Munsterlander
Member
I bet all the old timers know this, but for some of you guys that have been doing this for 18 months or less (like me)...
PSI sells pre-made metal barrel trimming sleeves for I guess all their kits (I've yet to order one where I couldn't get the sleeves). Yes, you can make your own sleeves and it's not that hard (pick something smooth and hard like maple, drill with 7mm, glue in a tube, and then turn it down to match the diameter of the bushing set that goes with your kit) - but it's nice to have the perfectly sized, totally stable, durable metal ones.
I actually hesitated for a while to buy kits from CSUSA because they don't do this (or at least I haven't seen them - they do sell plastic barrel trimming sleeve "blanks") - yeah, I know this was kind of dumb, but I was spoiled by having the sleeves from PSI and lacked confidence to make my own (I'm over that now).
But here's the useful thing. CSUSA has a bunch of nice kits that use 10.5 and 12.5mm drill bits (Retro, Jr Gentlemen, Jr Emperor, Jr Statesmen, et al). It turns out that the Majestic Junior barrel trimming sleeve set from PSI works with all these kits - the advertised drill bits for the Maj Jr are .492" and 27/64" - .492" = 12.4968mm and 27/64" = 10.715625mm (which sounds too big, but it still works). I have made several CSUSA kits using these sleeves and have had no problem whatsoever, the sleeves seem to fit pretty much perfectly.
The sleeve part number is PKMAJJRBTS. You can also get them from Woodturningz.com, though they don't always have them in stock.
Hope this helps someone.
-Mike
P.S. A panache uses a 12.5mm tube for the upper barrel and a 13/32" tube for the lower barrel - anybody happen to know of a PSI kit that has a barrel trimmer sleeve that would work on 13/32"? (I could go through the catalog and check, I just thought someone might know off the top of his/her head.)
PSI sells pre-made metal barrel trimming sleeves for I guess all their kits (I've yet to order one where I couldn't get the sleeves). Yes, you can make your own sleeves and it's not that hard (pick something smooth and hard like maple, drill with 7mm, glue in a tube, and then turn it down to match the diameter of the bushing set that goes with your kit) - but it's nice to have the perfectly sized, totally stable, durable metal ones.
I actually hesitated for a while to buy kits from CSUSA because they don't do this (or at least I haven't seen them - they do sell plastic barrel trimming sleeve "blanks") - yeah, I know this was kind of dumb, but I was spoiled by having the sleeves from PSI and lacked confidence to make my own (I'm over that now).
But here's the useful thing. CSUSA has a bunch of nice kits that use 10.5 and 12.5mm drill bits (Retro, Jr Gentlemen, Jr Emperor, Jr Statesmen, et al). It turns out that the Majestic Junior barrel trimming sleeve set from PSI works with all these kits - the advertised drill bits for the Maj Jr are .492" and 27/64" - .492" = 12.4968mm and 27/64" = 10.715625mm (which sounds too big, but it still works). I have made several CSUSA kits using these sleeves and have had no problem whatsoever, the sleeves seem to fit pretty much perfectly.
The sleeve part number is PKMAJJRBTS. You can also get them from Woodturningz.com, though they don't always have them in stock.
Hope this helps someone.
-Mike
P.S. A panache uses a 12.5mm tube for the upper barrel and a 13/32" tube for the lower barrel - anybody happen to know of a PSI kit that has a barrel trimmer sleeve that would work on 13/32"? (I could go through the catalog and check, I just thought someone might know off the top of his/her head.)
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