Thread: Video clip as promised ..pt 1 turning an acrylic blank.

Good demo.

Ive been watching quite a few youtube videos and the really good ones don't have too much talk (or any) and a simple text overlay. I think this is so they can concentrate on what they are doing. Adding descriptions later in an edit seems to convey more authority.

edit1: you seemed to have a lot of revs on it. Is this really necessary for acrylics?

Originally Posted by woodPixel

Good demo.

Ive been watching quite a few youtube videos and the really good ones don't have too much talk (or any) and a simple text overlay. I think this is so they can concentrate on what they are doing. Adding descriptions later in an edit seems to convey more authority.

edit1: you seemed to have a lot of revs on it. Is this really necessary for acrylics?

I had the lathe at 2600 rpm, which is the speed I use for pens. I never change the speed for any part of the process. Pen blanks being small dont really require slow speeds and so long as your tools arent full sized the faster the better seems to be the rule. I've talked to a lot of pen turners both here and in the States an most prefer a fast speed when doing pens and in the case of acrylic fast seems to be better.

For wood blanks I use the same speed as well, and so long as you finish with a skew chisel there shouldn't be much in the way of sanding needed before polishing. I like to start with a 600 grit sand before mesh to finish. This method suits the type of woods I use and it works well for me, however we each tend to develop our way of doing things. I try to do a pen in 25 to 30 minutes start to finish. If I can maintain this I am happy with the return I get off each pen when making pens for sale.

First thing to do with acrylic blanks is knock the corners off.

Les

Originally Posted by Les in Red Deer

First thing to do with acrylic blanks is knock the corners off.

Les

Hi Les,
I assume you mean that you sand the corner back. I used to do that and on some of the really brittle blanks that I get locally I still do, but for the majority I dont. Thats what the really aggressive grind angle on my chisel is for. I can hog off the first few millimetres really quickly with out causing tear out or fracturing and its a lot faster and one step less when doing a production run.

I find that a slow turning speed leads to problems but the faster the rpms are the quicker and smoother the operation is. For those who are starting with acrylic blanks mid speeds may be a good choice till you get the technique you use perfected.

I watched all of your video and may I say the first thing I noticed was the Tube ? That is the first time I have ever seen a pen turned without the tube glued into it ? Is there any particular reason for this ? also i found some of it a little hard to hear but I think that is my PC playing up but did I hear you say that you drilled a 7mm hole in one end and a 7.5mm in the other end and the tube was only there to stablize the blank ? also what was it you were making ?

Cheers ian

Originally Posted by Dorno

I watched all of your video and may I say the first thing I noticed was the Tube ? That is the first time I have ever seen a pen turned without the tube glued into it ? Is there any particular reason for this ? also i found some of it a little hard to hear but I think that is my PC playing up but did I hear you say that you drilled a 7mm hole in one end and a 7.5mm in the other end and the tube was only there to stabilise the blank ? also what was it you were making ?

Cheers ian

Hi Ian.

The item I was making was a letter opener with a slightly extended handle. The letter opener tube was glued into the blank but it doesn't show as the blank is 20 mm longer than standard. The blank has a standard 7 mm hole drilled all the way through and then the hole is drilled out to 7.5 mm to the length required to hold the opener tube. This leaves a small portion of the blank with the 7 mm hole, which is the correct size for the cap to be pressed and glued in. I do this because some of the letter openers seem to have too short a tube for people with larger hands, as mine are.

When turning I insert a standard 7mm tube into the blank to act as a spacer as it fits perfectly inside the letter opener kit tube and stops any chatter. The only drawback doing this is that you cant use the specific bushes for this kit.

The letter opener makes one half of a matched pair, with a lock & load bullet pen as its partner, both done with the cosmic green acrylic blanks and gold kits. I will post a couple of pics shortly.

Below are 3 images of the items I was working when I shot the video above. The subject of the video was the letter opener, which as you can see is no longer than the standard kit length, which is normally around the same length as the Bullet Pen.

The Bullet Pen and the Letter Opener are from the same blank "Cosmic Green", while the Executive Click Pen is made from a single "Candy Apple Green" blank.

The difference in colour and pattern between the two blanks is quite small and they could easily be said to be the same. These are all part of the summer colour range I'm getting ready for the next series of summer craft markets. These style of pens are part of our mid priced range. The next series of pens will be in the upper price bracket and I will only do a half dozen or so to start with until we know how sales are going to go.

DSCF4317-1.jpg

DSCF4321.jpg

DSCF4320.jpg

Hi Ralph I hear what you are saying and totally agree about the small handles. There is a letter opener available that I buy looks a bit like a dagger/Bayonet and it has a longer tube that comes with it. The tube is very similar if not the same as the Euro pens that have a longer bottom tube.

Cheers Ian

Cheers Ian. Who do you get the letter opener kit from, I would be interested in trying a different kit.

This is the letter opener I was talking about

Cheers ian



308 Navy Cammo let-opener set.jpg