"Acrylic" blanks

Hi

The working of the blank was fine. It just smell like fiberglass. The fitting was fine and I did not experience any problems with it.

You might have seen that we had some electricity problems during the week. Our church had a stand at the wheels show this weekend and I had a small portion at the stand for my pens. I did not get a change to take a photo of the "crack" on the pen and one of our " older ladies" bought the pen when she saw it. I tried to tell her about the problem but she did not want to listen and said that it is the pen she was waiting for. I sell it at less than cost price to her but just to see her expression was worth it.

I have one blank left and will let you know how it go with it.

I will be busy with my caravan preparations for our short holiday the week after Monday.

Greetings

That sounds like contraction of the blank, or something that is causing the problem over time...

Are you using a glue that expands?
Did the blank get hot while working on it?
Did the assembly go smoothly? Glue inside the barrel can cause stresses on the blank while assembly which can cause the blank to crack at assembly time?

I have worked with ironwood which cracked 2 days after turning. The only cause that I could determine was overheating of the blank while sanding and drilling. I did not assemble the pen or gave it a CA finish. In my case it was a simple case of repairing the crack and resanding the blank.

Thank you

I stripped the pen and repair the crack and then sand and polish it again. I saw no other cracks after assembly but about 2-3 hrs later, I noticed a crack on the other side.

Thank you again for the feedback.

I found that the Candyfloss & Pearls Acrylic had that same effect to me.

My advice would be:
1. Sharp tools
2. Small cuts
3. work from the outside inwards. The blanks tend to chip in my experience working the other way around.

The other acrylics smell alot like the smell that you get in a beauty salon. They turn much easier.

How to spot the difficult ones, I would investigate the blank before buying. Small chipping from the bandsaw indicates the method how I treat the blank.

I've worked with a number of different "species" of acrylic blanks from various sources - and they don't all smell the same...

Apart from working with sharp tools, you have to allow enough time for the project to cool down even while working. Heat definately is an enemy when working with these plastics.

Henk

Hi

I am not sure where to post this.

I got some "acrylic" blanks from MR Woodturner and when I worked with it, it smelt as if it was made from fiber glass. The way it worked felt the same as fiber glass - the fine powder and smell.

When I was finished and the pen was assembled, I saw a small crack at one end. I did make sure the tubes were clean on the inside and it assembled easily.

Any wisdom on this. I will see if I can get it repaired later today.

Thank you