for the wife, I had the edge chip out down a hair below the bushing when I was just about done turning.

I fixed the chip out by dabing a little drop of thick CA on it and hitting it with accerlator before it had a chance to run, kept doing that until I had it built back up above the bushing; then finished turning it.

I need to work more on my sanding and polishing but all in all it didn't turn out too bad.

What do you all think?

All comments good and bad welcome. Gotta learn some how.

Thanks
Danny
 

Attachments

  • Snow Lepoard -majestic squire.jpg
    Snow Lepoard -majestic squire.jpg
    20.7 KB · Views: 393
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I can't imagine ANYONE liking acrylic on their first pen!!

I HATED my first 50 or so, grew to just DISLIKE the next hundred (but every one that sold made the dislike a little LESS intense). NOW, I LOVE resins!!!!

Like eating artichokes, it's an acquired taste!!!!

Keep munching!!

REAL nice looking for your first attempt!!!
 
Good job on your first! Acrylics can be tricky. Best to take them slow so they don't chip, but I guess you figured that out! ;)
 
ed4copies said:
I can't imagine ANYONE liking acrylic on their first pen!!

I HATED my first 50 or so, grew to just DISLIKE the next hundred (but every one that sold made the dislike a little LESS intense). NOW, I LOVE resins!!!!

Like eating artichokes, it's an acquired taste!!!!

Keep munching!!

REAL nice looking for your first attempt!!!
Click to expand...

After the aluminum screw ups I went to acrylics and actually finished pens. very few problems. Wood on the other hand is killing me. Artichokes are gross unless in artichoke dip.

That is a nice pen. Congratulations
 
Advice on turning acrylics, from my experience FWIW:

1. Keep your tools mega-sharp; I've caught embedded ribbons and other segments on dull-ish tools more often than I'd like to admit. The entertainment value of watching the pieces arc across my shop for a split second is quickly overshadowed by the despondency of losing an awesome blank.

2. I've had more luck using a round-nose scraper after knocking the corners off with a gouge than I have turning the material down any further with the gouge itself. Most of my chip-outs have happened because I relied on the gouge for too long in shaping any given blank.

3. Wet sand when using the Micromesh pads. They do (almost) fine dry but creating a slurry by dipping them in a bowl of water first seems to eliminate about 75% more micro-scratches for me.

4. Come up with a slick excuse for when you forget to paint/blacken the tubes and they show through. Personally I like this one: "Check it out...I was able to highlight some of the 'gold' from underneath the acrylic--look how it accents the gold hardware!" (disclaimer: this only works on non-pentuners)

Hope this helps!!
 
Thanks Guys:

I still have a lot to learn, mainly on finishing I need to sand longer with each grit, I know not to use the dry finishing pads they don't work.

Thanks for the tip on switching to the scraper, I was using the gouge when I chipped the corner, luckly it wasn't too deep and I was able to fix it by building it up with CA.

I know the wife wants to start trying casting, but that will be later this year I have about 50 pens to get ready for a show in Feb.

Thanks
Danny
 
Love the choice of kit with the Leopard! I have always liked artichokes and the few times I have actually turned acrylics I liked them, too. Keep up the good work.
 
Not a bad looking pen! They take about a week to turn but can look sweet when done! Making your own is really cool! My customers are 50/50...wood rules, but custom colors are great!
 
Last edited:
Nice job on the acrylic. Pick a blank...hope and pray it doesn't blow up. If it does....oh well. Try again. Practice makes...a pile of wood and acrylic shavings.
 
Last edited:
Hey Danny,
I have found that a water spray bottle while wet sanding has really helped me out. It is actually not that messy & does a great job keeping the sandpaper nice & clean. I do lay an old towel under the work piece. One other piece of advice that I got from someone on this forum was to make sure that all of the scratches from the current grit of sandpaper that you are using are all gone before you switch to a finer grit. I know that this sounds elementary, but sometimes I would get to end of my sanding & find one deep scratch that I had missed & then would have to start over. :mad: And finally, if you want your acrylics to really pop, get yourself some Micro Mesh (MM). It really makes a difference especially on the acrylics. Good luck & have fun!!!! :biggrin:
 
Just turned my first acrylics this weekend. Feel so guilty...was so easy compared to the woodies I have only done so far...no CA, mirror shine when finishing up through the 12000 paper; plastic ok for grandsons' pens, but wood is still my preference. Used only a really sharp Sorby 3/4 inch roughing gouge, except for shoulder with parting tool, for the entire pen (s).
Nice pen you have there, and I'm glad I read this one....forgot about darkening the tube:redface:.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom