Paint tube or blank??

[MikeC]

Flexi mentioned in a very recent post about my Airliner pen about painting the inside of the drilled blank to avoid the tube showing through the finished pen.
I had painted the tube-not the inside of the blank, so I am seeking advice on "tube or blank" and what to use for these. Incidentally I had no paint when I needed to paint a tube recently and so I used Tippex. That seemed to work ok.
Any comments or advice??
Mike

 

[flexi]

I think it was penpal or maybe Woody on here did some examples of 'painting the tube' or 'painting the hole'....
They took one blank and painted the tube a complimentary colour and a contrasting colour to show the effects. Also the same but by painting the inside of the hole...
The effects were dramatic and to the point they actually looked different blanks.
If I have a semi translucent blank I use a complimentary colour and paint the hole with acrylic paint (cotton buds work extremely well) some people use nail varnish, or even a Sharpie pen on the tubes. Once dry glue the tube in carefully so as not to scratch the paint.
Please accept I was trying to be constructive on a very nice pen

 

[MikeC]

You misunderstand Flexi. I know you weren’t criticising and was being constructive
I’ve wondered about this for some time since I did a polar ice pen and it turned into a blue/white/ brass pen!!!
From what you say it sounds like I would have been better with a mix of yellow and white paint in the blank.
I might look out for the same blank at the Newark show in March (I bought this one at Harrogate on the Charnwood stall) and do a couple of colour options for tube and blank to see what works best and compare with this one
Thanks for the help!
Mike

 

[DuncSuss]

To answer your question "paint the tube or paint the blank?", I recommend painting the hole in the blank.

Otherwise, the first thing your eye sees when you look at a translucent blank is the glue (and some air pockets if you don't get 100% coverage), then the paint, then the tube where the paint has scratched off if it was a tight fit and you had to force the tube into the drilled hole.

It looks much better if you paint the drilled hole. I also recommend you make sure the tube is a slip fit and won't scratch the paint off when you glue it into the hole.

 

[Bill Mooney]

I’ve done both but prefer painting the hole. The reason for this is in the previous post.

 

[MikeC]

That’s very clear
Many thanks
Mike

 

[silver]

I did a post (May have been on here) on the differences between painting the inside of the blank a white and black,
The difference is really massive and makes the blanks change completely.

As was said above, I also paint the hole and I also tend to mix a little bit of acrylic pain in to the mix (epoxy) when gluing the tubes in, that’s just a belt and braces just to minimise the risk of any glue showing.
Will see if I can find the pictures I did of the red acrylics to show the difference.

@MikeC
Update- pics below of the identical blank. One painted with white and one painted with black.

 

[flexi]

Many thanks for the above @silver ...I knew someone had done it recently!..
That darker one looks really moody, I prefer that one...

 

[silver]

Many thanks for the above @silver ...I knew someone had done it recently!..
That darker one looks really moody, I prefer that one...

Thanks Mark @flexi yes I should have called the darker one my teenager pen, #moody and the lighter one is like a happy 5 year old (if there is such a thing) bright eyed and bushy tailed.

But yes there is a difference between the two, admittedly there is less black in the 1st one but both blanks were a stock colour to start with and shows the difference between the two.

What I do to decide if paint or not, is look at the blank under my lathe turning light. If I can see the light clearly then I paint, if not then leave it.