What's your method for drilling/painting/gluing acrylic blanks?

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jbswearingen

jbswearingen

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I have several acrylic blanks on hand but am nervous to glue them up for fear of doing it wrong...

I know I need to paint the tubes, but don't know which paint to use.

I know I need to drill the blanks, but do I use the drill bit that just fits the tube or do I need to go bigger to allow for the increased diameter of the coat of paint?

I currently use Gorilla Glue poly glue because I don't mind the wait time, I hate it when the CA sets too quickly, and I haven't tried epoxy yet. What glue/paint combos are "safe"?

Thanks for the help.
 
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Brad....A number of us use "Testors" hobby paint. Give the brass tube a light scuffing with 220 or finer sandpaper to help the paint adhere. You may also deceide to paint inside the acrylic blank so that the glue does not show through (use a small paint brush or q-tip). As for drilling, go with what the instructions advise. Yes, sometimes it will be too tight a fit (use a scrap piece of wood to drill a practice hole). In this case either go to the next drill size or use a rattail file to enlarge the hole. I wouldn't use grollia glue on acrylics but instead use a two part epoxy. My favourite is the system from CSUSA and is a 5- minute epoxy which will give you plenty of time for glue up. Darrell Eisner
 
I paint the inside of the blanks with cream coat paints, they are sold at hobby stores. They have the same thing at walmart but have a different name. I use a two part epoxy for glueing the tubes in. I drill the same size as called for by instructions, then if needed I sand the inside of the tubes with a dowel wrapped with sandpaper.
 
I do basically the same thing as Phunky_2003. I've used both the acrylic paints & testors, but prefer the acrylic paint because it dries faster. Be sure & let the paint fully dry before gluing. Dry to the touch is not dry. I usually wait 24 hours after painting to glue. I also mix the same color paint with the epoxy. And I also paint the brass to match.This has worked well for me, but I still can get a scratch from time to time.

One other thing I've started doing is to turn the blank down to about 1/8th to 1/16th from final diameter & polish the blank. This makes it easier to see any imperfections in my paint job. Obviously, it will depend on how transparent the blank is. And as Phunky_2003 mentioned, I sand the inside of the blank prior to painting. This removes any marks left by the drill bit. Be sure & clean the inside of the blank before painting. I have 2 dowels with sandpaper in different grits.

Hope this helps.
 
As James said Delta Creamcoat acrylic paint works well. If it's recommended by Andy (Penman1) and Curtis (MesquiteMan) IT MUST BE GOOD! I haven't had any problems since I switched to it! :)

5 Minute Epoxy ... I get mine from Monty at Wooden Wonders (www.woodenwonderstx.com) also a great source for CA glue! :good:

I drill with the recommended bits and seldom need to enlarge the hole to allow for paint but that is easily done with a file if need be. I like to add a drop of paint in the Epoxy to tint it. Q-tips work great as brushes for painting the inside of the blanks.

If your in a hurry, set them in a toaster oven to hurry the drying process.
 
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