# polishing the inside of a clear pen parts?



## flyrod (Mar 2, 2013)

Been playing around with clear blanks, How does one go about polishing the inside?


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## InvisibleMan (Mar 2, 2013)

I take pieces of micromesh,wrap them around a very small diameter knock-out rod and polish the inside the same way as the outside.  It's a pain, but necessary.


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## johncrane (Mar 2, 2013)

I would add some soapy water to the above method.


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## Chatham PenWorks (Mar 2, 2013)

I've found that the most important part of the finish is how you start. Make sure your drill is sharp, go slow, and keep it wet to keep it cool. Extra time spent here, pays dividends later.


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## flyrod (Mar 2, 2013)

*Thanks you guys for the advice...*

So do you polish before you tap the inside?


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## PenMan1 (Mar 2, 2013)

I use "culture swabs" (tightly woven q-tip type heads on long wooden dowel) mounted in a variable speed drill. I first polish with Novus heavy scratch remover, then Novus 2, and finally McQuire's PlaxtX. 

It's easy to do and works well.


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## plano_harry (Mar 2, 2013)

Andy, sounds like the best idea yet -- have you found any sources for larger swabs?  The ones I saw online looked pretty small dia.

I have used cut down, rounded oral sponge swabs to apply epoxy and paint.


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## PenMan1 (Mar 2, 2013)

plano_harry said:


> Andy, sounds like the best idea yet -- have you found any sources for larger swabs? The ones I saw online looked pretty small dia.
> 
> I have used cut down, rounded oral sponge swabs to apply epoxy and paint.


 

Yeah, Harry, I found a source and once again I forgot where. Someone here pointed me to a medical supply source that had these cheap. But for the life of me, I can't remember the name of the company.


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## Fireengines (Mar 2, 2013)

I use a gun cleaning cotton ram connectd to a drill.  I use the stuff from CSA Scratch Free on the swab.


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## InvisibleMan (Mar 2, 2013)

johncrane said:


> I would add some soapy water to the above method.



Yes, good point.  I do use water, but not soapy.  Never thought of soap, but it can only help I would think.


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## BSea (Mar 2, 2013)

You can find the long swaps on amazon.  I bought some awhile back.

As for the initial sanding, I use a 1/4 dowel with a slit cut down about an inch.  I did this on the band saw.  I then use different grits of abranet.  Just slide a piece into the slit, and sand the inside while it's on the lathe.  The take use progressively finer grits up to 600.  I'm sure you could use wet/dry sandpaper too.


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## PenMan1 (Mar 2, 2013)

Fireengines said:


> I use a gun cleaning cotton ram connectd to a drill.  I use the stuff from CSA Scratch Free on the swab.



Thanks for the idea! THAT is a MUCH BETTER MOUSE TRAP! You can buy the gun cleaning "inserts" at any WalMart or sporting goods store for about $1 in each size.

I have these in every caliber for use on my weapons. These cleaning pads are washable, reusable and the gun cleaning rod will stand considerably more abuse than a "tonsil swab".


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## Culprit (Mar 3, 2013)

For those who polish the inside of a plastic blank with sandpaper on a dowel, do you drill the hole slightly undersized, or does the sanding not enlarge the hole enough to cause a problem?


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## BradG (Mar 8, 2013)

Flame polishing 

How to flame polish an acrylic duck call barrel - YouTube


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## cnirenberg (Mar 8, 2013)

Brad,
I like that method.  Although, the pucker factor must increase exponentially when the flame enters the pen barrel.....


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## BSea (Mar 8, 2013)

BradG said:


> Flame polishing
> 
> How to flame polish an acrylic duck call barrel - YouTube



Has anyone tried this with PR?  This has been discussed before, but I don't know if anyone actually has tried it with pr.


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## BradG (Mar 8, 2013)

Unfortunately not as PR contains styrene monomer


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## Brooks803 (Mar 8, 2013)

BSea said:


> BradG said:
> 
> 
> > Flame polishing
> ...


 
I tried it with a small butane torch. Didn't do anything on colored PR. I only did the outside since I was only trying it out. It DID work pretty well on a well cured CA finish. It was sitting in the shop for 3-4 months before I tried it. I had only sanded it with 400 prior to trying the flame so it was pretty rough but smoothed out after hitting it with the flame. 

So maybe 1 possibility would be to run thin CA on the inside of the barrel to fill in any drill marks, etc. and then try the flame polish on that. Lots of work, but it may work.


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## Haynie (Mar 8, 2013)

Played around with flame polishing a ruined brooks blank and a propane torch.  Here is what I learned.  

1-It is doable but not easy

2-There is a miniscule line between polished and screwed up.  And when I say miniscule I mean so thin it is not worth the effort. and that was just the outside.


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## duncsuss (Mar 8, 2013)

PenMan1 said:


> Fireengines said:
> 
> 
> > You can buy the gun cleaning "inserts" at any WalMart or sporting goods store for about $1 in each size.
> ...


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## wortmanb (May 2, 2013)

I'm a tad late to this party, but I ran across this and thought it might be worth contributing to this discussion. Brian Gray's approach to making demonstrators....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPsij3XRZFo


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## wood-of-1kind (May 2, 2013)

wortmanb said:


> I'm a tad late to this party, but I ran across this and thought it might be worth contributing to this discussion. Brian Gray's approach to making demonstrators....
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPsij3XRZFo




Thanks Bret, that's a great video from Brian. You timing is actually perfect.


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## Darley (May 23, 2013)

flyrod said:


> Been playing around with clear blanks, How does one go about polishing the inside?



Have been playing around with my clear PR  3 years ago and to drill the blank I use oil if your bit is sharp enough you will not have any marks and no sanding is require, don't remember witch speed I drill though but work well, this was for a trial (s) for my Nautilus pen 

Hope this help


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