Turning Aacrylics

[Paul Lebel]

I just started turning pens wood blanks come out fine,But acrylic keep chiping on me. I do have a new set of chisels that are sharp.What might be a good speed to turn them at Paul L.

[Gary Conklin]

Start by rounding over the edges with a 60grit gouge.

[Stephen Massman]

I use a small roughing gouge to get a rough shape. The use a spindle gouge like a scraper. you can also use a skew laid flat and use the long tip to take small planing cuts.

this site has some free videos at the bottom that show how to turn acrylics.
http://www.yoyospin.com/video/

[David E Keller]

I use a roughing gouge then a skew or a round nose scraper... Light cuts and sharpen often... I turn them at high speeds. Don't forget to paint the tubes or you may see them through the finished blank.

[Dick Strauss]

Paul,
David's advice is spot on...Did you sharpen your chisels? New chisels aren't usually sharp from the factory. Acrylics cut much better with really sharp tools.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Acrylics need sharp tools and as was said they are not sharp out of the box. I generally turn at around 1500 to 1800 rpm. I use a roughing gouge and then skew to finish.

[Mark Hix]

+1----sharp, fast, skew, buff

[Wally Dickerman]

If you are using a scraper to turn acrylics, to avoid chipping you need to use a negative rake scraper. A skew chisel laid flat on the toolrest will do it. However, I recommend that you use a cutting tool instead. Much faster and easier. I use a very sharp 1/2 inch spindle gouge from beginning to end. I turn pens, wood or acrylic, at high speeds. 2600 to 3000 RPM. On a turning with a small dia. such as a pen, surface speed isn't really very high at those speeds. I use the same speeds when turning finials.

Wally

[John Terefenko]

I just started turning pens wood blanks come out fine,But acrylic keep chiping on me. I do have a new set of chisels that are sharp.What might be a good speed to turn them at Paul L.


Paul

Turning acrylics is quite rewarding because of all the neat colors. They are quite easy to turn. As mentioned sharp tools is the key. Just because a tool is new does not mean it is sharp. Needs to be sharp. I use a skew for just about all my pen turning. I use the standard cutting method to begin and then lay it flat to do a peeling cut or planing cut and finish off with micromesh to polish it up. I turn around 1800. Good luck and look forward to seeing some examples.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/JTTHECLOCKMAN/redandbluecigarpens.jpg

[Billy Tallant]

I'm new to turning acrylics myself. Luckily I've had no problems to speak of. As the others have mentioned...Really sharp tools. I start with a 3/4 roughing gouge & just use a very light touch. I also run my jet 1014 at the next to highest speed. (2400rpm?) Get general shape rounded over & then finish with skew. Again very light cuts. Works for me...

[Dan Forman]

The other thing besides dull tools that will get you in trouble, is trying to take too big of a bite. You can actually hear a sort of a hissing sound when this happens, and you will get a pitted surface. You can do this when first turning down, and clean it up with more delicate cuts, but you must be careful not to get that tell tale sound when you get close to final size.

I have a 5/8" round nose scraper that I modified by grinding a narrower nose and a more aggressive 65 degree bevel, which works very well for turning blanks down from round to near finished size, then I switch to a skew for final shaping and smoothing. It goes faster that way, and saves a lot of sharpening of the skew.

Dan