Plastic Pen Blank Question

[michael gallagher]

Someone gave me one of those hard plastic pen blanks with the swirly colors, now my 5 year old son wants me to make a pen out of him for it (he's becoming demanding, just like his mother). Here's my question - what do you sand / finish it with?

[Mike Vickery]

You just polish them you do not need to use a finish.
Personally I use micro mesh to sand most of the resin pens I have made.

[Sam Starr]

I wet sand to 800 grit polish with brasso. good luck
:D

[Doug M Jones]

After turning, I start with the 1500 grit micromesh and go all the way through 12000 and they really shine. Before I got the micromesh, I sanded up to 800 grit and used some HUT plastic pen polish. They were ok but not quite as shiny.

[Justin Bukoski]

If you plan on turning more of these or hard exotic wood pens you may want to pick up some EEE Ultra shine

Also ground pumice and rotten stone mixed with a little car wax works well too.

[John Hart]

I do the micromesh thing up to 32000 with water. Very satifying experience to get that high-res shine.

[Alex Elias]

I have done tons of them and finally I came up to the conclution that wet sanding is the way to go. The no dust all over and get a better result. I use regular wet sand paper or the MM whatever is available to you and go as fine as you can. What makes the final very glossy is the hut ultra gloss polish and to top it all off ren wax if you have it. Here is a link to some pen I've made you can judge your self. Also if you need help with the photography let me know. Good luck
Alex

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17038403@N06/1814979215/

[Bernie Weishapl]

I wet sand to 2000 and then buff with white diamond. No finish needed.

[Doug M Jones]

I learn something new every day here on the creek. In all the tutorials I read it said that wet sanding was an option but I never tried it. When I saw on this link that most wet sanded, I gave it a try. It goes much quicker and I think I get a better result. The micromesh doesn't seem to clog as fast either. I have 30 acrylic pens to do for my sister to give her employees as Christmas presents and this will be a super improvement in my technique. Thanks to all.

John,
I've never seen MM higher than 12000 where do you find the finer grits?

[Donald Barfield]

Glad to see the finishing advice as my wife wants me to try to make her a pen from an acrylic blank she picked out.

[Dean Thomas]

Another product worth using is from the Meguiar's line of car care products. I think that it's Mirror Glaze #7 that was designed for show cars and gets an absolutely glass smooth and miles deep finish. Specifically designed for application over car paints which are often much like acrylics. I think that Meguiar started out life making products to get rid of buff marks on high polish Corvette fibreglas bodies.

Worth looking into, I think.

[Bill Stevener]

Another product worth using is from the Meguiar's line of car care products. I think that it's Mirror Glaze #7 that was designed for show cars and gets an absolutely glass smooth and miles deep finish. Specifically designed for application over car paints which are often much like acrylics. I think that Meguiar started out life making products to get rid of buff marks on high polish Corvette fibreglas bodies.

Worth looking into, I think.

It's what I have used for the past two years now on acrylic turnings (not pens) and just love it.

[michael gallagher]

I have done tons of them and finally I came up to the conclution that wet sanding is the way to go. The no dust all over and get a better result. I use regular wet sand paper or the MM whatever is available to you and go as fine as you can. What makes the final very glossy is the hut ultra gloss polish and to top it all off ren wax if you have it. Here is a link to some pen I've made you can judge your self. Also if you need help with the photography let me know. Good luck
Alex

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17038403@N06/1814979215/


Now that is beautiful....if/and/or/when I get there I'll post what it turned out to be.

[michael gallagher]

Someone gave me one of those hard plastic pen blanks with the swirly colors, now my 5 year old son wants me to make a pen out of him for it (he's becoming demanding, just like his mother). Here's my question - what do you sand / finish it with?

All-

Thanks for the recommendations...I'll give it a shot!

[John Hart]

...John,
I've never seen MM higher than 12000 where do you find the finer grits?

Doug...I don't know where my set was purchased. The set of micromesh that I have was a gift from my brother-in-law. I'll check with him and get back to you. The 32000 pad I have is more like leather than anything else. Hmm..Wonder if leather would work?:rolleyes:

[Dean Matthews]

I have used the two step HUT finish on the acrylic pens... looks pretty good.

Word of advice though... VENT THE SHOP!!!!!

I would probably rather smell burning flesh than the smell that stuff gives off when it turns. I had to leave the garage door open for two days to get the smell out.

and wet sanding works on the wood as well as the acrylic. I typically take a damp microfibre towl and hold it to the wood while it spins. This will raise the grain a bit and then I use 600 to smooth it out. I will wet it again and then hit it with a paper towel to burnish it a bit. No complaints on my pens yet. =)