Plastic Finial?

[Peter Blair]

Recently I was given a large quantity of clear plastic round rods.
I would like to experiment with turning it but have no idea if it should be scraped or turned?
I also have no idea of what type of plastic it is.
Should I just spin some and experiment or could the results be dangerous?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Peter - I have turned a number of clear finials out of acrylic. Found that sharp tools work best. Also found that scraping tends to cause tear-out just like on wood. Thing is - with acrylic - tear-out means lots of small and sharp chips coming at you! The plastic cuts clean but like any plastic - will stick to everything because of static! Makes a mess but the end result can be worth the effort!

Looking forward to seeing what you create!

[Jamie Donaldson]

Many pen turners turn a variety of "plastics" all the time, and Steve is correct about the mess static can cause! There will be "snow" everywhere, and I hope you have a good shop vac to round it up! Bonnie Klein has been turning many forms from acrylics, and they are quite striking in appearance.

[Peter Blair]

Thanks for the input guys. Steve, I went and took a look at some of your plastic finials and after seeing what a wonderful job you have done I am a little in awe and am concerned that I don't have the necessary skills. Not sure if what I have is Acrylic or some other type of clear plastic, think for now I'll put this in my lathe "Bucket List".

[Steve Schlumpf]

Peter - NEVER be intimidated by the work of others! Give it a shot! Use sharp tools and take light cuts and you will be fine! If you have any questions... ask here of shoot me a PM.

[Peter Blair]

Greetings again Steve.

Well, I took your advise, thanks, sharpened my skews and detail gouges along with one heavy bowl gouge and chucked up a chunk of clear Plastic rod.

At first I was pretty intimidated as it takes an entirely different approach. Slow . . . slow . . . . . . slow!

Please excuse the telephone photos.

I first began by testing my tools to see which would cut and how I felt about each. I learned along time ago that when working with power tools to "Show some respect" to the extent that if I don't think something is safe I just plain don't do it. Of course that doesn't mean that some of my methods might not meet the approval of others.

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Here it is after testing my tools.

I am still unsure about the type of plastic I turned but suspect it is different than the Acrylic you turned because I had absolutely no static issues. Not much mess for that matter. I just swept the area first and then collected the shavings.

I did struggle with the 'curlies' (if that is the right term) wrapping around the plastic and blocking my vision. While between centers I had to stop my lathe about every minute. As I said the going was really slow. After I reversed it and held it in my 4 jaw I could pull the shavings off the end and hardly had to stop at all.

I probably didn't use conventional wisdom and because of my inexperience decided to turn most of it between centres. I first roughed out the end that I would eventually insert in my 4 jaw chuck. You can see it on the right end.

I found that I could remove plastic a little faster with the very sharp heavy traditional ground bowl gouge but also found that it like to climb up hill and dig in. I Didn't like the skew at all. Might be that I didn't get mine sharp enough but found that a nice detail gouge once honed worked just fine but slow . . .

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This is a shot after I had reversed the piece and had started turning the thin end. I did most of the shaping while it was between centres but was concerned that it might break off if I went thin. I found that I could turn about 1/2" then sand without too much chatter or risk. It was very slightly off centre when I reversed it but unless you saw it on the lathe you wouldn't be able to tell.

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This is what it looked like after it had been sanded to 800.

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Here's what it looked like polished. Not sure if I should have left it lightly sanded as I really like that look but wanted to see how good it would polish. I polished it with a paper towel and Brasso with the lathe spinning, an old trick from my Joiner days when working with plexiglass.

All in all, I think the experiment was a success but I don't think I'll be in a rush to try it again. I didn't actually keep track of the time but I suspect it took about 6 hours for me to turn and finish it.

ps. If anyone wants a chunk of rod to try, PM me and I'll try to arrange. I have about 10' of 1 1/2 and several smaller rods as well.

[Steve bellinger]

Well Pete i think you did a great job on that finial. So glad Steve talked you into giving it a go.Not sure if i like it better polished or lightly sanded. Ether way looks good to me.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Pete - you did good! I turn mine between centers until I go to finish the final form... then you really take your time and sand as you go. Frosted or clear... nice to have options! I have done both and have also done a few with a combination and they all work! Like anything else in turning... the more you do, the easier and faster it becomes!

Congrats on your first plastic finial! Now when you need something truly unique for a form... you have an option!

[Rick Markham]

Pete, that looks pretty cool! I like both the frosted and the polished look. I will have to file away your brasso on a paper towel trick. That will come in useful in the future I am sure.

[Jim Burr]

I love that Pete!!! You did a great job on polishing and shaping!!! Finials are to much turned art for me...I like useful stuff, but if those were my thing...I'd look at yours for an example!!

[Ken Glass]

Peter,
I enjoy turning Acrylic too. It is very stable and turns very nicely. I tried sanding to 1200 and didn't like the clear look as it looked as if it disappeared, so I usually like to go only to 320 or so. Here's one for reference.

[Peter Blair]

Very nice Ken.

[Trevor Howard]

Both are very nice, and I like the polished look. Looking at kens I am wondering how it would look with a small light inside pointing up to the finial to see how it would light up.

[Tim Rinehart]

Pete,
Nicely done and the step by step will be quite useful should I try this sometime. I too have an equal affinity for both the frosted and clear look and can see where a combination may be quite interesting.
I was curious to see in your details if you had experimented with a torch to add a final bit of clarity to the polish. Somewhere I thought I've heard of that being done. I certainly wouldn't experiment on a piece that I put so many hours into, but would be interesting to see if it can be done should you decide to do again.
Thanks for posting this, very cool to see different materials like this.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Tim - I have used the torch technique when dealing with sheet plexiglass and it works great. Just sand the edge down to 320 or more and then run the torch lightly over that edge to give it a glass-like appearance. Did find that the torch was not needed when turning because when buffing - on the lathe - the friction generates enough heat to do the same job.

I have made finials with portions of it frosted and other parts clear. Looks great but hard as heck to photo. In this example (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=8&attachmentid=172184), the ball portion is clear but the rest of the finial (above and below) is frosted.

I have also played with the idea of having the finial lit up from within and found that light will pass through the piece without highlighting any area. You have to have something within the finial to stop the light... like a drilled area or something for the light to reflect off of. I liked the look of the finial being whole... so stopped experimenting after awhile.

[Peter Blair]

Tim, I too used to use a torch when 'polishing' the edge of sheet plastic in my old flat work days but on this finial I simply sanded to 800 and all it took from there was a few seconds with Brasso and a paper towel.

Steve's comments are most welcome as I was also wondering about some method of lighting it up.

I was sort of leaning toward similar light of those plastic Christmas decorations that are lighted from within but after reading Steve's comments I think that the only light that is actually seen is on the END of the plastic so I would tend to agree that without something to reflect off the light would just pass through.

I have seen plastic that is carved through an end and paint or other coloured material is washed inside . . . . . not sure how this process is accomplished but I'm sure there are ways of adding extra details if one is willing to experiment and put in the effort.