Good grief. I have just about burned out all of the last few brain cells i had left. I want ot share all of this with those trying to go kitless.
As most of you know, I have been trying to make my first kitless pen. I have poured over hours and hours of reading material on the subject. I have ruined a good dozen blanks (at least), and i have learned so much it is painful!
The other day i recieved a box of alumilite blanks to "play" with. A couple of the blanks are WAY to cool to just ruin trying to cut ghetto fabulous threads so i decided to tube them and make modded kit pens with them. This was my FIRST experience with alumilite of any sort. I figured doing these would help get me in gear for working with this material in a kitless form.
The first thing i noticed is that somebody fibbed... In fact, a couple of people fibbed. THIS STUFF DOES HAVE AN ODOR WHEN DRILLED. For me, it was more irritating than the smell of PR. Not as noxious, but much more irritating to the sniffer.
Drilling this material was a new challenge in itself. I used my drill press because i had to drill these blanks slightly off center. I just about lost a thumb when i got lazy and didn't walk the whole 5 feet to the tool chest to get my strap clamp to hold the blank while drilling. This material reminded me more of ebonite than an acrylic product. It heats up the drill bit VERY VERY VERY FAST. I have never had to drill anything so slow.
I can definately feel a HUGE difference in this material and PR. I had no idea the two were so DRASTICALLY (sp) different. I am excited to make a kitless out of this super sweet material, and i think i am a PR to alumilite convert! I heard a rumor that a blank of alumilite could be literally bounced off of a concrete shop floor after being tossed about 15 feet in the air. I would never dare do this with a PR blank. It would be in a million pieces for sure.
I also tried to make a tool today. I SOOOOOO desperately want to make a kitless pen, but i am a poor boy and have no die holder. I have pretty much figured out a way to ghetto fab my way through all of the steps but cutting the external threads. After all of the catasrtophic failures i have had, I dont want to just waste this alumilite i have, so i tried to make a die holder. Now i know why they don't make ANY tools with a wooden MT2! I used a piece of purpleheart i had laying around. I mounted it between centers and cut the basic shape i needed. Once i got it good to go, I put it in the headstock. It was instantly wobbly and popped right out when i got near it with a tool.
The good news... I learned a bunch of cool stuff today reading through the ENTIRE IAP library. I have added several things to my list of "Gotta do's" and found another "Hero" or two!
So, In closing. I just want to say DON'T GIVE UP! cause I'm not! And you people can't let a loud, dreaded, tattoo'd, pierced FREAK beat you!
As most of you know, I have been trying to make my first kitless pen. I have poured over hours and hours of reading material on the subject. I have ruined a good dozen blanks (at least), and i have learned so much it is painful!
The other day i recieved a box of alumilite blanks to "play" with. A couple of the blanks are WAY to cool to just ruin trying to cut ghetto fabulous threads so i decided to tube them and make modded kit pens with them. This was my FIRST experience with alumilite of any sort. I figured doing these would help get me in gear for working with this material in a kitless form.
The first thing i noticed is that somebody fibbed... In fact, a couple of people fibbed. THIS STUFF DOES HAVE AN ODOR WHEN DRILLED. For me, it was more irritating than the smell of PR. Not as noxious, but much more irritating to the sniffer.
Drilling this material was a new challenge in itself. I used my drill press because i had to drill these blanks slightly off center. I just about lost a thumb when i got lazy and didn't walk the whole 5 feet to the tool chest to get my strap clamp to hold the blank while drilling. This material reminded me more of ebonite than an acrylic product. It heats up the drill bit VERY VERY VERY FAST. I have never had to drill anything so slow.
I can definately feel a HUGE difference in this material and PR. I had no idea the two were so DRASTICALLY (sp) different. I am excited to make a kitless out of this super sweet material, and i think i am a PR to alumilite convert! I heard a rumor that a blank of alumilite could be literally bounced off of a concrete shop floor after being tossed about 15 feet in the air. I would never dare do this with a PR blank. It would be in a million pieces for sure.
I also tried to make a tool today. I SOOOOOO desperately want to make a kitless pen, but i am a poor boy and have no die holder. I have pretty much figured out a way to ghetto fab my way through all of the steps but cutting the external threads. After all of the catasrtophic failures i have had, I dont want to just waste this alumilite i have, so i tried to make a die holder. Now i know why they don't make ANY tools with a wooden MT2! I used a piece of purpleheart i had laying around. I mounted it between centers and cut the basic shape i needed. Once i got it good to go, I put it in the headstock. It was instantly wobbly and popped right out when i got near it with a tool.
The good news... I learned a bunch of cool stuff today reading through the ENTIRE IAP library. I have added several things to my list of "Gotta do's" and found another "Hero" or two!
So, In closing. I just want to say DON'T GIVE UP! cause I'm not! And you people can't let a loud, dreaded, tattoo'd, pierced FREAK beat you!
, I haven't completely given up. I will get there, I just gotta slow down a little bit. I really thought "Oh Yeah, kitless will be NO Problem!" Boy was i wrong!!!