what just happened here?

[SDTurner]

Check out my first failed attempt at trying to make a carbon fiber/fiberglass pen. I'm not sure what went wrong here. Per the pictures you can see that somehow I'm not sure if it's my gloves or the brand of medium viscosity CA glue that I'm using caused the green fiberglass to sort of melt and ruin my first attempt.

The process in the videos seemed easy but apparently not. When I put the CA glue on the carbon/fiberglass it wouldn't saturate into the fibers and go down to the painted tubes, instead it would just roll over to the bottom so I started sort of rubbing my finger over the tube while I put the glue on to make sure everything was covered in CA glue and no tear drops would develop at the bottom of the tube. I'm thinking by me running my finger across it back and forth while pouring CA glue might have caused friction and messed with the green fiberglass weave. That or the brand of CA glue i'm using might have reacted with the fiberglass and me rubbing my finger across it just made it worse.

I was imagining that after the CA glue was applied and dried over the sleeve, I would have a nice clean black/green look but instead I got this dirty hazy and tiny bubbles looking thing.

Any suggestion on what I should try? When I looked at the gloves, the finger I was using to rub across the tube was sort of turning green and I'm, thinking that's what messed up my first attempt of me rubbing my finger across the tubes while putting CA glue on. Should have I tried using Thin CA glue so that it would better saturate and penetrate into the fibers so I don't have to actually rub across the tubes to get the entire ting covered in CA glue? Is there a specific CA glue that is preferred over this Parfix 3401? I bought this at my local wood turners club and it's about 6 months old. I was told to keep it in the refrigerator and it's been sitting in there. I use it all the time when I'm gluing pen tubes to my home made blanks and it works perfect with that but some how not so good with carbon fiber/fiberglass sleeve that I bought from Soller Composites.

I also messed up my only pen tubes I had for Jr. Gent II. I was looking to get some locally but I can't seem to find equivalent at our local Rockler. I want to try and cast it again but the shipping on a pair of $0.95 pen tubes is 8 bucks from Exotic Blanks so it's not really justifiable. I knew I should have ordered extra tubed.

 

[Skie_M]

Cut off the excess carbon fiber on that tube, then mount it between centers or on your mandrel and turn away the messed up carbon fiber stuff till you're down to shiny brass.


Next ... if you want to try it again, I'ld start by painting your tube and letting the paint fully cure ... then, seal the paint in CA or something to ensure that the paint wont get "melted" into whatever you're casting over the tube.


If you want to try the fiber again, I'ld go with plugging the tube with play-doh or something to keep glue out, and soaking the fiber with epoxy and putting it on over the tube ... cover the entire thing with more epoxy and let it cure (some kind of 5-minute epoxy brand stuff should be sufficient). If you want the coating to be thicker, go back and add more epoxy to the outside till you have sufficient material to turn to diameter. Alternatively, you could try casting the whole thing in alumilite, starting from the point right after you plug the tube, and just pour the alumilite around the tube in the mold or what have you.

Once all that is done, use a sander to wear away the ends of the blank till you get to the tube and push out the plug... enjoy! (Best to make sure your "plug" sticks out a little at both ends, to ensure you don't hit the brass tube while sanding it down...)

 

[socdad]

Try powder coated tubes.

 

[SDTurner]

do you guys think it's the paint that I'm using is causing this issue and not me rubbing my fingers over the fiberglass/carbon fiber weave with CA glue to try and cote all of it? I had let the paint completely dry outside for about good 2 days in the southern California sun.

I'll post up the paint I used when I get home. Its' from Home Depot and I believe it was primer/paint all in one.

I don't have any means of powder coating the tubes. I wished I could powder coat them at home.

 

[Monty]

I have used the cheep spray paint from Wal Mart, Rustoleum, and Krylon to paint my tubes with no problems. I always wait at least overnight to 24 hours before I try to glue anything to the tube. The only spray paint I've had fail on me was Dulpi Color spray paint, the paint released from the tube when I tried to turn the cast blank. This happened 3 different times and only with Dupli Color so I don't use it anymore.
As for gluing the carbon fiber to the tube, I use thin (5CPS) CA. It will soak into the fibers a lot better than medium or thick CA.

 

[jttheclockman]

Slice the fiber off and peel it off. I do not paint the tubes when I use that stuff. It depends on the kit, sometimes I get colored tubes and always use black. If I do not have colored tubes I Tarnish the tube. To do this I use Brass Ager liquid. I am sure there are many ways of doing it like dipping in with steel wool or some other concoction. This turns the tube black.

Next I do not use any glue to adhere the sleeve material. I cast in Silmar41 so I use that to adhere the sleeve to the tube. I then liberally coat the top with some resin and let dry. I make sure I rotate the blank so it lets the resin self level and not have drip on the bottom. Doesn't take long for the resin to set up. I let sit for 24 hours and prep for casting my way. Good to go.

 

[SDTurner]

I have used the cheep spray paint from Wal Mart, Rustoleum, and Krylon to paint my tubes with no problems. I always wait at least overnight to 24 hours before I try to glue anything to the tube. The only spray paint I've had fail on me was Dulpi Color spray paint, the paint released from the tube when I tried to turn the cast blank. This happened 3 different times and only with Dupli Color so I don't use it anymore.
As for gluing the carbon fiber to the tube, I use thin (5CPS) CA. It will soak into the fibers a lot better than medium or thick CA.

So the paint I was using was Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover paint+primer.

Slice the fiber off and peel it off. I do not paint the tubes when I use that stuff. It depends on the kit, sometimes I get colored tubes and always use black. If I do not have colored tubes I Tarnish the tube. To do this I use Brass Ager liquid. I am sure there are many ways of doing it like dipping in with steel wool or some other concoction. This turns the tube black.

Next I do not use any glue to adhere the sleeve material. I cast in Silmar41 so I use that to adhere the sleeve to the tube. I then liberally coat the top with some resin and let dry. I make sure I rotate the blank so it lets the resin self level and not have drip on the bottom. Doesn't take long for the resin to set up. I let sit for 24 hours and prep for casting my way.

This is a dumb question but when you said you use Silmar41 to adhere sleeve to the tube, im assuming you are mixing small amount of Silmar41 with MEKP and pouring that over the sleeve that's stretched tightly over the tube and let that get hardened correct? I don't have Silmar41 as I use Michaels PR but I think they are very similar and I wasn't aware that PR would dry up and harden without any catalyst.

I also have 5 minute epoxy that's supposed to turn clear when hardened. What do you guys think of maybe using that and covering both ends of tube with the 5 minute epoxy and putting the sleeve over that? The end goal of this casting is to make sure that the ends of the sleeve don't pull a way after cutting the excess sleeve to the edge of the bras tube before using the mold to encapsulate the tube in PR resin.

 

[jttheclockman]

I mix a small batch with catalyst because I do more than one blank at a time as you could see in the photo. No I put the resin on the tube( I sand the tube to give it a tooth) and then slide the sleeve material over it. I will top coat it after I stretch it out and tie it off with the tie wraps. I top it to prevent air bubble when I go to cast it. Just because you glued the sleeve to the tube, you can still get air bubble from underneath and work through the sleeve. I prevent this with my top coating. I let that sit for 24 hours and then cast after I have trimmed.

I can not speak for cast-n-craft stuff. I used that once when I first got into casting and when I was done with the can I was done with the product. Will it work I have no idea. Yes the epoxy can work if it does dry clear. I avoid CA when casting if I can. If I do I will make sure it off gases before i cast. This is my method of doing this.