Make a YWCA Pen From Recycled HDPE#2 Plastic Laundry Detergent Jugs

Today we will show how to select HDPE#2 plastic products and provide all the step by step instructions needed to create a cool looking pen for a special group. As I write this in mid October, it can be made in time for the Christmas season coming up. We are making these pens for our Lubbock YWCA youth advanced woodturning class.

We have several mentors in our community who plan to work with youth at our YWCA Lubbock to teach woodworking skills. This activity is written to facilitate having several kiddos helping us prepare materials by securing, cleaning, cutting, and sorting the colors with the goal of turning a bunch of pens for the YWCA Lubbock.

Part 1 How to create a pen blank from High Density Polyethylene plastic jugs and bottles. We want a pen blank to be 5/8” x 5/8” x 5” for Slimeline 7 mm pens or bigger with no defects. (photo of walnut pen blank recycled from an award plaque the correct size.) We may also turn some single barrel Sierra , Wall Street II style pens as well as some 7 mm Keychains.

Part 2 How to turn a plastic YWCA Pen with Orange, White and Black HDPE#2 on a wood lathe.

HDPE#2 melts at a low temp and does not have a problem with fumes when heating like others type of HDPE plastics.

I would not use a kitchen appliance for food prep after using for plastic crafts. I pick up small appliances at thrift shops for cheap.

HDPE #2 Fact Sheet - No Known Safety Issues. https://www-tc.pbs.org/strangedays/pdf/StrangeDaysSmartPlasticsGuide.pdf

Safety Resources to review before starting this project.

The melted plastic will be about 400 to 440 degrees F. You must wear gloves when handling hot materials and always protect your eyes and face from any materials that may get loose and hurt you.

Safety is Your Responsibility - https://woodturner.org/common/Uploaded%20files/Safety/20200730Safety%20is%20Your%20Responsibility%20replacement%20Final.pdf
Wood Lathe Safety Resources - https://woodturner.org/Woodturner/Resources/Safety-Materials/Safety.aspx
Drill Presss Safety Resources - https://www.cmu.edu/ehs/Workplace-Construction/documents/SafetyForDrillPresses.pdf
George Foreman Grill Safety - http://useandcaremanuals.com/pdf/GRP1060-GRP460BXC.pdf
Krupps Waffle Iron Safety - https://dam.groupeseb.com/m/a764399c7fb429d7/original/NC00119156-IFU.pdf

Work with a partner.

Proceed at your own risk. Failure to comply with safety rules can result in serious injury and or death.

Supplies

Round up some supplies:

HDPE#2 sources including laundry detergent bottles , kitty litter containers and 5 gallon buckets. Select clean containers.
Cutting Tools. — Utility box cutter, shears, sizzors, pocket knife, teacher paper shear, PVC pipe cutter, hand plane (photos of shears)
Heater — George Foreman Grill, Krupp Waffle Iron, Panini Press, Toaster Oven, kiln, or conventional electric oven. ( photos )
Parchment Paper from the Grocery Store
Silicone Gloves or other high temp gloves. New clean welding gloves may work. The plastic will be 400 - 440 F.
ANSI Safety Glasses. ANSI Z 87 face shield. Nuisance dust mask.
Hydraulic car jack, bottle jack, or similar way to press out air bubbles. However, I was successful just using weights to squeeze out air bubbles.
Wood Lathe, Pen Mandrel, Pen kit of your choice. Turning tools
Drill Press and 1/4” bit or 7 MM bit for 7 MM kit
Pen blank vise or related method for drilling the blank
Power Miter Saw, Scroll Saw, or Band Saw for cutting blanks to 2 1/16 “ length.
Black and Decker workmate to hold buckets for hand planing.
Your regular hand tools including tape measure, pencil, screwdrivers, wrenches, broom, shop vac etc....
Best results are obtained inside vs outside.

Collect Your HDPE#2 Recyclable Plastic Bottles.

Look for the triangle with the “2” on the bottom. I used bleach & cat liter containers for white; Tide, Dunkin Donuts coffee, and Home Depot buckets for orange; and Woolite & Cheer containers for black. I get most of my HDPE#2 from the city recycling centers around my town when I take my other paper, aluminum, tin, and books to recycle. I always wear gloves and this trash is usually “clean”. These recycling dumpsters are cleaner than regular garbage/refuse containers. Don’t bother with milk or food cartons, drain cleaners, or bottles that previously contained anything you do not want around your shop or home. Skip the plastic Liquor bottles unless you want that smell in your final product. Save some time by selecting products with a shrink wrapped label that come off easily with a knife. Not all orange Tide products are a #2, Tide Pods and most other pods come in #4 tub. For best results, do not mix HDPE types.

Clean the Bottles Inside and Out.

Rinse, Soak, and Repeat until the bottles are clean on the inside and outside. I have allowed bottles to soak in a water filled bucket for a few days for the “soap”products to dissolve in water and flush out contaminates. If you still smell the original product, you need to clean some more. However, this project will still work with some of the original smell in the mix. I recommend that makers not mess with drain cleaners, food containers or other chemical product packaging.

Cut It Up - the Smaller the Better

To save time, I cut around the label and send them back to the recycle center. Others have had success removing labels a heat source like a heat gun, lamp, or hair dryer. I have not tried this because I did not want to mess around with adhesive residue and solvents. Use whatever you have to remove the label and paper: I use a box cutter, tin snips, heavy shears, and a teacher paper cutter.
Common 5 gallons buckets can be cut with a jig saw and the plastic sawdust can go into the mix. Keep the colors separated so you can gage how much you have and how much more you need. One idea is to employ a paper shredder to chop up the HDPE#2 plastics into very small bits. Catch your fine particles and plastic saw dust
The smaller the particles, the easier they will melt and fill in voids and holes in the ingot. Thick particles will take longer to melt and may be difficult to work with depending on your heat source.

Blend and Melt Into Plastic Ingots About 5/8” Thick X 4.5” Long or More

Clean your heat source if needed and run through a heat cycle. Watch and listen for the lights to come on or the loud click from a waffle maker. Check the actual temp with an Infrared Thermometer or similar device after 15 minutes and record in your journal.

Use multiple sheets of Parchment paper to secure the shredded plastic material and keep the oven clean and free of melted plastic. Check to make sure the top and bottom elements are heating. Add weight to the top of your 2 part heater to hasten the melting of the laundry bottle strips and squares. Set your stop watch for 15 minutes and listen & watch for the light to come on or the distinctive click of a circuit breaker to disconnect. Record the time in the journal and adjust as needed. My engineer's journal is a 3" x 5" pocket sprial shown at the end.

Clamp Down the Lid — HDPE #2 Shrinks When Cooling

Use weights or mass to force the lid shut or press the hot mix into a desired shape. Others use a bottle jack or floor jack to force out the air bubbles and let the mixture cool and shrink in size. Turn off the heat source and use weights to force out the air bubbles. This works for me at the end of the day. The last thing I do is unplug the power and leave it alone. The longer you keep it hot, the more bubbles can escape so take your time. Do not leave your appliances unattended.

Cut the HDPE#2 Into Strips for Pen Blanks

I used a band saw to cut the cooled down plastic into strips about equal to or greater than 5/8” to 3/4” inch thick. A table saw, band saw, or jig saw makes this a snap.

Drill Press Time for the Hole

A modified Jorgensen hand screw holds my pen blanks perpendicular to the drill press table. Drill the 2” hole in steps to prevent this soft material from melting. "Act like a bird and pec at it." Excessive heat will weld the drill bit to the plastic pen blank. I know all the mistakes. Keep it cool. With kids, hook up a shop vac to clean up the mess and cool the bit at the same time. Collect the spiral shavings and recycle them in the next batch along with plastic sawdust and cutoffs.

Press the Brass Tube Into the HDPE#2 Pen Blank Using a Drill Press-Power OFF

The safer approach for preventing a failure with the brass. The conventional process here is to drill a 7 mm hole (.275591”) and use super glue and accelerator like the Barry Gross videos show. The HDPE#2 has a waxy feel to it.

I have had OK results with Gorilla Polyurethane glue, a little water, and let is set over night.

Others use a riskier method going for a press fit. Prep the brass for this Slimline 7 mm pen kit by scratching up the finish with 80 grit sandpaper. Take a utility knife and cut a slight countersink in the blank, just enough to start a 7 mm brass tube in the 1/4” hole (.25”) or try a letter "G" drill for .2610".

Chuck up a bolt into the drill press, line everything up perfectly, and use the lever feed to force the brass all the way into the blank in one swift move. The first one worked fine, the second one I stopped and tried to restart and had trouble. The end needs to be cut off and a second brass tube can be installed. It can be fixed with an extra step and brass tube.

Turning Acrylic Pens - Video Resources & Woodturning Club Support

If you are new to turning acrylic pens, check out Barry Gross’s part 1 video below. He is a great teacher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDrR7xocrvQ

Here is Barry Gross part 2 on turning Acrylic Pens:

Good info on Anchor, Bevel, and Cut - the basics for woodturning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzYu_rEmsPc

Find a woodturning club near you.

The American Association of Woodturners has over 360 chapters with at least 16,000 members world wide.

Coming Soon LBKMakers.weebly.org or LBKMakers.club express.org

Plus lots of free resources at

https://woodturner.org/

Tinkercad 3D Drawing & Engineers Journal

I have a Tinkercad QR code.

More about Art Bikes, Parade Bike, Bike MS fundraising, and Woodturning at www.kentcrowell.weebly.com, www.southplainswoodturners.org

The Turning Process and Some Finished Pens and Key Rings

I turn my 7 mm pens with a PSI mandrel saver system one blank at a time. the HDPE#2 turns like butter and you will have lots of plastic sawdust to catch and reuse for the 3rd project. One problem I discovered was my water thin CA glue was not holding the brass to the HDPE#2. I had better results drilling the blank with a 1/4” bit and forcing the brass into the smaller hole. However, I still had to deal with a couple of failures with this process. Another blank was doing just fine and separated and broke almost in half. Sharp tools are a must with any kind of Acrylic and the HDPE#2 is the softest material I have turned except for fresh cut trees and potatoes. Next time I will drill for a BIC type pen or Pentel Pencil kit and create a long “no kit” pen. The two completed pens were made by my friend, Christian Jensen in our SouthPlainsWoodturners.org club with my HDPE#2 and PSI kits. Thanks for looking.