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Turning acrylic

John Torchick

John Torchick

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I have a pink pen blank that I want to turn for a custom fly rod for Casting for Recovery. It won't take much turning except for the tenon for the reel seat. I have the standard turning tools- skews, roughing gouges, parting tool, scraper. What would be best? Do I need to get something else? There is a rod builder that used carbide tools on a metal lathe. BTW, I have micro sandpaper down to 12K grit. Your advice is most appreciated.
 
I find acrylic turns nicely with the bevel floating over the cut surface in a bevel riding cut.
Skew will do "reel" well. Spindle gouge acceptable.

The sanding You will need to go through fine grits until it stops showing scratches. 16000or 32000 I have use the micro mesh...
Also there are a few fine abrasive polishes that work well as a final abrasive.
Dr. Kirks from craft supplies is one I have used. It works well.

The acrylic will be dull until the scratches are removed sort of like glass you find at the beech.
The smoother it gets the more brilliant the color becomes. You might look at some of the pen turning sites.

The pen turners use a lot of acrylic and have defined regimens for getting perfect surfaces.
Think or a rod grip as a fat pen.
 
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There are different types of acrylic, polyester resin and urethane are the two most common. Polyester resin can be really brittle and aggressive scrapping will result in a popcorn sound. That means lots of chip out. So light shearing cuts at high speed works the best. Alumilite (urethane) is easier to turn and takes impact better in the final product. I don't know what Acrylester blanks are made from, but they are really brittle.
 
I get a glass like finish using Micromesh up to 12,000 grit followed by Novus2 polish applied with a cotton ball. Don't use a rag or a paper towel or anything other than a cotton ball for the best results. Before you start sanding, follow Al's advice on bevel gliding cuts and make certain that the surface is smooth, but also that it has a continuously flowing shape that is free of unintended inflection points because a high gloss finish will highlight any imperfections.

I just noticed that this will be used for the reel seat. The acrylic is easily scratched so if it is something that will be used rather than a display piece then perhaps a polished surface might not be the best finish. A satin or matte finish might be the best way to go. Save the polished finish for pens and bottle stoppers.
 
Bill, this will be used on the water. How do I go about getting the satin finish you describe? There are couple of pen turners in our chapter. I'll contact a couple of them to see how they do their pens. One fellow said he does about 500 pens a year. That's a lot of pens!
Richard, this is a pen blank from Woodcraft, #159563.
 
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John, I think that if you stop at about 2400 or 3200 grit on the Micromesh that might give the desired effect. It is always possible to "back down" to a lower grit if the surface takes on too much shine. When using Micromesh, 6000 grit is where a gloss first begins to show and 12000 grit produces a sparkling gloss. The Novus2 removes any residual haze. It would be good to get recommendations from as many others as you can find because there isn't just one way to get the results that you want.
 
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Satin finish is easy. Just hit it with 4/0 steel wool. If that's not dull enough try 600 grit. Probably the easiest is to simply stop sanding when you think it has the look you want. That could be anywhere from 400 on up. The good part is that you can always back up.
Probably the most important part of turning plastics is to take it slow with light cuts. Even with bevel rubbing cuts if you force the cut or push too fast it will chip out. Depending on the shape a skew may not be the best tool. If you have a spindle gouge that is probably the best.
 
John T,

I've turned various plastics (and non-ferrous metals) on the wood lathe using mostly Thompson spindle gouges and skews. Acrylic was pretty easy to cut but will get soft or melt if turned or sanded too fast.

For a matte finish I tried various things including various sandpaper grits, pumice, steel wool. It all worked, giving different effects. The picture shows some clear acrylic tops. The glossy bottom of one is just sanded with the micromesh papers, not polished. I like the matte finish better.

aluminum_brass_plastic.jpg

JKJ
 
John,
I'd go for the bling and polish the insert up, even though I normally prefer subdued schemes. The place where the reel attaches may get scratched by the feet, but that section doesn't show when the reel is on or held in fishing position. Your goal is to make someone very happy when they first see and hold the rod. After that, it'll either be a show piece and stay nice, or get used and maybe get scratched. More likely, they'll step on a guide or break the tip off in a car door. 😛

Dean
 
Dean, thanks for the info. I have rods that look like they went through Normandy on June 6, 1944.
 
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