GLOAT ... and ?

[Rasmus Petersen]

well .. i got my first big order... 300 euro styles with box and engraved, i european yew(latin : taxus baccata)

Ahhhh and the fat man is smiling hehehe...

and now for the ?, gluing.. anybody got the most brilliant way of gluing that many pens i big batches, with the least amount of work... setup and technique...

i think i have most of the process licked.. plan on doing a lot at the time.. saw and prep all 300 at once. using rubberbands or to keep them paird will mark them with direction arrows .

then setup and drill all of them using a 6.9 mm drill or 2 :-)

then glueup. and i havent figured out how to get that process done fast and effective.

then trim either with setup on the disksander or carbide barrelltrimmer. (not shure yet)

using 3 mandrels turn 3 at a time complte with finish. stick on a pipecleaner and i a box. for every 20 or so i plan on doing assembly to make shure i haven messed up in the turning.

getting assembly press for this job and a drilling jig... (and several other tools hehe)

[Norm Zax]

All 300 in Yew? Whew! Sounds like a promising project. Take your time with the details. You'll need to build your reputation as well.
Lots of luck,
Norm

[Benjamin Dahl]

Rasmus, will you be using CA for the glue or something else? I envision the glue-up will take some time but once you get in a groove it won't be bad.
good luck on the project and as Norm said, pay attention to the details as this will be good for future business.
Ben

[Rasmus Petersen]

im not shure what to use but CA would be to expensive, and cumbersome i think. thats the advice i need...

I will rember to pay attention to detail. :)

[Benjamin Dahl]

I think a number of people use epoxy but I use thick CA and find it is pretty easy to apply, you just need to have some CA remover on hand to be safe. CA is a bit expensive but I find that I don't need too much and since it is fast, I can glue-up a large number of tubes in the blanks. I have not had an order as large as yours so I can't comment directly but I think you could get by with 2 or 3 bottles. when I price an order, glue and polish are factored in the price.
Good luck and hopefully some of the folks who use epoxy will comment.
Ben

[robert hainstock]

I use epoxy because I had too many separations with CA. The epoxy I use is a slow acting mix, and takes about four hours to setup compleatly. I mix it up, and then I use Q tip to apply it to the blank after which I insert the tube. I've never tried slow acting CA but imagine it would be similar to the epoxy in application and use. Then it would come down to cost and availability. The epoxy mix I use is available from Brownells.com at around sixty five $ US for 35oz. Ca would cost twice that much. PM me for more details if you like. :)
Bob

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what Robert said. I have had excellent luck with epoxy and use 30 minute so I can mix up a bigger batch to glue a lot of pens at a time.

[John Grabowski]

I would say use CA glue...It is only 12$ for the large bottle and I agree that 2 bottles should do it.

I have made over 100 pens and I havent had problems with CA once yet.

At least using the CA you wont have to mix up a lot of adhesive and then worry about getting it together before it begins to gel.

John G

[Scott Conners]

Polyurethane glue is slightly flexible and can help prevent cracking. It's pretty easy to work with, and sticks to everything. Moisture is what cures it, and the more wet the surfaces, the more it will foam up. That way you don't have to have any time invested in mixing up batches, you can just glue as fast as you can go.

[Greg Ketell]

Whatever glue you use one quick hint. Get some plumbers putty and roll out a 1/8" sheet of it and then press your tube ends into it to make plugs. This helps to make sure you don't get glue into the tube.

I personally use thick CA. You can buy it "in bulk" rather than buying the little bottles and that saves $$.

GK

[Andrew Derhammer]

I'd go with epoxy, get a slow cure and mix up in medium sized batches so you don't have too much which makes it set faster. Less chance of a blow out and IMHO easier than ca as there's no chance to get the tube in halfway and then have it stick, reserve CA for the finish!:D

[Rasmus Petersen]

thank you all. i will drop a report when im through the project :-)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Rasmus - Congrats on getting the order! Great start on becoming the second pro turner in Denmark!! LOL Haven't turned a pen yet - so can't offer any advise other than to pay attention to the details as this order could lead to something even better! Again - Congrats!

[Frank Kobilsek]

Rasmus

Congrats, Poyurethane is the ticket. Sqeeze some out on a piece of wax paper. With a small round wood stick, I use bamboo shish-ka-bob sticks, swab the inside of the blank, then insert the tube and bump it in place witht he dry end of the stick. You can move pretty fast if you have all the blanks and tubes ready and lined up like an assembly line. Try a run of about 50, if that is comfortable, prepare for a larger batch.

The only thing to watch is sometimes the foaming action of the adhesive will force the tube back out of the blank. So inspect things about an hour after you finish. If you have an 'out-ie' just push it back in.

Good luck with the job. I hope you still enjoy turning pens when you are done.

Frank

[Rasmus Petersen]

Steve : Thank you :-) second ? ....

Frank.. i might try that. but with 300 it would be a mess with too many "jumping" out agian... how much glue are we talking about inside the blank?

[Benjamin Dahl]

Rasmus, one reason I like to use thick-set CA is that I feel I have enough time to get the tube situated and there is not an issue of much mess on the ends of the blank. My largest order was for 50 pens, so not the 300 you have, but I found this is what worked for me:
I drilled and marked the blanks as you have described.
i then had my tubes arranged in two boxes (the kit I was using had two different lengths).
i put on some surgical-style gloves and went to work gluing.
I run a single bead of thick CA along the tube and twist/spin the tube while inserting in the blank. This coats the whole tube and I have not had a failure with the glue.
do the same with the next length (then keep the matched pair together for drying)
repeat until done.

it is a bit tedious but I found it went quickly. two tips I have for CA are to make sure that the blank is not hot (such as directly after drilling) or you risk having the tube fix before getting all the way in, and to have some of the CA debonding agent on hand.
Good luck and do let us know what you end up doing. Time saving on big orders is important I am always looking for ways to improve.

Ben

[David Drickhamer]

I'd go with a Polyurethane glue. Last year I was part of a turn-a-thon for Freedom Pens where we made 200 pens.
Dampen the inside of the blank (squirt bottle) put the glue right on the tube and insert, work back and forth a few times and let dry. Because the glue expands it will automatically fill any voids. After a few hours and the glue has set up take a knife and trim off any excess from the ends and any that might have gotten inside the tube. This will save a lot of time if you do this before if fully cures when you go to true up the ends. Make sure you where gloves when using this glue and let your blanks dry on a piece of waxed paper. I've never had a failure using this type of glue.
Dave

[Frank Kobilsek]

Rasmus

Just goober (technical term) some on the side of the tube and twist it in. After you do a few you'll get a feel for how much.

David's tip of spirsting the blank is good especial for non wood blanks. My shop is in the garage and plenty humid so I have not done this. But I will try his trim before it is fully cured trick.

Frank

[Rasmus Petersen]

I think i will try the PU glue on a couple of trial itmes.. One of the guys on my danish forum uses Araldite for lage batches (2 com slow curing epox)

David : (and others) anybody have time on the larger batches. eg. how many turners where you to make the 200 freedom pens? and the rest of you any time tables on the process .. i have a very generous calc. saying that with the sawup of dried yew, drilling gluing turning putting into boxes pach for shipping gettig stuff out of 1trillion little bags from PSI i land in the excel at 180 hours for one manworking clean straight hours..

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Rasmus you probably already know this, but just in case you don't, every part of the Yew is poisonous, but the flesh of the berry, so keep that in mind.

[Rasmus Petersen]

yep i know :-) and am planing to get my dust ext. up and running before i start the batch... and plan on using gloves and long tight sleeves for the turning bandsawing ....

[Rasmus Petersen]

anybody use the PKSQUARE http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKSQUARE.html
how its used and if its any good. i use the barrel trimmer right now... but would this be faster ?