For me, making acrylic rings were absolutely maddening. I came up with this method to get rings that were flat and parallel top and bottom. The block of wood must be perfectly flat and upper and lower sides parallel. I flattened one side on the jointer and then ran it through the planer, flat side down. The drill press table must be level and perpendicular to the spindle. I drill a series of holes of different depths with a forstner bit. I cut the acrylic pen blank on a miter saw and then placed in a hole slightly shorter than the ring. I then filed flush. So far I have done two rings and checked my work with a digital micrometer. One was perfect. Absolutely perfect. The second had one little spot that was out 0.001 mm. That came out on a piece of sandpaper on a granite tile in a flash. I hope this saves some of you guys some time.
Another trick I use is using brass and copper washers from McMaster - Carr. The brass can be had in different thicknesses. They don't need any work, they are already flat and parallel. I sand the flat sides to smooth them, but have found no high or low spots. The flat stock wood is from Woodcraft in different species. I bought 1/16" and 1/8" to begin with and will get thicker pieces my next order. They are already flat and parallel. Don't get the laminate, it comes with glue on one side.
Thank you, Sir. I have a wood lathe but didn't know how to get perfect cuts. I've tried an electric miter saw and two different manual miter saws and none of them made perfectly parallel cuts. The only other way I knew of was to sand the high end on a piece of granite or glass and keep checking with calipers. sand, check, sand, check. Drove me crazy and took forever.
Another nice thing about the "jig" is that the thicknesses are absolutely repeatable.
This is really innovative, and while you're going the "long way around," this is what I spoke of when I mentioned "working your way up" with respect to tooling. If you can figure out how to do something like this with what you have, you will be ahead of the curve when you get the "correct" tools. There is so much tool making that is necessary to make truly exceptional and innovative pipes that I almost think part of the training should be to go to a trailer-park in Mississippi and figure out how to build a nuclear reactor from scratch while there. Can I do what you are taking a considerable amount of time to do in 45 seconds? Yes, but I think you are building a skill set that will serve you well as a pipe maker. Great tip for those guys that are working without pipemaker-specific tooling!
Hey Harry- I drilled it in rod form first. I got a 3/4 x 3/4 x 5" round pen blank from Penn State Ind. and drilled it all the way through just for rings. I had to turn it around to go all the way through with a standard jobber length bit.
"Knucks"
ToddJohnson wrote:This is really innovative, and while you're going the "long way around," this is what I spoke of when I mentioned "working your way up" with respect to tooling. If you can figure out how to do something like this with what you have, you will be ahead of the curve when you get the "correct" tools. There is so much tool making that is necessary to make truly exceptional and innovative pipes that I almost think part of the training should be to go to a trailer-park in Mississippi and figure out how to build a nuclear reactor from scratch while there. Can I do what you are taking a considerable amount of time to do in 45 seconds? Yes, but I think you are building a skill set that will serve you well as a pipe maker. Great tip for those guys that are working without pipemaker-specific tooling!
TJ
Todd - Thank you for your kind words. It means alot to us newbie's when the experienced guys like yourself take their valuable time to give us advice, tips or critique a pipe for us. Thank you for your time. I'm ecstatic over the amount of time this jig has saved me over the sand and check method. Maybe it will help others and give me the opportunity to "pay forward" some of the help I've reveived here from others.
I was digging through some two year old posts and found a good one by Kurt. www.delviesplastics.com has cast acrylic sheet in various colors, thicknesses and sizes. Just drill it with a hole saw and good to go. Beats hell out of my jig. Oh, well, live and learn.
12x12" 1/16 or 1/8 thick $5.50ea
12x12 1/4" thick $8.50 ea
Other sizes and thicknesses available in a variety of colors.
Small price to pay for perfect rings with no metal lathe.
Wallace
