Ever had a pen "blow up"??

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ed4copies

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
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I have! Years ago, I was turning a celluloid blank. During my "damn the heat----full speed ahead" days when sharpening was highly optional.

But the "blow up" happened when I was sanding. I suspect the blank got really hot and KABOOM, all over the shop. Brass tubes remained on the lathe. I got smarter, heat became more of a consideration. (I later learned that a characteristic of celluloid is that it is explosive, when it reaches high heat!!! HHHmmmmm - confimed that principle in experimentation!!)


Since then, I have, on occasion, payed no attention while turning and touched my spinning blank with the skew, without it being supported by the tool rest. OF COURSE, the blank catches the skew and it advances to the tool rest RAPIDLY. When the skew contacts the tool rest, the point that is in the blank will "tear off a chunk" and a mess results, sometimes looking like it has "blown up". But, I now know the sequence of events and realize I caused the problem.

Can anyone tell me of any OTHER ways a blank can "blow up"??

Today's resins cannot get hot enough to explode (ala celluloid), as far as I know. What other factors could cause a blank to simulate an explosion? Can the brass tube expand, due to heat, enough to shatter the polyresin blank???

Need some input so I can answer questions more accurately --- I thank everyone for their opinions, or facts, or just conjecture!!!
 
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Ed wouldn't dare comment on pen turning and exploding blanks but I can say with absolute certainty that many of the adhesives used can gas off when exposed to high heat producing some exciting results the trapped gas has to go somewhere. I have seen rod tips go through plaster board along with many a ferrule on fishing rods
 
Ed not certain re CA but almost all two part epoxy adhesives will gas off at the right temperature since we are virtually sealing the wood to brass the gas has no way to escape I suspect the same could happen with CA also
note the temp has to be really quite high
 
I've been experimenting with pouring resins.. adding various components
to see the results. Some have been good, like different colored pigments
and powders. But I won't be making more nitroglycerin blanks anytime soon.

On a good note, the repairs to the shop are almost finished.
 
NewLondon88 said:
I've been experimenting with pouring resins.. adding various components
to see the results. Some have been good, like different colored pigments
and powders. But I won't be making more nitroglycerin blanks anytime soon.

On a good note, the repairs to the shop are almost finished.
Click to expand...


I wouldn't give up on it!!!!

I'll sell some to the ladies that never DROP their pens, but repeatedly return with pens that "just broke".
 
ed4copies said:
I wouldn't give up on it!!!!

I'll sell some to the ladies that never DROP their pens, but repeatedly return with pens that "just broke".
Click to expand...

Ah .. so I can put you down for the two I have left? :biggrin:

I'm liking this forum. I was beginning to think I'd never get rid of some
of the more unusual blanks. Maybe there's hope for the Alpo/Pearlex blanks
I've been holding onto ..
 
NewLondon88 said:
Ah .. so I can put you down for the two I have left? :biggrin:

I'm liking this forum. I was beginning to think I'd never get rid of some
of the more unusual blanks. Maybe there's hope for the Alpo/Pearlex blanks
I've been holding onto ..
Click to expand...


WOW,

Easy-to-find


Poop piles!@!!!!!
​
 
There have been a few that didn't even get the chance to see the lathe. Drill press "explosions" are rare but they do happen from time to time. I had one of Dawn's beautiful red swirl bakelite blanks disintigrate just last week. Total bummer!!:frown: And I see she's out of stock on those.
 
Someone needs to ask my husband about squaring the end of laminated blanks. He'll show you the scar between his thumb and index finger. :eek::mad::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
Now I've heard everything! :eek:

If I have a pen blank explode like that the first thing I'm going to do is look around and see if I'm in an episode of MacGyver, second thing I'm going to do is go change my shorts and the third thing is to seriously consider taking up drinking again :biggrin:
 
I've always wondered about 'stabilizing' blanks with resin under pressure. If the resin
is blocking the now-pressurized pores in the wood, what happens when we start
turning that resin away? Is there a series of mini explosions going on?
Enquiring minds want to know
 
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