LatakiaLover wrote:OK, here's how I achieve a level join between a soft material like acrylic or vulcanite and a rigid, impossible-to-change-its-dimensions-by-sanding object (like a stainless steel ring) in a situation like this.
It may not be the simplest/easiest way, and it certainly isn't the only way, but it's how I've done it with success in the past.
I'm assuming that the ss ring is already cut, and the stummel's shank is already the size you want it to be so that everything will look right when the pipe is assembled.
1) Take a 4" (appx) length of broomstick-diameter hardwood dowel, and drill and ream a hole in one end that's EXACTLY the same size as the mortise in the stummel.
2) Chuck up and center a pin gauge that's enough oversize to hold the dowel firmly, push the dowel over it, and turn the first 1.5" to 2.0" of the hole end to a couple of thousandths larger in diameter than the ss ring's OD.
3) Cut the stem as you normally would, leaving its base and the material leading up to the base slightly larger than the OD of the ss ring. Ten to fifteen thousandths should be enough.
4) Put some epoxy on one side of the ring and the face of the stem, slide the ring over the tenon (keep track of which side has the glue!), and then smush everything together firmly. The hardwood dowel then becomes a combination handle and faux pipe shank.
5) Carefully hand sand the stem down to the level of the ss ring using the handle/dowel as guide. As long as the sandpaper is wrapped around a flat stick, your stroke is kept flat and level, you raise the grit of the paper as the final thou is approached, AND you pay attention the entire time to avoid cutting facets/flat spots, you'll end up with level, seamless perfection.
Thanks for the elaborate feedback, however the process you describe raises some questions with me. For step 2: why not simply chuck the dowel, turn it perfectly round and drill & ream the hole in the same way?
Where in the process do you finish the ring? The ring is cut from a solid rod of stainless steel, and needs to be sanded through the grits and polished. If I finish it before glueing, any tiny touch of the sandpaper while doing the stem will result in scratches wich need to be sanded back out, changing the size, requiring resanding of the acrylic. Repeat ad nauseam until you have no stem left
Not to mention that sanding the stainless up to finish also rounds off the edges if it's not attached to anything, so I'd need another 2 rods to clamp it in?
I'm assuming in the final sanding with the flat stick, you sand both the stem and dowel at the same time until you reach the level of the SS ring?
FYI, my current process involves this:
- I face the stainless steel rod & drill the hole
- I cut off the ring
- I turn the tenon on the acrylic
- I epoxy on the SS ring with the faced side towards the faced acrylic
- I face the other side of the SS ring
- I fit the stummel (using the tenon as a pin gauge basicly) and turn the entire thing as one (obviously the tapered shank was already turned before)
- finish sanding
I'm contemplating whether it would work to not turn the entire thing as once, but simply leave the acrylic slightly oversized off the lathe and sand it with the flat stick you suggested up to the point where the final sanding (600 and perhaps 400) touches both the acrylic & stainless steel to finish them as one? Since it'll only be the lightest grits and used with a flat sanding surface, that should keep everything level?
wdteipen wrote:Great advice already given. I really dig the pipe.
Thanks, means a lot to me coming from you!
caskwith wrote:Or you could go with my original advice from facebook, don't use stainless steel you numpty!
I wish. Original customer is a picky sasieni collector with quite an elaborate collection so I value his opinion, and he really wanted stainless steel, not silver or aluminium. Besides, whilst aluminium is definitely softer, it causes the same problems, just to a lesser degree.
