Over the top acrylics

**dai sensei** · 13th November 2006, 06:10 PM

My son asked me to make him a spider with butterfly pattern, but on an acrylic, as a reward for doing really well at school this year. He topped his class in 5 out of his 6 subjects (before final exams) for year 12, and topped his uni subject he is doing at the same time

(part of an automatic entry system into Griffith Uni he got in to last year) – yes he is a bright boy.

I agreed to make the pen, but didn’t like the idea of the acrylic as I thought it would be too “busy”, and I think I was right

. He likes blue, but thought I’d make a couple while I was at it, and tried a red as well.

I couldn’t cut the shims, so made my own using resin and pigments. I lay a down a few timber shims 0.5mm thick 20mm apart. I then poured heated resin, to ensure it was thin, between the timbers and screeded it off. I had to sand the upper face with my WASP as the resin set with a series of little dimples and not flat as expected.

With timber blank butterflies I rough spindle turn the blank and re-center it to ensure I have the real center of the butterfly before drilling on the lathe. Unfortunately this is virtually impossible with acrylics. The wings ended up all over the place

, the photograph shows the best angle.

I also would not recommend spiders in acrylic blanks. The acrylic melts when cut and hence the filings fill up the cut and you have to cut each one a few times:mad: . One of the spiders has too many legs as the blade drifted

. The black spiders are also a bit hard to see, perhaps white would have been better.

He couldn’t make up his mind which one he liked best, so he took both:eek: . Oh well, he did do well

The kit is a Black Titanium Streamline, one round top one flat top, from Froggie

Cheers

**chrisb691** · 13th November 2006, 06:39 PM

Mate, you did bloody well with that.

It's not something that I would take on.

**DJ’s Timber** · 13th November 2006, 06:39 PM

Ya certainly know how to set a challenge for yourself :eek:

They have come up well

Me thinks some of his friends will be wanting some as well

**Penpal** · 13th November 2006, 06:55 PM

Strong clean colours,fortunate son should be proud penmaker father.Congrats

Peter

**lubbing5cherubs** · 13th November 2006, 07:48 PM

Congrats on your son and I agree with him I don't think I would be able to make up my mind. Very nice.
Toni

**Skewpid** · 13th November 2006, 08:00 PM

Heads Up!

Here comes a greenie!

**Touchwood** · 13th November 2006, 08:38 PM

He topped his class in 5 out of his 6 subjects (before final exams) for year 12, and topped his uni subject he is doing at the same time (part of an automatic entry system into Griffith Uni he got in to last year) – yes he is a bright boy.

Firstly I'd like to congratulate your son - a very fine effort, and congrats to parents as well - they have also had a big part in this achievement.

As to your pens, I really like the effect of the blue contrast - however, I can certainly understand him taking both - lots of essays to write and you don't want the pen to run out!

I wouldn't like to tackle spiders and acrylic ... maybe set a real red back in clear resin and then turn!!! mmmm...

JD

**ss_11000** · 13th November 2006, 09:19 PM

i really like the blue one neil. congrast to your son on his results.

**PenTurner** · 13th November 2006, 09:44 PM

Neil, they are superb, now if your son thinks one is a reject, there would be many takers. Amos

**dai sensei** · 13th November 2006, 10:07 PM

Thanks for the comments on the pens.

I'm pretty proud of my son, and my other kids, they have all done well. He got 8 awards at the end of year awards night. He, however, was dissappointed as he didn't get the Dux. The female school captain got it, she topped 4 out of her 5 subjects, she also got student of the year. He could understand the student of the year, but couldn't understand how he missed out on the Dux. All I could say was be proud of what he has got, it was a huge achievement.

**madmix** · 13th November 2006, 10:22 PM

Hi Neil, Top pens mate and a top effort by the young bloke too.

To thin the resin for pouring, try adding 10% styrene monomer.
Don't like the idea of resin fumes and heat source.

Cheers Mick

**Touchwood** · 13th November 2006, 11:14 PM

but couldn't understand how he missed out on the Dux.

I don't know much (possibly anything) about the Qld education system, but it might have something to do with the weighting some subjects get compared to others - we (in WA) have TEE and CAF -- TEE are the 'go straight to Uni subjects', while CAF are more practical subjects (like what I teach - REAL life stuff). TEE is considered harder (students might argue otherwise), but that might be where the Dux bit can unstuck.

JD

**dai sensei** · 14th November 2006, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by madmix

To thin the resin for pouring, try adding 10% styrene monomer.
Don't like the idea of resin fumes and heat source.

Cheers Mick

I'll have to remember that one. Normally I don't heat the stuff, it is thin enough usually. I only heated small quantities, with a hair dryer, so shouldn't be a problem.

Originally Posted by Touchwood

I don't know much (possibly anything) about the Qld education system, but it might have something to do with the weighting some subjects get compared to others - we (in WA) have TEE and CAF -- TEE are the 'go straight to Uni subjects', while CAF are more practical subjects (like what I teach - REAL life stuff). TEE is considered harder (students might argue otherwise), but that might be where the Dux bit can unstuck.

JD

His were maths science combo + extra computer subject + extra uni subject. Hers were arts drama. Both are going to uni though, so not sure on weightings. Best to forget about it and move on. I'm sure she deserved it too.

**lady_turner** · 17th November 2006, 08:16 AM

Those pens are fantastic, a job well done

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