Mkorish
Member
Dumb question what's the best way or what do I do to glue in a tube that has been painted? Do I have to lightly sand it after it has been painted for the 2 part epoxy to bond? Thanks..
Painted pen tubes..
- Thread starter Mkorish
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egnald
Member
You are likely to get lots and lots of responses to this one. I'll start off with what I do. I paint the inside of the blanks after drilling. I currently use spray lacquer because it dries fast. I don't paint the tubes (any more) just scuff with 150 grit and clean with denatured alcohol. I recently started adding a little drop of acrylic craft paint to my epoxy to color it. I am amazed at how little paint is required to color it - literally just a drop and the whole batch of epoxy turns white (or black, blue, etc.)
I don't know if that helps answer your question, but it's what I do. If I was going to take a stab at your question, I would just glue it in if it is already painted otherwise I would scuff it with 150 grit before painting it.
Regards, Dave
jttheclockman
Member
I do the same as Dave. I believe that painting the blank is the more efficient way to hide the tube. Good luck.
Hartwell85
Member
I always paint the inside of the blank. Also add a drop of colorant to the epoxy. Mark Dreyer made a good instruction video on painting acrylic blanks:
James Smith
Member
I guess that I'm more of a belts and suspender guy. I paint both inside the blank and the tube. If I only paint inside the blank and the tube happens to scratch a bit of paint off the inside of the tube during the gluing-in process. then I have a "window" effect showing a bit of the brass tube. If I only paint the tube and I happen to scratch some paint on the tube while gluing it in, I get the same negative effect. So, I use spray paint and paint both the blank and the tube. To paint the tubes, I place them on a cheap meat flipper and spray them over a trash can. To paint inside the blanks, I hold them in a spring clamp, give it a good spritz from each end of the blank and set it aside to dry.
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NGLJ
Member
I am with the "belt and braces" crowd for the reason James gave. I have never done anything else, so don't know if it is overkill! By way of a true story about a safety engineer that I came across in my engineering career, he literally had a belt and braces for his pants, and would you believe a piece of string in his pocket just in case 
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jttheclockman
Member
There is nothing wrong with what you are doing or saying. But there are always 2 sides to a coin. My thought is if you paint both the blank and the tube, you now put 2 layers of material that are not part of the product you are using and this could cause adhesion problems. If glue used has effect on paint then you now have 2 weak spots. Just a thought. If things are working for you then by all means keep at it.I am with the "belt and braces" crowd for the reason James gave. I have never done anything else, so don't know if it is overkill! By way of a true story about a safety engineer that I came across in my engineering career, he literally had a belt and braces for his pants, and would you believe a piece of string in his pocket just in case
NGLJ
Member
I always try and heed good advice, or else how do we learn. So far I have not had any gluing problems. The general consensus appears to be if you are going to paint only one part then paint the blank and not the tube. I will give that a try, since it makes less work!
James Smith
Member
I agree with you completely. There are multiple ways to do many, most steps in pen turning and as long as they work for the person, that's the one they should use. I've been painting both the tube and the blank for about 15 years or more and I VERY rarely have any problems. It takes me about two minutes to paint them both and I set them aside to dry for 24 hours.