Resin Pens - Control Over The 'look'?

[NewPenMan]

Recently watched a video of an Edison resin pen being lathed. It was informative to see that "raw" resin pen blank. I've always wondered how much control the pen designer has over what the finished swirl or finish or pattern looks like.

Do they have a lot of control, ie..if they imagine it, they can get that to come out in the final resin batch, or is it more of a pot-luck situation as far as what the swirls and patterns will turn out?

 

Thanks for any clues about this.

[dneal]

Recently watched a video of an Edison resin pen being lathed. It was informative to see that "raw" resin pen blank. I've always wondered how much control the pen designer has over what the finished swirl or finish or pattern looks like.

Do they have a lot of control, ie..if they imagine it, they can get that to come out in the final resin batch, or is it more of a pot-luck situation as far as what the swirls and patterns will turn out?

 

Thanks for any clues about this.

 

A little of both. There are a bunch of videos of people making pen blanks.

 

Here's a random one...

 

Edited March 27, 2015 by dneal

[Jamesbeat]

I worry about the longevity of polyester resin pens.

It's pretty fragile when compared to, say, acrylic.

 

Sheaffer used some acrylic resin in the late 90's that is now known to suffer splits and cracks.

 

If acrylic made by a plastics manufacturer can go bad over time, what will happen to homemade polyester resin?

Home users have much less control over the chemistry.

 

I made some stuff out of polyester resin a few years ago (just the colorless resin, no fillers) and it looked perfect when new.

however, it yellowed dramatically over a year or so and developed internal fissures.

 

I cast some pen blanks with it recently but was not happy with the results.

It machines beautifully, but thin sections are very weak compared to acrylic.

 

I'd be more concerned with that type of thing than what pattern possibilities exist.

 

I also noticed a bizarre phenomenon where people selling polyester resin blanks call them 'acrylic'.

I got so excited about all the patterns that were available until I discovered that they were just openly lying about what material the blanks were made of.

[NewPenMan]

Is acrylic the superior pen body material?

 

How does it compare to vegetal plastics or celluloid?

Edited March 28, 2015 by NewPenMan

[Jamesbeat]

In my opinion, acrylic is superior in durability and stability, but that doesn't necessarily make it 'the best'.

There are plenty of very beautiful celluloid pens that are nearly 100 years old and in great condition.

If it is properly made and cared for, celluloid is great, and has an advantage over acrylic in that it can be colored and patterened in a way that can't be duplicated in acrylic.

 

I believe that the acrylic '90's Sheaffer Balances cracked because of the colored fillers, not the acrylic, because the plain ones didn't have the same problem.

 

I can't be sure, but I think 'vegetal resin' is some kind of celluloid material, as celluloid is made from cellulose, which is derived from plants.

 

The only plastic commonly used in pens that I am dubious about is polyester resin.

It can be colored very nicely, but I don't think it will last as well as celluloid or acrylic.

[pyramidValley]

I sat here for like an hour watching related videos on youtube. I cant believe how simple it is to make them!

 

Mint, i'm curious to know about the internal fissures that developed, were they stress related or just completely random?

[Jamesbeat]

That was me, not mint.

The items that I made were for various sci-fi prop replicas, ranging from small stuff the size of a hazelnut to larger stuff the size of small apple.

 

All of the items I made were kept in my apartment, and were not subjected to extremes of temperature, very bright light etc.

In fact they were kept in the same conditions that you would expect a pen (in use, not stored in a case) to be kept in.

 

The items were single-pour, not layered.

 

I used lab glassware measuring beakers, and followed the directions to the letter.

 

I made many of these over a period of time, and used several different brands of resin.

 

Most were uncolored, but I did make some colored items, for which I used colorants sold specifically for coloring polyurethane resin (made by the same brand as the resin).

 

The yellowing took place over several years.

The items looked great (like glass) for a few years.

 

All brands of resin that I used were marketed as 'non-yellowing'.

 

All of them yellowed/darkened to some extent, (some severely) and the yellowing was distributed evenly throughout the material, not just on the surface.

Colored resin items that yellowed just appeared darker.

 

Probably around 1/4 of them developed internal fissures.

 

The fissures were within the material, and could be seen by rotating the item in the light.

The fissures were not visible from all angles, but when the light caught one, it would look silvery because of the internal reflection.

 

Some of the fissures made their way to the surface, but most did not.

 

The fissures appeared to be random, and took place over the next 3-6 years after casting.

 

The fissures seemed to happen sooner in the larger objects, but smaller ones were not immune.

 

Both colored and non-colored items were affected.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Jamesbeat

[bgray]

I agree with everything that Jamesbeat says here.

 

My experience with Poly Resins have not been good. I won't use them, as I don't feel that I can stand behind them. They are too brittle. When I tried them, I could sometimes literally pull the cap off the barrel and shear off the threads. And at times, the threads would not even survive the machining process....they would simply break off as the were being machined, even with very light repetitive cuts.

 

This lends them to be a much better material for kit pens, where threads are not cut into the material.

 

Now all this being said, this was about three years ago. Maybe the Poly Resins are better today, but that was my experience previously. I haven't revisited them since.

 

In regards to your question about having control over how the material will turn out, we don't have control over what comes to us, but at times I can tell before turning a piece that it will have more swirls, more streaks, more burly, etc, by choosing one rod over the other. So if a customer wants us to try our best to make a pen with more or less of a certain feature, we can usually do this...not always, but usually.

Edited March 29, 2015 by bgray

[Jamesbeat]

Thanks, it's nice to have the opinion of such an expert!

 

As I said, my experience with polyester resin was not pen-related, but I believe the problems that I experienced would apply equally to pens.

[Carl Fisher - F3 Pens]

Just about anyone can cast a blank, but it takes an artist to have any chance of controlling the outcome. In my opinion there are only about a half dozen pen blank makers that I would consider to be artists. Can they 100% control the final look as in "put swirl x in position y", not really. But they can control how the colors interact, do they mix or bleed? Do they fade or gradient? Do they have a chatoyancy? And many other factors that control the final look of the blank.

 

As for polyester resin? I can't stand the stuff on anything but a kit pen. Drop a polyester resin blank on the floor and after you pick up the several broken pieces you can toss it in the trash. The custom poured blanks I use are made from a polyurethane resin that typically goes by the brand name Alumilite. Alumilite has been hugely supportive of pen makers and is in my opinion much better suited to our needs. It's softer than acrylics or polyester resin which is actually a good thing in this case. A little bit of give in the material overall prevents the cracking and shattering that polyester resin is prone to. It also provides a bit of warmth to the final product no entirely unlike ebonite. Sure it doesn't polish up as glossy as acrylics or polyester resins, but the trade off is worth it in my opinion.

 

Acrylic became the generic name given to most plastics. Acrylic Acetate, Lucite, RhinoPlastic, etc... So when you talk about acrylic, it's important to know which one you are actually referring to as each as different working and finished properties.

 

Brian makes a good point above in that the pen maker can help determine the look of the final pen based on material selection. Knowing the material as well as the final diameter of the pen can have a big affect on the final look of the finished pen. Some materials will loose their characteristics the thinner they are turned while others have good saturation down to the final diameter. Sometimes you can identify that by the way the pattern is broadcast to the surface of the blank, other times you just have to trust in the maker of the blank that what is inside will meet your expectations. That all comes from the experience and expertise of the pen maker and his relationship with the blank artisan or at least good long term experience with the quality control of larger blank manufacturers such as Berea.

[Brooks803]

Recently watched a video of an Edison resin pen being lathed. It was informative to see that "raw" resin pen blank. I've always wondered how much control the pen designer has over what the finished swirl or finish or pattern looks like.

Do they have a lot of control, ie..if they imagine it, they can get that to come out in the final resin batch, or is it more of a pot-luck situation as far as what the swirls and patterns will turn out?

 

Thanks for any clues about this.

 

I've been making my own pen materials for almost 6yrs now. To some degree yes you can control the swirl patterns. Over the years that I've been doing it I've developed some techniques that allow me to have a pretty consistent look to what I'm casting.

 

Even with that though, as you turn down the material the pattern will be ever changing. That's where the potluck part comes in. I will say you can never judge a blank by what it looks like on the outside!

 

Fisher of Pens and Brian made some great notes. Not all resins are equal. Polyester resin is NOT suitable for custom pens at all. It's far to brittle. I cast using both Polyester resins and Alumilite (polyurethane). Alumilite is a great resin for machining. To this day I still use one of my very first FP's made with alumilite. That was nearly 5yrs ago. It's a tiny little pocket pen that's been in the 5th pocket of my jeans every day. It still looks as great now as it did when I finished making it. No yellowing or color changes. The threads still hold perfectly.

 

Brian if you wish to give cast blanks another try please message me and I'll send you a 9" rod (alumilite) to experiment with.