ok, so I'm no expert at this, but this is my set up, and this is way I make them. I have only made about 50 of em, and this way seems to work the best for me. YMMV
These little guys are all scraps from acrylic pen blank cut offs. You can make em out wood too, but seeing as how I have so many little cut offs, I use them up making these guys. Being so small, They also stand out with the different colors they have to offer. The majority of the bodies are no taller than an inch and a quarter. Add in the hats and they can be about 3 inches tall. I try to make each one a little different. Some may have 2 segments some have 3, and some have bases, and some do not. I like the look of 2 different color combos on the hats, If I have a little bit of blank left over on the wood mandrel I use, I'll flatten it out and glue a block on it and use that as the brim of the hat.
Sanding them with sucsessive grit sandpaper is important, if you don't and miss a grit, when you shine them up the little scratches will stick out like a sore thumb. (DAMHIKT)
The starting grit is up to your turning skills, how smooth of a cut when you're done shaping is the determining factor, after that I just go up to 1500 and then use a product called "One Step Plastic Polish" that I get from PennState Turning. My sandpaper is actually sanding sponges, It gets in the crease of the body better than paper and does not leave any sanding lines on the work. These are 2 links from Amazon of the kind that I use if you want to check it out.
link one
link two
After it's polished, I use some wax to shine it up nice.
Roughing out the blank I use a rounded diamond shaped carbide, and then a pointed diamond carbide to get the body crease nice n sharp looking. Once in a while there may be some material build up from the blank getting too warm, so I just turn the lathe off, and spin the chuck slowly by hand with the carbide just touching it, to remove the build up.
Ok....with all that said, let's move onto the picture show....
This is my threaded wood plate mandrel and 60 degree live center
Here's the blank glued up onto it.
roughed out...
Body of the snowman sectioned out with sharp point diamond carbide.
shaping the body and head
Starting to sand the crease of the body with the thick sponge.
Then I move onto the next grit but use a soft sponge
Then when it's nice enough to finish, I use the polish and a rag.
All polished up nice.
These little guys are all scraps from acrylic pen blank cut offs. You can make em out wood too, but seeing as how I have so many little cut offs, I use them up making these guys. Being so small, They also stand out with the different colors they have to offer. The majority of the bodies are no taller than an inch and a quarter. Add in the hats and they can be about 3 inches tall. I try to make each one a little different. Some may have 2 segments some have 3, and some have bases, and some do not. I like the look of 2 different color combos on the hats, If I have a little bit of blank left over on the wood mandrel I use, I'll flatten it out and glue a block on it and use that as the brim of the hat.
Sanding them with sucsessive grit sandpaper is important, if you don't and miss a grit, when you shine them up the little scratches will stick out like a sore thumb. (DAMHIKT)
The starting grit is up to your turning skills, how smooth of a cut when you're done shaping is the determining factor, after that I just go up to 1500 and then use a product called "One Step Plastic Polish" that I get from PennState Turning. My sandpaper is actually sanding sponges, It gets in the crease of the body better than paper and does not leave any sanding lines on the work. These are 2 links from Amazon of the kind that I use if you want to check it out.
link one
link two
After it's polished, I use some wax to shine it up nice.
Roughing out the blank I use a rounded diamond shaped carbide, and then a pointed diamond carbide to get the body crease nice n sharp looking. Once in a while there may be some material build up from the blank getting too warm, so I just turn the lathe off, and spin the chuck slowly by hand with the carbide just touching it, to remove the build up.
Ok....with all that said, let's move onto the picture show....
This is my threaded wood plate mandrel and 60 degree live center
Here's the blank glued up onto it.
roughed out...
Body of the snowman sectioned out with sharp point diamond carbide.
shaping the body and head
Starting to sand the crease of the body with the thick sponge.
Then I move onto the next grit but use a soft sponge
Then when it's nice enough to finish, I use the polish and a rag.
All polished up nice.
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