In this instructable i am going to make a woodturning pen blank. I have seen other instuctables making pen blanks but this one will have a slightly different method of degassing the resin, than others i have seen.

So why make when you can buy..... Well its fun, you can choose the colours, combine and even add stuff into the resin like wood, beads and even lego. The best thing about making your blanks is you can say you designed a one of kind pen blank that no one else has.

So if you like to stand out in a crowd then you have found the right project.

Step 1: Get All You Need Together.

ITEMS

1) Clear casting resin

2) a mould to cast resin in

3) Vacuum chamber and pump

4) Plastic measure cup

5) stir sticks

6) Selection of colours for resin

7) rice to measure resin needed for mould.

8) Mould release spray.

Step 2: Time to Make Your Pen Blank Part 1

1) First thing to do is choose the mould size you want.

2) spray the mould release into the mould and make sure its all coated.

3) take the rice and fill your mould.

4) always check the ratio for your resin mine is 50/50 and this guide is for 50/50

5) take two plastic cups and divide the rice in two equal parts see photo.

6) mark the cups to the level of rice.

7) empty out rice and wipe cups to remove all rice.

Step 3: Time to Make Your Pen Blank Part 2

1) fill one cup with part A and one with B

2) all resin will have its own mixing guide refer to that unless you are using the same resin as me.

3) mix the two resins together and stir till the resin has know streaks around 5 minutes.

4) divide the resin in to small cups to add colour i had 5 colour but one or two is normally what i do.

5) add colours or pearl ex to dye your resin refer to video for better guidance on this.

Advice

Dont fill cups to high as resin expands in vacuum chamber

Step 4: Vacuum the Resin

1) put all pots of resin into the vacuum chamber and start the vacuum as the starts you will notice the resin rising in the pots if you think its going to rise over the lip release to let a small amount of air in after a couple of minutes you should be able to put it on full vacuum get as close or on is better 30 and wait till the bubbles come out this can take about 30 mins still enough time before this resin starts to set.

2) all there is to do now is pour into the mould.

3) check the de-mould time of your resin i leave mine overnight.