Pen turning

[T56 Impala]

Okay, not sure if this the right place for this, but I'll ask anyway.

Does anyone here turn Pens? I started turning them years ago and give them away as gifts. Family, friends, teachers, people like that. If you turn them, then you know they are not the most challenging of things to do. Some of the more exotic woods can make them interesting but still pretty easy to do.

I haven't made one in nearly 6 years. I usually used the harder exotic woods like Bloodwood and Purple heart. Wenge is one of my favorites. Anyway, I have never turned the acrylic blanks. Does anyone have experience with these? At what speed should I set the lathe? I'm going to make one for my son and don't want to blow it out or melt it. I know that going too slow with hard woods will cause blow out and I assume that going too fast with plastic would melt it.

For the record, I have a Delta Midi with extension bed. It uses pulleys to adjust the speed. 500 - 3250 rpm.

 

[thirdmouse]

Post some pics of your wooden ones. I'd be interested in doing it.

 

[Steve from Socal]

I have turned cast acrylic with very sharp HSS at high speed and high feed with good results. Not pen bodies but parts for displays. You will need to polish the tool marks. I used around 2000RPM for 1" diameter stock, on 1/2 I would try 2500 or so? Light depth of cut and fine feed seemed to work best on finish passes.

Steve

I didn't make them but, I do have and use many Parker Vacumatic's

Steve

 

[jayoldschool]

The kids make pens in our school shop. The pens are really nice! They have started making them out of the acyrlics recently. There is one that has coffee beans in the plastic, so when you turn the block, the beans get cut down. The end product has a nice coffee smell. They get the supplies from Lee Valley. I can ask the shop teacher about lathe speeds if you like...

 

[Kevin54]

Make sure you have a small radius on the tip of your cutting tool. If it is a sharp point, you will not get a good turning of acrylic. With coolant you can run way higher speeds, without a coolant you want to run at a slower speed so as to not melt the acrylic. Somewhere around 600-800 rpm's.

 

[T56 Impala]

Well, I didn't get too many fast responses, so..... I dove in head first!

I set it up to run 3450 to start. NOT a good idea. I had one not only blow out, but nearly blew up in my face! Ended up at 1250 for the second try. Good speed IMO. It turned smoothly. I sanded it with 150, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, 10000, 15000 then applied wax. Its pretty nice. Not perfect but not bad.

I'm not sure I would do another one. The smell/fumes kinda got my throat roughed up. Add that to the mess and I think I'll leave it to others. I did turn a Zerba wood, Bloodwood and Purple heart pen while I was at it. The Zebrawood doesn't shine up too well, but it has an interesting grain. It kinda looks like a negative of a Wenge pen. The Blood wood and Purple heart turned out as well as ever.

 

[Flathead Youngin']

no, i haven't but i'd like to try......

and then let the kids at work try it.......with the older ones, especially around Christmas time, i think they'd like it.....

i'm always flipping through the peen state catalog...

are you using a mini lathe or a regular sized lathe?

 

[mbatarga]

T56,
The Woodworking Show is being held this weekend (Fri-Sun) at the North Atlanta Trade Center off 85 at Indian Trail exit. One of the vendors there offers pen turning "training" on the spot. They've got knowledgeable folks right there to guide you through making your own. I think Admission runs around $8-10.

 

[nolatoolguy]

Ive looked into it. I really want to but its just one of those things its expensive to get a mini lathe an a setter an then the press for the tubes an then you either have to buy blanks drilled or pre drilled and well it all comes down to moeny.

I had to prioritze. And well pens didnt win.

I really want to thoe, its on the list of before i die

 

[Kevin54]

Well, I didn't get too many fast responses, so..... I dove in head first!

I set it up to run 3450 to start. NOT a good idea. I had one not only blow out, but nearly blew up in my face! Ended up at 1250 for the second try. Good speed IMO. It turned smoothly. I sanded it with 150, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, 10000, 15000 then applied wax. Its pretty nice. Not perfect but not bad.

I'm not sure I would do another one. The smell/fumes kinda got my throat roughed up. Add that to the mess and I think I'll leave it to others. I did turn a Zerba wood, Bloodwood and Purple heart pen while I was at it. The Zebrawood doesn't shine up too well, but it has an interesting grain. It kinda looks like a negative of a Wenge pen. The Blood wood and Purple heart turned out as well as ever.

Try slowing it down some on your turning. Then kick up the rpm's to around 1800 when you sand. Use some Wet or Dry sandpaper and a little water. Start with about 800 grit. You can stop at about 1200 grit. Then speed up your rpm's again to around 3000 and use some Mequiars plastic polish on a soft cloth. The plastic will be like glass. You shouldn't have any fumes off of it at all.

 

[Yonnee]

Hey T56 Impala.
I'm not a pen turner myself, never tried... maybe one day. However, I'm on a forum here in Australia that has all sorts of Woodwork, including heaps of pen turners. Some of the stuff these guys do is just amazing.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f69/

Got any pics of how yours came up?

Cheers.
Yonnee.