Randy_
Member
I am working on my first Sierra Vista Green Abalone Kit (first resin blank, also) and would appreciate some advice or opinions.
First question has to do with the abalone blank. I notice two absolutely straight lines in the abalone chip pattern oriented at exactly 180° from each other and along the axis of the blank. This makes me think the abalone comes in narrow flexible strips that are then glued to the tube covering one half of the circumference at a time.
Well, problem is the following. When I look at either of the straight lines so that I can see part of each "half" of the blank. One side of the line looks shiny and reflective and shows the abalone color and the other looks dull and non-reflective. When I rotate the blank, top for bottom, the side that was shiny is now dull and the side that was dull is now shiny. It is like the abalone has one orientation that is shiny and one that is dull (non-shiny) and when the tube was covered, the manufacturer got the orientation reversed on one of the two strips of abalone?
I did not notice this until I got the blank turned round and polished up to 12,000 MM. Can't say whether this was observable in the original blank if I had looked at is more closely? (Note: I turned the blank until it was just round and polished it with sandpaper and MM to see how it would look. It is not at final diameter yet.)
Has anyone else noticed this effect and is it normal for these blanks or did I get a bad one?
Speaking of turning blanks, I had a little trouble turning my first resin blank and would like a little input. I started off at top speed on my little JET (about 4000 RPMs) with a freshly sharpened skew. Had some trouble and moved down two notches to about 1800 RPMs. That helped; but did not completely eliminate the problem, which is that every so often, a little chunk of resin would pop out of the blank rather than getting nice smooth shavings. I switched over to a gouge; but that did not seem to help. The problem seemed to clear up pretty much when the corners of the blank were knocked off and the blank almost round.
Luckily, none of the chunks were large enough to get deeper than the final required diameter of the barrel and all were repairable; but I think that was just luck and I could have easily ruined the blank.
So, what am I missing? How do I get those corners off the blank without ruining it? Less speed, different tool, band saw, change the skew angle or just more practice?
Finally, there is a flaw in the blank. It is not a bubble; but, rather, looks like a small, fine crack. It is only visible when you look at it from a certain direction and then it looks like a small black or dark gray flake about 1/2mm x 3mm. From another direction, it has a shiny reflective spot on it and from other directions, it is just about invisible. (Remember, the blank is only turned just round and polished. Right now it is about 11/16" in diameter; but the final diameter will be about 0.52" so I "think" there is enough excess to allow me to turn off the defect.....fingers crossed.)
Now that I think about it, it sort of looks like a chip in a piece of glass that hasn't popped out of the parent material yet. Maybe it is one of those chips I created earlier that didn't fully break out and that I didn't fully repair. Anyone ever see anything like that?
And my final concern is squaring the blank. Probably should have done it before turning it round; but I didn't anticipate the chipping problem. Now, I am worried that when I square the blank I will get some chipping on the ends and ruin the blank. I have a standard 4 flute barrel trimmer which I keep nice and sharp; but am worried about a chip on the end of the tube which would be a killer!! Any thoughts??
Your thoughts and advice will be greatly appreciated.:bananen_smilies046:
First question has to do with the abalone blank. I notice two absolutely straight lines in the abalone chip pattern oriented at exactly 180° from each other and along the axis of the blank. This makes me think the abalone comes in narrow flexible strips that are then glued to the tube covering one half of the circumference at a time.
Well, problem is the following. When I look at either of the straight lines so that I can see part of each "half" of the blank. One side of the line looks shiny and reflective and shows the abalone color and the other looks dull and non-reflective. When I rotate the blank, top for bottom, the side that was shiny is now dull and the side that was dull is now shiny. It is like the abalone has one orientation that is shiny and one that is dull (non-shiny) and when the tube was covered, the manufacturer got the orientation reversed on one of the two strips of abalone?
I did not notice this until I got the blank turned round and polished up to 12,000 MM. Can't say whether this was observable in the original blank if I had looked at is more closely? (Note: I turned the blank until it was just round and polished it with sandpaper and MM to see how it would look. It is not at final diameter yet.)
Has anyone else noticed this effect and is it normal for these blanks or did I get a bad one?
Speaking of turning blanks, I had a little trouble turning my first resin blank and would like a little input. I started off at top speed on my little JET (about 4000 RPMs) with a freshly sharpened skew. Had some trouble and moved down two notches to about 1800 RPMs. That helped; but did not completely eliminate the problem, which is that every so often, a little chunk of resin would pop out of the blank rather than getting nice smooth shavings. I switched over to a gouge; but that did not seem to help. The problem seemed to clear up pretty much when the corners of the blank were knocked off and the blank almost round.
Luckily, none of the chunks were large enough to get deeper than the final required diameter of the barrel and all were repairable; but I think that was just luck and I could have easily ruined the blank.
So, what am I missing? How do I get those corners off the blank without ruining it? Less speed, different tool, band saw, change the skew angle or just more practice?
Finally, there is a flaw in the blank. It is not a bubble; but, rather, looks like a small, fine crack. It is only visible when you look at it from a certain direction and then it looks like a small black or dark gray flake about 1/2mm x 3mm. From another direction, it has a shiny reflective spot on it and from other directions, it is just about invisible. (Remember, the blank is only turned just round and polished. Right now it is about 11/16" in diameter; but the final diameter will be about 0.52" so I "think" there is enough excess to allow me to turn off the defect.....fingers crossed.)
Now that I think about it, it sort of looks like a chip in a piece of glass that hasn't popped out of the parent material yet. Maybe it is one of those chips I created earlier that didn't fully break out and that I didn't fully repair. Anyone ever see anything like that?
And my final concern is squaring the blank. Probably should have done it before turning it round; but I didn't anticipate the chipping problem. Now, I am worried that when I square the blank I will get some chipping on the ends and ruin the blank. I have a standard 4 flute barrel trimmer which I keep nice and sharp; but am worried about a chip on the end of the tube which would be a killer!! Any thoughts??
Your thoughts and advice will be greatly appreciated.:bananen_smilies046:
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