New member and pen turner here. Well, everything seemed to be going pretty good for me the past seven days, since I got my lathe, but not today. So far I made six pens, three Slimlines (purpleheart & rosewood blanks), two Sierras and one Bullet Cartridge (acrylic blanks). The first three (slimline) came out OK and the other three finished really nice I thought. Today, I was going to make two more Sierras, one for my son and one for his girlfriend. I screwed up both of them .... had a small chip-out by the right-side bushing when blank OD got close to bushing OD, also, the blank separated from the tube on both blanks. I'm not positive but these blanks (acrylic) I used today were different, maybe in name only, not sure but I'll look into that. Anyhow, I think my problem was all caused by me.... drill speed was probably a little too fast. Tubes seemed to have a little more play than previous blanks I drilled (new bit). Used thin CA (maybe should have used Medium CA this time). I think probably my biggest problem was, my not-so-sharp skew (probably created too much heat). I need to slow down (having too much fun), set up shop, get organized and sharpen my tools. Am i missing anything in my thinking of what went wrong today? Or, maybe my dentist earlier today drilled a hole in my brain while I was all numbed up and all my common sense drained out???