Shopsmith Forums

A question for the pen turners. I turned a blank and used a Rockler pen kit, Elegant American Pen Assembly, sku # 29576. The problem--the ink refill won't retract into the pen tip. A Rockler employee thinks I trimmed the brass tubes with a pen mill too much and the pen is to short for the ink refill to retract. Measurements of the pen show that I trimmed about 1/4" in order to get the pen blank square. I think he's right. No one else in the Rockler store has turned this pen kit, so they had no answers.

Now the question. The pen kit comes with two brass tubes measuring 2" and 21/8". If I properly square the pen blank with a pen mill and slightly trim the brass tubes you end up with one tube approx. 1/8" longer than the other. Does the longer tube go on the bottom with the pen tip or on the top with the pen clip? The instructions don't say.

Without the instructions, I'm guessing the longer on the bottom. I'm looking at instructions for a cigar pen, the longer is on the bottom.

Okay......Lets start at the beginning to see if we are on the same page, and that I understand what you are saying. I am not familiar with the particular pen kit but:

The ball point pen will not retract into the pen............Possible causes are two! The length of the brass tubes must be maintained exactly! You glue these brass tubes into wood blanks that are a "hair" longer than the tubes. It is this "hair" that you are removing to square the ends. You do not remove any length from the tubes, otherwise you have problems such as you stated.

On many pen kits, there is a center piece that you insert, and one must be careful not to insert this piece too far in, as it holds the pen refill, controlling the length of retraction. If you press this piece in too far, the pen will also not retract all the way in.

Which brass tube goes on the top.................If the instructions do not give you the answer, I would suggest that you measure the tubes on the instructions..........you might find your answer there as most instructions are drawn to a scale to reflect the assembly process.

Just like so many things in life, your experience with this initial pen kit is an investment that you learn from.............

Good luck!
FlashbacPT
John

John you sure are right about the learning curve, but I think you learn more from your mistakes! I learn a lot!!

I think you are right on about trimming the tubes too much. The instructions say to leave 1/8" and then trim using the pen mill. Because I did the trimming while holding in my hand, rather than using a drill press, I continued to square up the ends and trimmed to much of the tube. So I've learned two things-don't leave more than a hair to trim and secondly, use the pen mill in a drill press and keep everything square.

I wish the instructions with the pen kit would give the minimum final length of the brass tubes and/or the lower and upper completed pieces.

Thanks for the tips.

Bob
San Diego

Bob,

You can also place your SS sanding disk on, move your table close, and place your miter gauge in the near track locking same down. You are now 90 degrees square to your disk.
All that is now needed is your glued up blank which, hopefully, has two sides square. Place one of the square sides down on the table and the other side against the miter gauge.
With the disk going, just advance the blank into the sanding disk lightly. You have more control, and are insured that the ends of your blanks will be square.

And as previously posted, DO NOT SAND AWAY ANY OF THE BRASS TUBES!

Good Luck!
FlashbacPT
John:)

Great ideas here. Pen turning is rewarding and fun. Losing a few during the learning process is worth the investment to learn it right. Hey I still lose one on ocassion. I love trying new ideas.

I graduated to a barrel turning kit.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKTRIMKITC.html

I use this kit by inserting the barrels into the stock and turn the barrel tool until it makes contact with the brass. This assures squarness with out shortening the blaks too much. I also often leave an extra 1/16" of barrel when I cut the barrel length. fjimp