Turning acrylic pens

[Ed Marks]

My daughter was with me a few weeks ago while I was picking up some pen parts at the local Woodcraft and grabbed a arylic pen blank out of a discount bucket. Of course, now she wants the pen. Any hints on turning & finishing (polishing?) this stuff would be appreciated. I'm most likely going to just do a 7mm twist pen.

Thanks in advance,
Ed

[Roger Fitzsimonds]

Hi Ed,

I just turn acrylic to shape and then sand through the 400 with regular sand paper. then I go through the grits of the micro mesh sand paper. this usually finishes the pen to the point that a little wax and they are good to go.

HTH
Roger

[Dennis Peacock]

Ed,

Acrylic pen blanks can be a little bit "tricky" when turning. Make sure you have a sharp tool, and use lite passes when tooling. Some acrylics like to "grab" in certain spot of the material. :eek: Good tool control and easy gentle passes the closer you get to done works well.

Start sanding with 400, then 600, then proceed through the grits with MicroMesh starting at 2400 grit. Once you get to 12000 grit, the blank will shine like new money!!! A coat of Crystal Coat and your done.

[Richard Allen]

There are a few types of plastic for pen turning. Some are soft and turn clean and some are hard and can "tear out". If you are working one of the soft plastics then the truning process is eaiser but the sanding process is more prone to guming the paper. If you are working one of the hard plastics then the turning is slower but the sanding is more predictable.

I usualy sand to 400 grit and then use automotive rubing compound to get a nice shine. A little auto wax is okay but the plastic pen will look great without the wax.

The soft plastic seams to pick up scratches faster than the hard plastic but the hard plastic tends to show the scratches more.

Thanks

[Jim Becker]

Barry Gross did an article on turning acrylics in one of the issues of Woodturning Design...I forget which issue and I'm not at home to look it up. Perhaps someone else can point you. Barry works in plastics and corian A LOT and really knows the in-s and out-s of this material.

[Ernie Kuhn]

Ed,
I've used Novus plastic polishes. Sand as everyone else above recomends. Then use Novus #3 which is semi-paste like, removes heavy scratches; Novus #2 is next, more liquid, almost like a very fine abrasive polish and Novus #3 for the final coat. It looks like water but my oh my does it shine. In each case, a little bit on an old tee shirt or cotton sock. Apply and buff. Get it at Novus windshield repair facilities.
I have no financial interest in Novus. Just love how the polish works with acrylic pens. And, if you buy it at the Novus windshield repair facility, its fairly inexpensive.
Just my $.02
Ernie

[Ed Marks]

Thanks all. I'll let you know how it works out. Mom-in-law stopped today with a small project to make 8 doll cradles for a craft fair by 9/1. I made the templates tonight (well maybe this morning) and it's off to the lumber yard in the AM for some pine. So much for finishing what I was working on or getting to the acrylic this weekend.

[Mac McAtee]

Go back to your Woodcraft. They have a little plastic bag with about 6 little foam pads that are different colors. Each pad is an abrasive and each color indicates the fineness of the cut. They are made especally for polishing plastic pens. I don't remember the cost but I had one of the bags in my hand yesterday, looking at it. One of the sales guys showed me a pen he had just finished with them and it was beautiful.

[Clyde McKinney]

After going through all your usual sand paper grits try a final polish with toothpaste for
your plastic/acrylic pens. Works for me.