Acrylic Pen Question

[Clint Schlosser]

I attempted to turn a pen using an acrylic Blank. The whole process went well but I noticed that I turned it a little thin and I can see through the acrylic to the ugly brass insert underneath. Is there something a person can do to account for semi-transparent acrylic blanks? Or did I just get a bad blank? Has anyone else encountered this?

[John Terefenko]

Peopl;e use paint to cover the brass. Some use powdercoat.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Clint I rough my brass inserts and then give them a light coat of Krylon white spray paint. Haven't had a problem.

[Mark Hix]

I paint my tubes.

[Stan Cook]

Paint the inside of the blank. Otherwise, you will still be able to see glue lines. Adding pigment to epoxy is also helpful.

[Brian Goulet]

This happens on certain acrylics, there's nothing wrong with yours. I have done the paint thing and it works okay except sometimes the CA glue I use to hold the brass eats away at the paint and you can see a goopy-swirly mess of glue and paint through the acrylic. There is a product called "Black-it" that is a chemical agent that blackens brass, which works for most types of dark acrylics.

I'm still trying to find a good way to do it for light acrylics like whites and pinks. Does anyone know if epoxy smears the paint on tubes as bad as CA glue, or is there some other way to get a better result? My customers are very discriminating, and I'm trying to find the best solution.

[robert hainstock]

I used the paint method a few times, and found that it was being stripped off in places on insertion. You can get a chemical blackener at you local hobby shop. WARNIG! If you use it know that it is an acidick liquid and will remove brass upon extended exposure. It doe'nt strip off like the paint. :eek::):)
Bob