Spraying the inside of blanks help

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mmayo

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Jan 12, 2013
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I have been painting the inside of pen blanks and the outside of my pen tubes with Testors paint. It works very well. I wanted to try matte black spray paint. The tubes were easy and quick. The blanks were another issue. Now I have matching flat black blanks - all black. My nice ——X X —— in each blank to help with alignment are covered. My error, I get that. At a minimum I'll use blue tape on the blanks to shield them from the spray.

How do you spray paint the inside of your blanks?
 
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I use Tamiya acrylic spray paint for models. A small bottle lasts for many blanks. I chose the acrylic because I've had Testors enamel paint peel when inserting the tubes. Like you, I learned quickly to wrap a strip of blue tape around the ends that meet to keep my alignment marks. Unlike Curt, I always wear gloves :wink:
 

jttheclockman

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Point nozzle and push down on nozzle and magically paint comes out:) Don't make it harder than it is. If you have marks or can not get paint on outside of blank tape off. Unroll a piece from large roll. Take in right hand and wrap in clockwise direction. Sometimes I get crazy and wrap in counterclockwise direction. It is wild. :biggrin:
 

More4dan

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Katy, TX
Point nozzle and push down on nozzle and magically paint comes out:) Don't make it harder than it is. If you have marks or can not get paint on outside of blank tape off. Unroll a piece from large roll. Take in right hand and wrap in clockwise direction. Sometimes I get crazy and wrap in counterclockwise direction. It is wild. :biggrin:



I'm even crazier, I squirt from both ends. I then chuck it in the lathe and spin at max rpm to smooth the paint.


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mmayo

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Thank you for the helpful hints. I sanded them, matched them up and they turned well. Lesson learned- I'll have some matte black and white spray paint from now on.
 

Edgar

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Kinda what J T said :)

I use a couple of sheets of paper towels to hold the blank in an effort to keep the paint off my fingers - not 100% effective, but close enough. 1-2 seconds of spray from about 1" away from the blank on each side, the. Let it cure at least 2-3 days before glue-up.
 

Curly

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Saskatoon SK., Canada.
I get the shop elves to get inside and paint the tubes. If you're going to paint slimlines etc., it's best to get the elves to do the painting before they have breakfast or you risk one getting stuck inside the tube especially with fast drying paint. You don't want to listen to the foul language when that happens.
 
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