Steps to Lathe an Acrylic Pen
- Place the blanks and bushings onto the lathe in the following order: Bushing, Blank, Bushing, Blank, Bushing
- Tighten the lathe
- Position the lathe's tool rest near the blanks and tighten.
- Run the lathe at a high speed
- Grab the Carbide Tool's handle with your dominant hand.
- Steady it on the tool rest with your non-dominant hand.
- Lightly press into the blanks to carve
- Continue until it's near the shape you want.
Steps to Sanding an Acrylic Pen
- Pull the tool rest away from the blanks.
- Grab a piece of sandpaper around the 500 grit range.
- Soak the sandpaper and/or the blank in water.
- Sand the entire surface of the blank. Be sure not to sand to far or you risk sanding down to the tube.
- Keep soaking throughout the process.
- Turn off the lathe.
- Use that same grit of sandpaper and sand it side to side.
- Repeat steps 4-7 until at least 1200 grit. Note, you can go further for an even smoother pen.
