need some help....

[Sven03]

I am trying to trim some dymonwood with my barreltrimmer but I can seem to get a bite on it with my trimmer..what gives?? I apply some pressure but I know that isn't a good idea....Also I just got my micaswirl acrillic blanks from penn state and don't have a clue on the proper way to drill these....I have one last question; I can make a slimline, but want to try some designers, I have all the stuff but don't know where to start...HELP!!!!!

 

[wudwrkr]

I've never worked with dymonwood, but it sounds like some issues I have had with bloodwood & ebony. I have to exert some pressure with the barrel trimmer to get it to cut and when it does cut it feels like I don't have a lot of control with it. I've managed not to damage anything so far. You can try one of the sanding jigs, but I still prefer the barrel trimmer.

Drilling the acrylic is similar to drilling any of the denser woods. It helps to have some sort of dust collection to catch the ribbons of acrylic that come out. Don't try to drill the whole segment at once. Drill some and then back out. Some turners will cut the blanks a hair longer than necessary and not drill all the way through the blank, then go back to the chop saw or whatever you use and cut the blanks and cut them to size. This prevents blowout. I've only had one blank do that on me, frustrating, but it does happen.

As far as the Euro's go, look back to the "Looking to learn how to turn "Designer" model pens" topic from last month. There was a lot of good adivice given for that topic: http://tinyurl.com/dmv89. No sense going over it again. []

 

[leatherjunkie]

I use the pen mills aka barrel trimmers to square the dymondwood to the pen tubes.
make sure your timmers are sharp. dymondwood is real dense and i have to put more pressure on the drill than other materials.

the following link will give you some information on turning dymondwood.
http://www.rrpwhite.com/dwood%20info.htm

hope this helps you out.

 

[Teniko]

If your trimmer head is larger than the circuferance of your blank, be aware of blowout on the sides. Dymondwood chips out on the corners VERY easy so I second a very sharp bit with light pressure. I trim my blanks once the tube is inside as close as possible on the table saw, then I don't have to rely on the trimmer near as much.
As for the acrylics, some have a tendency to crack or blowout on the bottom. Drill a little then back out and repeat untill you are done. Use a backer piece on the bottom to prevent blowout. I have switched to cutting the blanks long and not going all the way through then cutting to length on the table saw. Also the norse bits from AS have been a real suprise to me as to how well they cut through a variety of materials.

 

[TexasJohn]

I second your recommendation on the bits from AS. I drilled my first acrylic last week and the bit went through like a hot knife in butter. But you are correct that you need to back the bit out frequently to prevent a blow out.

 

[gerryr]

When PSI introduced that micaswirl stuff I immediately ordered 7 of them. I got 5 with 2 backordered. Out of those five I was able to make two pens. The others literally exploded while I was turning them. I cancelled the ones that were backordered. I was also really disappointed in the fact that not one of the ones I received looked like the photos in the catalog.