casting pens question

allen levine

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so I finally got my casting pen kit, the liquid acrylic, bought some powdered dyes, all seemed to go well, followed Jons instructions as well as the kits instructions, its been 24 hours exactly, my castings are still not dry, seemed just as damp as last night.
solid, but wet to the touch.
How long does it take for this stuff to dry?
I thought a few hours, but let it cure for 24 hours, and boy o boy I am wrong.
Theres little temp control out in the shop, so its hitting mid 80s in there, humidity is only bad at night, its been pretty dry here yesterday and today.

I was going to pm jonathan and ask, but Im pretty sure hes so busy with school starting and all that jazz, so I figured Id ask in case I did something wrong.
I put in 4 drops per ounce of hardener as stated in temps over 75 degrees.
 

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I'm not highly experienced in casting, but I've done a fair amount. I add the recommended amount of catalyst, let the item sit overnight and it comes out of the form the next morning. It's hard but still needs a few more hours to feel completely dry(un-sticky).
 
Hey Allen :wave:, sounds like it hasn't cured fully. I finally put two more drops than the recipe called for to get away from that scenario. Pull them from the molds and let dry or bake in the oven when Elen is at school!;)
If you poured in the pvc tube, I notice some of the kids come out sticky but dry up. Had one student cast his tubes in the blank and started turning anyway. Seemed to find the hard spot or else the spinning on the lathe dried it up. :huh:
It's only getting busy because we host our family reunion on Sunday of Labor Day weekend on our farm for the past 15 or so years and then Tuesday all day in Indy at the hospital with tests and doctor's visits.
 
did you overlook our invitation? I thought we were family?

my son is doing the barbeque movie night thing sunday night.

pens-the square mold the kit came with feels hard, only sticky to touch,as is the tops of the pvc pen blank molds, and its not like Im in a super rush to turn them, I didn't realize it can take days for a good solid cure. Tomorrow Im taking them out of the molds regardless.

I ordered 2 dozen pen kits from woodturningz, should be here soon enough.

I want to cast some bottle stoppers, but Im waiting to see how the color mix came out, I used the spiral from a spiral notebook as per your instructions, waiting a good 10 minutes or so for the solution to thicken up a bit, not sure how the mix in the tubes came out.
 
what a problem banging the casts out of the pvc piping, got em out, I made one too short, and when I cut down the square piece of 2 blanks, one blank split while I was drilling it....so only got 3 blanks out of the five.
The square blank was still tacky to touch, but felt solid enough to drill and put tubes in, so by tomorrow Im hoping to turn some pens, don't want to rush, as these are experiments I have 2 dozen pen kits coming in tomorrow or Saturday.

I used half pink, half blue, but I hardly see any pink, so I guess a little experimentation , but I still want to see how they finish with some flitz paste.

I have a few acrylic and inlace acrylester bottle stopper blanks, that I drilled incorrectly, or just too large for the chuck, so does anyone with experience think if I fill in the holes with the casting acrylic liguid I will be able to re drill and save blanks(I can turn one over and drill other side so fill in with color that will be ok)

I also tried to dye some polyurethane, didn't work, not even a hint of blue on either bowl I turned. Tough stuff to turn for me, dried maple, I might stick to Spanish cedar for turning, as I can sand off anything perfectly on that soft wood, just don't have enough experience, but a lot of blanks thank s to jim to keep practicing.
 

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so down to 3 blanks, one of the three cracked apart when I was barrel trimming it.
down to 2, decided to turn a dutchess pen, not my favorite, cheap looking pen, and I totally blew it.
Im so used to turning presimos, I left it way to hefty(fat), and no matter how much I polished it, I couldn't seem to get out some marks, never have this with acrylic blanks I purchase. Not sure why, Ill just keep trying.
Once I put the end on, I realized uh oh, way to fat, but I know Ill never get it apart, so its an Elen pen, use it at work, cant give it as a gift, its just too ugly.
I also noticed I could not get a high enough sheen with hut or flitz, as I usually do with purchased acrylic or inlace acrylester blanks.
Don't know why, maybe something about the way it cured?
So far, its been a crappy experience, a lot of time, nothing yet in return.
Looks like its my first pen I made, but I think my first pen came out better than this one.
You can see marks in the close up, eh......once I took it out into the sunlight, I saw it all, too fat, not enough sheen, and some scratch marks...back to casting again tomorrow, and Ill turn the other blank, a presimo, and be a lot more careful.
Heres a pic of my crappy workmanship, Im a little embarrassed, but hey, its just a bad day, and like I said, once I pressed the end cap on, I knew Id never get it apart.
 

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Okay, just posted in your other thread, feel free to stop by on your "jaunt". If you do stop, I'll show you how to tear apart a pen (and salvage all of the parts!). I honestly haven't drilled any that I casted as I knew I wanted the tubes in first. So can't help there. I use a wooden dowel on getting the blank out. Set the pvc on something's edges so the pvc is held up and you can rap the wooden dowel pretty sharply to "break it loose" and get it out.
 
Is there anything you could put in the tube to act as a release? I'm not really familiar with the specific resins used here so am not sure - I see Polyvinyl Alcohol being used (sprays on, dries clear), cooking oil appears to work for some types (i.e. spray Pam)... More of a question than a thought :D
 
I used a wooden dowel in my vise, smacked it until it came lose to bottom of tube, then smacked it until it popped out.
Tubes are rough inside now, tried to clean them out as well as I could.
Popped out of the tray with no residue at all.
 
Im guessing I turned 4 dozen or so good pens that I was confident enough to give as gifts over the past couple of years, maybe 3 years.
I don't nor ever will consider myself a turner, I do it when Im not doing flat work, or in between projects, or to kill time when the shop is a bit cold or hot and I don't want to work on flatwork.

So again today, I worked on 2 more casted pens.
One tube I didn't turn that great, but I managed to get a sheen I desire on acrylics. That's one hurdle I needed to get over.
The second pen, once again, the tube fell out. I have never had a tube fall out with that Loctite squeeze bottle, only crazy glue gel.
I just finished casting another 8 pens, experimenting with colors and mixing color technique.

I took a pic of the pen I made today, the picture is not clear enough to see my errors, not worth posting. Ill get a shot later if I remember.
Its not a gifter, I like the presimo roller ball, so Ill keep it.*it was a presimo kit that I damaged and figured Id use it on a blank for me, so I did.

After only 3 days of this casting, Im thinking to myself, wow, a lot of time, a lot of effort, and I don't think in the long run for the2 dozen pens Ill make over the next 2 years, it saves me anything, and I feel like Im using up a lot of time. Not that I don't have plenty of time, but in my head, it defeats the purpose of trying to get work out if Im waiting days for acrylic to dry, then so far, not having much luck with the blanks.

after today, I wont put together a pen unless its giftable worthy, but Im a bit discouraged with the casting process. If I was a pen maker, and turning was all I did, maybe Id concentrate on expanding all of this, but for me, getting some acrylic blanks for 2.50 for one tube pens, makes a lot more sense.

I will try to cast some bottle stoppers, one with the dice, and some other things.

Each cast I ruin on the lathe or doesn't come out right is costly.

I need a hashtag, whatever they call it, #discouragedinlongisland
 
Is there anything you could put in the tube to act as a release? I'm not really familiar with the specific resins used here so am not sure - I see Polyvinyl Alcohol being used (sprays on, dries clear), cooking oil appears to work for some types (i.e. spray Pam)... More of a question than a thought :D

I don't want to contaminate the acrylic why it dries.
Like jon said, a good whack or two it eventually comes out, Im going to let them cure for days before I try to knock them out.
 
Im still trying to get good casts, got some nice ones.
I tried some violet with gold, figured make it really light, and the gold tube might add to the gold, eh......but I got another good finish on my own casting, problem was my first time making a stratus click, I made the pen a tad too fat and the clip didn't sit perfectly.
I corrected that with the next 2 I made today.
one is curly maple(from Jim) and one is plain ole walnut. around 10 coats CA glue each.
happy with the results, so much easier making wood pens than acrylic.
building up my stash of little gifts for the season. Stick the pens in a tube with a tiny bow, my wife makes bags for the wine, and we wrap the bottle stoppers in a piece of fabric with ribbon as a nice combo. Im getting there, just need another dozen or so pens and a few more bottle stoppers.

cant gift two of those pens, too many flaws.
 

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Good-looking work, Alen. :thumb: The curly maple is especially nice, and I'll second Jim's suggestion to try dying some of it.
 
I have some powderd dye, and alcohol, Ill experiment on some flat pieces.......thanx.

IM not thrilled with the pen kits, but I only gift them out, so Im not looking to spend 15 or 18 dollars a kit.
 
I have some powderd dye, and alcohol, Ill experiment on some flat pieces.......thanx...

I'd suggest starting with a fairly "light" mix (not a lot of dye in the alcohol) and doing more applications as needed to get it as dark as you want it. Always better to make it too light and need it to be darker than it is to get it too dark and want it lighter. Also, double check and make sure the powder you have works with alcohol. Some of the powders I have only work with water. Either water or alcohol work, but alcohol doesn't raise the grain as much as water does. (Although you can always knock the grain back down on a dyed piece with light sanding at 400 to 600 grit. This sanding can also help accentuate the figure in curly maple, too.)
 
just wanted to mention to the few people I questioned about the stripped screw in my easy tools chisel.
I went with a suggestion from Jim Delaney(I think it was Jim), and after letting the screw soak in some wd 40, I gripped the blade with a pliers.
I finally got the blade to turn, and that loosened the screw.
The blade is damaged in that one or two spots, I could turn it and use a good spot, but I ordered new blades.
I did not do any damage to the chisel.
Mostly my fault, I didn't change the screw with the new blade last time and fresh wet wood seems to cake up pretty bad in the allen wrench screw head.
 
For round molds (pvc pipe) try lining the pipe with parchment paper. It's used for baking and is available at the grocery store. Soap makers use it to line their molds so there's no sticking and no residue. Just cut a strip a little bigger than the inner circumference of the pipe, roll it up and slide it in.
 
thanx tim, but I saw you post too late.

I cast some things in the liquid acrylic, name bracelet, something else not worth mentioning, I used 5 ounce Dixie cups, and did the castings a little at a time.
These castings were for bottle stoppers. I have no pictures, it was a disaster, and turning it was an even bigger disaster.
I did use the final liquid acrylic and casted a bunch of pen blanks for future use.

the past weeks Ive been turning bottle stoppers, giving them out as gifts with bottles of wine, without bottles of wine, and also gave out close to a dozen pens, most of them from Olive wood blanks I purchased a few months ago.
Nice touch to include a little card with them informing the recipient its made of genuine olive wood from Bethlehem, everyone loved the pens.

back to bottle stoppers.

My most well liked stoppers, (people inquired about purchasing more as gifts, which I don't do, I don't sell anything)were always the ones that I laminted 1/8 to 1/4 flat strips of wood together, common woods I use, walnut, cherry, maple, Spanish cedar, sapele, etc......glue them up, and turn them.
So I decided to just make a bunch of them, seems even with my amateurish turning ability, most like the different/constrating wood colors.

I also tried some pen blanks, but each one I turned so far blew/chipped out on me......always with the Spanish cedar. I will keep trying.

Heres some of my bottle stoppers. I stopped purchasing stainless as it gets expensive to give them as gifts, and the original ones I made years ago, with chrome plated, which are used, still look as good as the day I made them.

Its easy to see my turning ability for stoppers leaves a bit to be desired, but its not so much about the shape as it is about the contrasting woods.

I also took some old cutting boards that didn't make my cut, some old maple, glued it all up and turned a bowl, still in the process of applying wipe on poly. I think it came out ok.
some pics of work, or mistakes

ted-I ordered the new tool rests , a system that allows me to put different shape and size rests on a post
dan-one of those stoppers is from the blanks you sent me couple of years ago? don't remember when, I used most of that stuff, its beautiful wood, I have no clue what wood they are.
jim-the beech? bowls blanks are above my pay level........the catches actually scare me....its like turning stone, but I did cut apart one and made some pen blanks out of some nice silver maple? you gave me.
Jon-thanx always for casting lessons this past visit, my pen castings didn't dry completely to the touch for 4 weeks.
I think the reason they kept cracking out is because I didn't let them cure completely.

(the bottle stopper tops laying off the rack are the ones that didn't make the cut for a bottom, the blue one will be chipped apart and I will use the stopper on another one.)
 

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For round molds (pvc pipe) try lining the pipe with parchment paper. ,,,

Interesting suggestion, Tim. In most cases, the molds I've done have come out of a PVC mold after curing overnight. But, occasionally I get one or two that are a bit stubborn, perhaps due to different types or amounts of powdered dye. I have parchment paper for baking, so I'll have to try that in molding sometime!
 
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