Flame polishing Acrylic Turnings?

[John Sanford]

Just curious if anybody has tried flame polishing acrylic turnings, whether they be pens or kitchen implements, etc. If so, how'd it go? I know that flame polishing is fairly common in the plastic fabrication industry.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

I've seen a video of it done on the inside of handmade duck calls, but never tried it myself.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I have flame polished the edges of flat acrylic but prefer to hand polish any acrylic that I turn. You do that by sanding through the grits up to at least 600 grit - then turn the lathe speed up and burnish the acrylic using a clean cloth and applying pressure.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I have not tried a lot of acrylics, but, first thought that comes to my mind is that the flame could affect the glue that you use to hold the acrylic onto the pen/implment barrel. First trouble I had was just getting the acrylic to stay on the pen barrel in the first place. What glue do you use? TIA

[Steve Peterson]

I have not tried a lot of acrylics, but, first thought that comes to my mind is that the flame could affect the glue that you use to hold the acrylic onto the pen/implment barrel. First trouble I had was just getting the acrylic to stay on the pen barrel in the first place. What glue do you use? TIA

My thought to add to Kyle's comment is that you need to move the flame quickly to heat only the surface. You are not trying to melt the bulk of the material. Acrylic should be a poor conductor of heat, so maybe the heat won't even make it to the middle of a pen.

Steve

[Kim Gibbens]

Mapp burns very hot and very little time on the acrylic to polish it, I have only used it on flat work as well but I never had a problem with melting.

[Marvin Hasenak]

You are barely melting the top layer of scratches in the acrylic causing the scratched material to flow to a smooth layer. You need a steady hand, and be able to move at just the right speed. The Smith Little Torch is the preferred tool of the those that flame acrylic, but Gentec also makes a small mini torch for a little less money. A plumbers propane torch can work if you have the all of the stars and the moons lining up correctly, but I would plan on wasting a lot of time and propane before you get it where you want to be.

If you flame polish acrylic and the acrylic comes in contact with alcohol it can cause the acrylic to crack/craze.

I have done it, but prefer the old standard of sanding through 2000 grit, then hit it with the buffing wheels. Caswell Plating has some good compounds for buffing acrylic, and there is a good tutorial on acrylics on the penturners site. I think the tutorial is called something like stepping it up a notch. I had the advantage of already having a torch, so I didn't spend money for equipment attempting this the few times I tried it and I got pretty good results. For a person wanting more info, I would suggest Google and going to the game call forums for more detailed information.

[Keith Westfall]

I wet sand my pens up through the micro mesh pads (12,000?) very little time on each one as you go through. I cover the lathe beds with an old towel, and keep the pads wet.

Then I will sometimes use an automotive cut polish (Turtle Wax), or good old fashion Crest toothpaste. Just enough grit to polish very well. Lots of water with the toothpaste as well. Puts on a pretty deep shine...

I've done the edge of acrylic, but would worry about being able to "see" it on a turned piece to control the melt.

[Marvin Hasenak]

I wet sand my pens up through the micro mesh pads (12,000?) very little time on each one as you go through. I cover the lathe beds with an old towel, and keep the pads wet.

Then I will sometimes use an automotive cut polish (Turtle Wax), or good old fashion Crest toothpaste. Just enough grit to polish very well. Lots of water with the toothpaste as well. Puts on a pretty deep shine...

I've done the edge of acrylic, but would worry about being able to "see" it on a turned piece to control the melt.

The cast resin most people use on pens is not the same as the acrylics. I have no idea if you could flame polish the cast resin or not. I never tried it, besides it is so easy to get a good polish on cast resin I see no point in investing the money in a torch system.