Craziest Acrylic yet!!!!

[STRIPER LOU]

I almost lost it on this one!
When I started this project I purchased a bunch of short ends to play with. In addition I save every single piece of scrap leftover due to the cost. Last week I thought about laminating or gluing some of the odd pcs together for the heck of it just to see what it looked like.

What a pain!
The first try was a disaster! 2nd try after milling up a bunch of scrap pcs I went to a friends house to use his surface grinder. We had to load the wheel up with and oldtime product called Jade.
This was made to grind non ferrous metal but worked good on the plastic as long as I took no more than a thou at a time and flooded it with water.
When the pcs are stacked together there can be absolutely no light spaces to be seen anywhere.

The glue is called Weld-On. It will actually melt the Acrylic for the bond but strength is only rated at 80%. 2 clamps and 2 blocks of wood and the next day it looked just OK.
After I cut and polished it, WOWSER!!!! This color is the best one yet. After making several dozen of these I really didn't think the colors could get any better. The pics do this no justice at all.

I really had no way to test it for strength so I took a small piece and gave it the crash test. Twice thrown down on the concrete floor with some serious force and the Acrylic broke into  several pcs or so. No glue bonds broken anywhere!
I need to finish it up tomorrow and do a bit more polishing. There's a few, very slight indications of a seam but overall, really nice!
What do you think?
Regards, ..  Lou

[STRIPER LOU]

last one

[Ron Jones]

Amazing.
It has been a pleasure watching some members on here develop there craft and become artists. The good Lord saw no reason to give me such gifts, thank you all for allowing me to share in yours.
Ron

[steelhead_killer]

I am volunteering as a crash test dummy for your products...

[handi2]

That's super cool..!!

A reel money maker. I want one for some kind of reel.

[handi2]

That's super cool..!!

A reel money maker. I want one for some kind of reel.

If you could make some for the Mitchell 302/402 spinning reels I know I could sell them all. They would be very easy to install because the original is attached with a screw.

[STRIPER LOU]

Keith, you should have an envelope coming in the mail tomorrow.
Thanks again,  ..  Lou

[Yogi_fish808]

Beautiful work Lou!! I thought aluminum ball knobs were great and thought I'd never need to think about another kind of handle. Even full carbon ball handles got nothing on what you're making, not even close.

[thorhammer]

Fantastic, Lou!

[sharkman]

That is an amazing knob

[DaBigOno]

Pretty sweet work Lou!


I really like the R&D part 😀

[David Hall]

beautiful Lou
Glad you didn't throw the whole reel on the floor for the test.

[Dominick]

Wow!! Those are some knobs!!!  Dominick

[foakes]

In 1964, I was in 7th grade at Longfellow Junior High School.

Took shop class as an elective -- we did basic wood, metal, etc.

Plexiglas was just coming into vogue as a medium to work with.  We would glue up pieces -- then work them into shapes using files, saws, lathes, sandpaper, and polishing compounds.

Can you believe they would let a 13 year old kid do that?

Today, they won't even let most kids work a part time job until they are 16 or 17.

Anyway -- learned many skills that have been a good base -- and am grateful for the opportunity.

Fantastic work, Lou!

Best,

Fred

[Islandgypsy]

When fishing in cold weather, I'm sure your knobs are lots more user friendly than grabbing a cold aluminum knob....beautiful work.   
Greg