Second Apollo with the first blank that came out of my new mold

[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska.

This is the second Apollo kit from Bullseye Turning that I have made. I think it turned out pretty good. It is a brass rollerball and I used the first blank that came out of the new mold I built about a week ago that I named Ruddy Brown - this is a link too that post "First Cast in New Mold". I had a few issues with gluing the components in but fortunately my fixes were successful. I also tried a little flatter shape on the top of the cap instead of just a round nose and I think I like it. I finished it with 2 coats of GlueBoost Blue (medium) followed by 2 coats of GluBoost Orange (thin) then I wet sanded with MicroMesh and finally I polished it up with a drop of the Step 6 Stadium Pen Blanks Magic Juice Polishing Compound.

Anyhow, here are the pictures of the pen, followed by a picture of the blanks when they came out of the mold. The color separation, depth, and swirls really come out in the turned pen.

Dave

EDIT: PS The Mini Lathe Steady Rest I bought from Little Machine Shop and the adapter I made to fit my JET 1221VS worked just great for supporting the ends when I was turning them to shape -- no vibration and no chatter at all. Plus the marks on the blank from the bearings were minor and cleaned up with a quick sanding using 600 grit.

The Blanks as they came out of the mold.

 

[KateHarrow]

Beautiful! Curious about doing a ca finish on resin - is it just for the extra shine? Either way it looks great

 

[egnald]

Beautiful! Curious about doing a ca finish on resin - is it just for the extra shine? Either way it looks great

Hi Kate, Doing GluBoost over Alumilite is something that I picked up from Mark Dryer and John Underhill. The first time I used GluBoost over Alumilite was because a small bubble (void) was exposed when I was turning a blank. It caught sanding dust and looked like a little white dot. Blowing it out and applying a quick coat of GluBoost filled it in so it would stop catching dust, buffing compound, etc. Here is one of Mark's Videos about GluBoost Over Alumilite. John Underhill also posted to a thread called Finishing Alumilite a couple of years ago explaining why he uses GluBoost on Alumilite. I guess after I started doing it I just made it part of my standard regimen when I turn Alumilite blanks. - Dave

 

[Hippie3180]

That is a beautiful blank, that pen is a winner Dave!

 

[tgsean]

Dave,

They look awesome mate. Love the colors and great finish too.

Cheers,
Sean

 

[montmill]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing so many details.

 

[mark james]

Beautiful blanks and stunning finished pen. Well done.

 

[Tanner]

That mica red and mica gold look so rich together. Add that to the Apollo gold and that's quite a winner! Seriously, that blank is pretty sweet!

 

[Jim15]

Great work.

 

[tomtedesco]

Very nice.

 

[sorcerertd]

That pour came out great and, of course, the pen also looks great!

Beautiful! Curious about doing a ca finish on resin - is it just for the extra shine? Either way it looks great

I do this also. It adds depth and durability to the finished product. I find that Alumilite doesn't hold a polish well, but holds up much better with CA. Some resins, like acrylester and even the rhino blanks, finish very nicely with no top coat needed, but are harder to turn. I guess that's the tradeoff.

 

[lisa77581]

Great looking pen and blank!