Gav
Registered
So after an good start with a couple of slimline pens i got a bit adventurous and bough a couple of Classic Americana Fountain Pens from The Turners Workshop with a black European acrylic blank to go with them.
Got excited, hit the garage and despite things going well up to the turning stage, I ended up with this:
A total disaster left me with a very good reason to go to church on Sunday and total bemusement as to where I went wrong!
This was on Thursday, and as I was away over the weekend, it played on my mind, which is probably taking a bit too seriously, but I needed to understand, it's the Engineer in me!
So, going through each step I think I've pin-pointed the areas that contributed to this 'experience'.
So, I think that between it all I've learnt a valuable lesson, mainly in the concentration stakes, as that could lead to some serious pain.
All this basic analysis led me straight back out to the Garage last night as I got home, and I had another go at the same pen.
This was when i realised the lack of drill vice led to the flaring at the top of the hole (filled it in with CA glue around the barrel) and how much of a difference sharp tools make.
I ended up with this:
The red band is due to the lack of concentration, some thing happened again, but this time I tried something to rescue it!
I'm happy to be torn to shreds over my newbie errors, and would love some advice on working with acrylic in general!
I won't lie, I'm not happy with the finished pen, the joint between the two acrylics is not as clean as I'd like and the diameters are out, especially at the band at the end of the cap.
I've learnt so much from this little episode though, and can't wait to turn the second of this pen I have as it writes lovely, and SWMBO has requested a pink one!
Sorry for going on a bit!
Got excited, hit the garage and despite things going well up to the turning stage, I ended up with this:
A total disaster left me with a very good reason to go to church on Sunday and total bemusement as to where I went wrong!
This was on Thursday, and as I was away over the weekend, it played on my mind, which is probably taking a bit too seriously, but I needed to understand, it's the Engineer in me!
So, going through each step I think I've pin-pointed the areas that contributed to this 'experience'.
Drilling - I don't have a vice at the moment, so I hold the blank as best I can and go for it, what I noticed last night was that by doing this the blank wobbles (unsurprisingly) and the hole is flared at the top, so a gap exists between the barrel and the blank, so I guess when i got close to the final shape, there wasn't enough material and it just disintegrated.
Drilling Mk. 2 - Blunt drill bit, what is the best bit for drilling acrylic?
Turning - Tools not sharp enough, a cardinal sin I know, but I think I got too excited with getting to the final shape, and when I got to the final shaping I didn't touch up the tools and got a bit of chatter going on, I was forcing the cut a bit, and I guess that would lead to putting too much force through the blank with little material and thus snap!
Turning Mk 2 - This is just plain idiocy and was learnt last night too, lack of concentration led me to leave the tool too close to the work, it slipped forward and again chipped another end off :nonono:. Oh dear.
So, I think that between it all I've learnt a valuable lesson, mainly in the concentration stakes, as that could lead to some serious pain.
All this basic analysis led me straight back out to the Garage last night as I got home, and I had another go at the same pen.
This was when i realised the lack of drill vice led to the flaring at the top of the hole (filled it in with CA glue around the barrel) and how much of a difference sharp tools make.
I ended up with this:
The red band is due to the lack of concentration, some thing happened again, but this time I tried something to rescue it!
I'm happy to be torn to shreds over my newbie errors, and would love some advice on working with acrylic in general!
I won't lie, I'm not happy with the finished pen, the joint between the two acrylics is not as clean as I'd like and the diameters are out, especially at the band at the end of the cap.
I've learnt so much from this little episode though, and can't wait to turn the second of this pen I have as it writes lovely, and SWMBO has requested a pink one!
Sorry for going on a bit!