cigar refill question

[laurie sullivan]

hey all,

i have just finished an order of 7 cigars and i'm finding that on some of them, the pen cartridge does not retract all the way. the kits come from PSI, i trimmed them all the same and made sure i did not remove any of the brass tube when i trimmed them. is this problem, because the tubes originally were different sizes? also, is there a fix? all i need is maybe a 1/32 of an inch to put the ball just past the opening. please, please, please.

laurie

 

[Mark4583]

Is it possible you got the tubes mixed together? Should have one longer for the lower tube, if you got a upper mixed and did a lower with it, it would be too short and the tip of your pen would stick out a bit.
Ive done this myself. Only fix I did is I gave it to my Mom and she thought it was great!

 

[laurie sullivan]

thanks mark for the reply,

but no, i have the tubes in the right place. i was hoping that there was a different solution but i quess there is none. i know what i can do but when the ink runs out and they go to but refills it will return to the problem.

thanks again

laurie

 

[Randy_]

There are a number of possibilities for your problem.....the most likely of which is a tube length problem. Measure the length of the "WOOD" on your lower tube. It should be right at 2-1/16". If it is shorter, either you have gotten the upper and lower tubes reversed or the manufacturer sent you incorrectly sized tubes. The upper tube should be about 1/16" under 2".

Another thing you might want to look at is whether you can push the refill back into the pen manually when the twist mechanism is fully retracted. Some of those mechanisms are a little stiff and the springs aren't strong enough to fully retract the refills. Sometimes it helps to stretch the spring a little to give a bit more push or put a drop or two of light oil(like 3 in 1 oil) into the twist mechanism to dilute the grease a little.


If it does turn out that the lower tube is shorter than spec, there are a number of solutions. The easy ones would relegate the pens to being "users" as you would not want to gift or sell them. Fixes that would return the pen to marketable condition would probably more trouble than they are worth and it would be make more sense to just craft a new pen.

Since you are only talking about being off by about 1/32", I have another idea about solving your problem; but it is experimental and I don't know whether it will work or not. I would rather not post it publicly until i know that it works. If you are interested in trying a simple experiment, email me for details.

 

[mrcook4570]

Does it retract all the way with a little force? If so, the nib most likely needs to be reamed a little larger.

 

[ed4copies]

"Nib-reaming" is a distinct possibility. Let's hope this solvew it!

Otherwise, add an "oops ring" just under the center or just above the nib. If it only needs to be 1/32", perhaps a brass washer will do it.

 

[airrat]

I agree with Ed. You can also use some pickguard. I put some next to another cigar pen I was turning and turned to size, glued it onto the mistake pen. It worked like a charm. I didn't worry about it not having brass due to it was such a small section.

I did refinish the pen to make it match.

 

[ed4copies]

Tom,

I agree pickguard is neat, but when you add it at just ONE spot on a pen, it looks out-of-place to me (JMO). For this case, I would try to make it more inconspicuous.

Or, add pickguard at both centerband junctions-top and bottom, THAT can look REALLY neat.

(Or, tell Ed to go to heck, that sounds like work!!!!)[][]

 

[airrat]

Actually Ed, I did put it in both places. Sorry my brain is not processing very fast today. Therapy on my back today was rough.

 

[Pen Man]

Does the ball point stick out a little bit more than the others if so take parker style refill to grinder and touch it to remove just a little plastic

 

[ed4copies]

Don't know what kind of therapy you undergo, but when I had some issues, they said they would send me to PT (Physical Therapy), the girl there told me I had been mis-directed to PTATIENT TORTURE!!!

Worst thing was, it hurt when I laughed.

Hope you recover well and fully!!!

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by Pen Man
<br />Does the ball point stick out a little bit more than the others if so take parker style refill to grinder and touch it to remove just a little plastic

That's fine if the pen is a keeper. But you couldn't sell it or the problem would reoccur when the client needed to replace the refill.