# Source for plastic material for segmenting?



## Husky (Apr 18, 2007)

I am about to begin doing a bunch of segmented pens and wondered if anyone has any good source(s) for thin plastic material that can be used for creating thin boarders in segmented pens? I have previously ripped thin strips of various woods for this purpose but it seems it might be cost effective to utilize some sort of man made materials (say for thin black outlining) after one considers the intial cost of the wood and the waste from the multiple saw kerf cuts.

Anyone have any insight they can offer?

Stan


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## LostintheWoods (Apr 18, 2007)

Guitar picks and pickguard material is a good place to start.


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## Husky (Apr 18, 2007)

I never thought of that! Its worth a try. Thanks!


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## JimGo (Apr 18, 2007)

The black sheet from the back of a velobound report also works well.


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## Rifleman1776 (Apr 18, 2007)

Bleach bottles are a good source for white spacers. Widely used by gunstockers. And the price is right. Wal-Mart sells a thin (about 1/8") stiff foam material in colors. Being a foam it is great for covering sins of hard materials that don't perzactly line up. And it absorbs CA or other finishes to finish and turn hard. Very cheap.


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## cozee (Apr 18, 2007)

Credit cards, phone cards. I haven't tried it yet but since nylon can be dyed with Rit dye, perhaps these white cards could also be dyed.


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## Ron Mc (Apr 18, 2007)

Jim,
Can you tell me what a "velobound report" is?
I may want to play with it.


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## JimGo (Apr 18, 2007)

Something like this, Ron:  http://www.acco.com/productdetail.aspx?s=0&pid=25703

If you talk to anyone in a large company who does presentations, these things frequently get tossed out as the presentations are re-done, or once the presentation is over.


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## Ron Mc (Apr 18, 2007)

Thanks for the assist. I had no idea that is what those were called.
Time to hit my stack of them!


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## mick (Apr 18, 2007)

Don't forget 2 liter and 20 oz soda bottle caps. There's a variety of colors available!


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## Husky (Apr 18, 2007)

Thanks for a lot of ideas I certainly would not have thought about!

I have a lot to learn and this site is a great asset.

Stan


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## johncrane (Apr 18, 2007)

Thats a good one JimGo thank you.[]


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## oldtoolsniper (Apr 18, 2007)

Man, 
   Now I have to save pop bottle lids too. I may as well just begin dumpster diving! That will look good for a retired Marine. [)]


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## jkoehler (Apr 18, 2007)

remember the old saying " One mans junk is another mans treasure"
I find that i look at all garbage in a differnet view now. i can see a use in just about everything.


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## lwalden (Apr 19, 2007)

How many of us still have handfuls of the old 3 1/2" floppy disks? I have 'em in green, black, red, yellow, beige, blue, and purple....and they are very easy to pop apart and salvage the thin layer portions that are flat (no grooves or symbols/letters embossed into the plastic) on both sides.


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## keapople (Oct 8, 2007)

Where do you buy the pick guard matierial?

Has anyone ever tried Styrene? It melts easily is why I have questioned its ability to be polished to a shine...

Kirby


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## LostintheWoods (Oct 8, 2007)

Pickguard material can be purchased from many places. One I like is http://www.Stewart-MacDonald.com/. They have .030" and .060" black pickguard material for around $15, if I recall correctly. They also have white and a few other colors as well. If they can't help you, just do a google search for pickguard material, and you'll get lots of places that can help you!


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## Woodlvr (Oct 8, 2007)

JCollazo has them right here on our site. He is great to deal with and a member of our forum.

Mike


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## DaveM (Oct 8, 2007)

Pickguard material is great.  I used to toss this stuff out when I replaced a guitar pickguard, now I wish I had a bunch.  Warmoth's white celluloid pear is real celluloid BTW  It has all of the beauty and all of the quirks of that material.  

Another material that is fun to play with is actual guitar picks.  I always have a few that I don't like for some reason.  Jim Dunlop Tortex comes in some really neat colors based on thickness.  Guitar picks are a bit of a challenge, because they all respond to a different type of adhesive, but they come in a lot of colors.

Any of the plastic containers from your supermarket could be fair game for this too, as long as they have a flat section the diameter of a pen...  Eat it tonight, Write with it forever!

Poker chips?  Records?  I suppose almost anything would work, so creativity would be the key.

Dave


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## devowoodworking (Oct 8, 2007)

Have you tried using veneer? It's already thicknessed and all you'd need to do is split it to the width and you can still use regular white glue.


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## THarvey (Oct 8, 2007)

www.bgartforms.com - sell plastic insert material.  He calls the inserts "pen enhancers" on the website.  

Grizzly (www.grizzly.com) is a good source for pick guard material.  I have a local guiter shop the inventories these for repair parts.

Thin flexible veneers work well.

Another source is to cut the plastic covers off old binders.  This material is approximately 0.001" thick.  This is the same thickness as the enhancers sold by BGArtforms.

Tim


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## Rifleman1776 (Oct 8, 2007)

> _Originally posted by keapople_
> <br />Where do you buy the pick guard matierial?
> 
> Has anyone ever tried Styrene? It melts easily is why I have questioned its ability to be polished to a shine...
> ...



Grizzly:  http://grizzly.com/


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## fstepanski (Oct 8, 2007)

Curious, what type of glue does everyone use for wood to plastic or plastic to plastic?  Thanks!!


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## THarvey (Oct 9, 2007)

> _Originally posted by fstepanski_
> <br />Curious, what type of glue does everyone use for wood to plastic or plastic to plastic?  Thanks!!



Depends on the type of plastic.  CA will degrade some polymers. PolyPro glues hold well, but leave colored witness lines. 

Test a small sample with CA.  If it keeps its color and does not begin to melt, go with the CA.


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