Painting the tubes

[Pen Man]

I am having a problem with painting the tubes,[8D] is that With transparent resins, you will probably see the air bubbles in the glue,and the ca will take the paint off even if you paint the tubes a week before. HAS ANYONE TRIED A SHARPIE on the tubes? Will the Ca take the coloring off?? [V]

 

[twoofakind]

I use a black sharpie and a silver sharpie. If I need colors I use nail polish. I also use ca for the tubes and do not have a problem just make sure to let them dry to the touch and you should be fine.
Andy

 

[Jim in Oakville]

I use Krylon fast dry spray paint, no problems with CA at all.

 

[wdcav1952]

Some choose to use epoxy glue. Also consider painting the hole in the blank before gluing in the tube.

 

[smoky10]

I usually paint the inside of the blank and then I can use any glue I want, if I let the paint dry first.[]

 

[DocStram]

I do what Jim does, but I'll be trying Andy's way soon.

 

[Mikey]

I tried using a Sharpie, but the marker would come right off or run with the CA.

I started using paint and would airbrush both the tubes and the blank. I found that if I twisted the tube in slowly and then hit it with a shot of accellerator, it works great and the paint does not come off. If I try to twist the tube in and out after using the CA, the paint will start to come off.

I use paint made for lexan for spraying R/C car bodies as I figure it would adhere well to the resin in the same manner it adheres to the lexan. I use blue, silver, black, and white and have found you can pretty much dictate the final look of the blank by using one of those colors. For example, on light resins I use white and on metallics I use silver and they seem to shimmer even more.

 

[gerryr]

If the blank is really transparent, you need to paint the blank rather than the tube. No matter what glue you use, the act of inserting the tube into the blank will introduce air into it and the bubbles will show. I only paint the blanks now.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Tom, on my clear cactus blanks I paint both tubes and inside the blank,I also tint the epoxy with the same paint, hope this helps

 

[woodbychuck1]

I picked up some paint at Micheal's it is called "decoart no-prep metal paint" and used it on some clear cactus pens. I painted the inside of the blank and the tube and let it dry a couple of days and had good results with it.

charles

 

[bob393]

Thanks also. I will need that myself!

 

[Rifleman1776]

I use wood. Blanks are pre-colored. No need to paint tubes. []
Sometimes I can't help myself. [)]

 

[MesquiteMan]

If you are doing clear cactus blanks and want to gain brownie points with SWMBO, as her to let you borrow her favorite color of fingernail polish. Then use it to color the inside of a clear cactus Sierra blank and make her a platinum/titanium Sierra with it. Guaranteed to earn some serious points and works great too!