Gluing pen tubes in.

Garry Foster

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Pen turning

I have read several different ways of keeping glue out of the inside of the tubes...

Of what I have tried I have had very limited success. I know there are several here that do really good work and wondering if you woulld share what works for you as to glue, and keeping the keeping the tubes clean. Or cleaning the glue up if that's the way you go.


Thanks for any and all tips..
Garry
 
Garry, I use plumbers putty, put a slug of it in each end (a 1/2" or so) and when the glue is dry take a piece of dowel rod and push it out. The putty can be used over or just toss it, it's cheap and disposable.
Chuck
 
Garry, I don't worry about it. First of all, I sand my tubes on a mandrel so my sanding lines are good and are at a 90 degree angle to hold better. For my students, I just cut pieces of wood on the bandsaw that fit in the tubes about a 1/4 of an inch and I show them to put a ring of glue around the end that will go in first and then three stripes from the front to the middle on each tube. Then when inserted into the blank, twist the tube to smear the glue around the tube completely. A little glue should come out the end (that way you know you have 100 per cent coverage inside) and I just swipe the end on an old paper towel. When you barrel trim with the correct barrel trimmer, the guide will help you clean out any glue. That is also why I have students glue one day and barrel trim the next, I know their glue is hard and will trim out of the inside if it is there.
 
Pen turning

I have read several different ways of keeping glue out of the inside of the tubes...

Of what I have tried I have had very limited success. I know there are several here that do really good work and wondering if you woulld share what works for you as to glue, and keeping the keeping the tubes clean. Or cleaning the glue up if that's the way you go.


Thanks for any and all tips..
Garry
Hello Garry; I use a substance called baseplate wax.
http://www.penblanks.ca/Baseplate-wax/

It's used in the dental industry. At a $1.00/sheet it's a little expensive, but..............
 
I use five minute epoxy and apply to the roughed up tube with a toothpick. I clean out the end of the tube with the same toothpick. If any gets inside it is reamed out when I square up the blank.
 
I use epoxy on the roughed-up tubes, and any that gets into the inside of the tube gets cleaned out while fresh with a Q-tip and acetone. My pen mill doesn't get all the dried glue out of the inside of the tube, so I make it a point to remove it all while it's still wet.
 
I slice a potato into ¼” slices.
Just push the tube into the potato slice and ‘cookie-cutter’ a plug out and leave it in the tube.
Stops any glue from entering the tube while you insert it.
 
Wow Lots of info.. I'll reply better later on but thanks for all the ideas. I use a pen mill but it leaves a little here and there. Chuck the plumbers putty is a new one on me.

Thanks to all!


Garry
 
Another thing I do is to get a pistol cleaning kit. I use the copper wire brushes and run them thru the tubes till they are shiney. It cleans out most anything that may be in there. I had trouble with a certain click pen from woodcraft. If there was just any little speck of glue in the tube it would not work right. So I started using the cleaning kits and stopped having troubles. So I use it on most pens before assembly.
 
Another thing I do is to get a pistol cleaning kit. I use the copper wire brushes and run them thru the tubes till they are shiney. It cleans out most anything that may be in there. I had trouble with a certain click pen from woodcraft. If there was just any little speck of glue in the tube it would not work right. So I started using the cleaning kits and stopped having troubles. So I use it on most pens before assembly.

I do the same thing... never worry too much about getting a little glue inside the tubes... clean out what I can while it's still wet, then before any assembly, I run the wire brushes through the tubes... on one or two occasions I have to take a little knife blade that will scrape out anything the brush might leave.
 
Thanks again for all the advice..

I do use a pen mill but on some tubes the reamer isn't tight enough to clean off everything. I have only turned 10 or so pens and have tried polyethylene, a couple of types of CA, marine epoxy I have in bulk as well as hardware store tubes and last tine some of the 6 minute epoxy in squeeze bottles. So far I have only had on failure and it was on a Big Ben where the piece that is by the finial has a small crack. Wood was BOW and it tells me I need to start keeping a log as I don't remember the glue.

On the last pen I used the 6 minute epoxy and swabbed with acetone while still uncured but still had a couple of small dobs of glue in the pen. That is why I was thinking of blocking things. I had melted some paraffin down into a thin sheet but couldn't keep it in the tubes. Ii have most sizes of gun cleaning brushes but had never tried them...

All in all I have been pretty satisfied with the way things have turned out but I know a couple of times I have had glue in the tubes that caused the press fits to be a little to tight.

Plumbers putty, dental wax, potato, play dough, nothing seems to be what you all use.
Thanks Again guys...
Garry
 
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