Elegant American-hard to twist?

[Kevin M]

OK--I have recently made an Elegant American pen from Desert Ironwood and was very careful to make the upper barrel the correct length, went together well but find that it is difficult to twist! It can not be done (1) handed like a slimline. I have examined it, twisted it over 100 times, but it has not eased up at all. Is this normal for an upper barrel mechanism or could there be something I have overlooked? I do like the weight and feel of this style but if this is normal I probably will not make any more.

 

[wayneis]

No I don't think that its normal. Did you use ca to glue in the tubes? Did you clean the tubes out very good. They both will make the transmission hard to turn. I just happen to have one sitting here on my desk and I can turn it easily onehanded.

Wayne

 

[Kevin M]

Wayne, I did use ca for the tubes and did not notice any residual glue prior to installing the twist mechanism. Everything pressed together with not problems, but this sucker is tight!

 

[Kevin M]

Well found a new problem with this pen, it now will not un-screw at the center band, only spins round and round, good news is whatever happened loosened up the mechanism, works 1 handed just like it should!!! Disposable item?

 

[Skordog]

Kevin,

I had this same problem with Berea's Flat Top American. The Craft Supplies flat top worked flawlessly. Little things like this are making me lean more toward Craft Supplies kits. Not sure if it is just bad luck with a few Berea kits, but that's the way I feel now.

Jeff

 

[Skordog]

btw - I have one more Berea Flat Top kit that I am getting ready to put together and I am making sure that the tubes are very clean. We'll see what happens.

 

[butcherofwood]

I have run into this a few times with some American double twist, appeared to be all in the mechanism, managed to get it apart and tried another seemed okay? Could have been lucky though.

 

[DCBluesman]

I'm with you, Jeff. I've had far too many problems with the Berea FT American.

 

[Kevin M]

I did a search for Elegant American and found this reply to a post by "driften". It worked!! Pen seems to be fine now, go figure!! If you read this, thanks "driften".


I had the same problem with the elegant american. All you have to do is hold down on the pen holding the point firmly against something hard and turn the top barrel counter clockwise and it should screw off. It worked for me.

 

[Daniel]

I recently list nearly every pen from CSUSA and P.S.I. on my web sight. I held off adding anything from Berea. partially I don;t have a lot of experience withther kits, but the little I have has not overly impressed me. I even considered adding the El Grande to my Elite Pens Page, which is a pen I have made, and decided not to. thsi is not a bashing of Berea. there catalog is a real charmer but for whatever reasons there kits just fall short for me. so far my favorite supplier is clearly CSUSA and the impress me more and more with every new kit I buy. I have always liked the Polaris but read a comment about the Atlas earlier that I have no dought is true. it basically said it is a more impressive design to the same pen.

 

[Old Griz]

Kevin, I had a similar problem on the first EA that I made... here is what I did and it worked... take the top off and holding flat on a piece of 400 grit sandpaper gently sand the bottom.. sometimes the trimmer makes the mating surface a bit rough and it binds against the mechanism holder in the bottom barrel .. after gently sanding, I put a little Ren wax at the bottom of the upper barrel.. smoothed it out perfectly.. now I do that routinely on the others I have made..

 

[Old Griz]

Daniel, that is interesting... I use only Berea and CSU kits.. I have never been impressed with the kits from PSI, I don't think their platings are up the other two suppliers, but that is just my opinion for what it is worth...
I have (other than stated above) never had a problem with a Berea kit or the platings on their kits.. I make a lot of Perfect Fits and Double Twist Euros, and just got a couple of El Grande Elites in Platinum from the guy going out of business for $5/ea. Had to at that price... LOL
I also agree that CSU makes a wonderful kit, that is why they and Berea are my primary kit suppliers.
As for the Atlas, I have to agree that it is a nicer kit than the Polaris... it has a better selection of platings and I think the mechanism is smoother. If you look at Bill B's instruction page, you will see how I convert one to a pencil using the Perfect Fit pencil mechanism... so you don't need to purchase a different kit to make a pen/pencil set... it is a little tricky, but not out of the range of anyone here who can follow directions.

 

[ed4copies]

To all,

Years ago when kits were introduced, they came with instructions that indicated you needed some mechanical ability to accomodate "small problems". That was the extent of the troubleshooting advice. Now, post questions here and read carefully the answers posted (especially Old Griz who seems to have turned more than a dozen pens in his years). YOU don't have to figure out all the answers any more and it is very kind of him and his compatriots to share information that took them years to acquire.

By the way, I have had that problem on a few of the pens I have made, but I never figured out an answer. I did figure that the problem occurs less than 1% of the time, so the failure rate is acceptable to me. OLD GRIZ would, apparently, rather figure out an answer to recover the kit. I tip my hat!!!

 

[driften]

Tom's right on EA kits the bottom of the cap moves on the CB. It should be polished/waxed to help it glide.
I have been impressed with CSUSA kits. I like Berea kits but CSU's seem to be slighty better quality or come with higher quality parts. I love the extra finshes that Berea sells that CSU does not.

 

[wayneis]

I have to agree whole heartedly with Tom on this, I buy a lot of Berea kits probably more than the CS kits and I don't have a ton of problems, at least no more than I do with any of the the CS kits. I would have to say the I believe that these two companies quality are about the same. I've had a few problems with both companies kits at one time or another and sometimes its more my problem than the kits. Out of all of the kits that I have made I would have to estimate that I've made more flat tops and Jr. Gents and Jr. Statesman than any other and have had no complaints on any of them. Believe me, If any of the people who have any of my pens had a problem they would not hesitate to let me know about it. PSI kits I would not even put in the same catagory with CS or Berea. I quit buying any of the kits from them, with the exception of trying a set of their new platinum polaris but that was only to check out the platinum finish. Thats my HO.

Wayne

 

[wayneis]

Kevin the problem with using CA fior tube glue-up is that you cannot see the CA inside the tube. You may check it out real good and it looks clean but its there so unless you use either a gun cleaning brass brush or a exacto knife or sometimes both to clean it out you most of the time will experence problems. I've talked to quite a few penturners that do not use CA for tube anymore.

Wayne

 

[Daniel]

Probably the reason I even have P.S.I. kits is it is the first place I bought kits. didn't know any different then. but over time CSUSA is winning me over on everything. I really need to do alot more Berea kits before I think I have a real opinion about them. but recently I had the chance to see the difference in the P.S.I. cigar pen and the CSUSA. and was suprised. some of the offerings on my web sight duplicate each other as far as style. the price is different. and I have been thinking about how to explain that to a potential customer. you pay for what you get is the only short answer I can come up with so far. mainly I am thinking about simply deleting the P.S.I. versions and only carrying P.S.I. styles that can only be gotten from them.
I will most likely add Berea pens as I can get them and make them for myself. then I have some photo material.
there is a long way to go considering I don't have a shop built yet. but I am gearing up to really make my pens start selling. doing shows, really advertising etc. the demand is out there but so far I have not really made a serious effort to move my items. a couple of shows a year and a web sight that doesn't even really get promoted. makes it easy to show people my pens. but web sights don't sell them all by themselves.

 

[Paul in OKC]

I have done a lot of the FT American style pens and all have been Berea kits. One I have learned on them is after assembling the twist mechanism onto the lower barrel, I slide the upper barrel over the mechanism BEFORE I press in the litle part that the cap screws into. That way I can slide it all the way down. I have had the center band 'squeeze' the tube especially on the chrome kits (which is about 99% of that style I do). If it fits loosely, I finish assembly. If not, I have a small scraper tool I use to scrape the inside of the tube untill it fits. You could probably use a small round file to do the same. HTH

 

[Rudy Vey]

I have made in the last two, three years well over 400-500 Flattop double-twist pens, all came from Berea. I had one bad mechanism so far. The problem with very difficult to twist pens happened to me in the beginners phase of making this type. The main problem is very small residues of glue inside the upper tube. Larry of Berea showed me how to fix this (remove the twist mechanism, clean out the tube and re-assemble the pen). A trick that has been posted here and on other boards is to run a letter "L" bit through the brass tube, after turning, before assembly, to clean out any residue or else. Also, using a de-burring tool before assembly removes any sharp edges on the tube. Another thing that can happen with the Am. FT pens is that the lower barrel is too "fat" and will bind in the centerband. For you who like the fat and fancy shapes be careful.
And as Paul mentioned I test also if the upper part will slide easy without binding onto the assembled twist mechanism before I press the brass part in the top and press the two parts together.

As I said all my experience is with the Berea Am Flattop pens, I have not made any of the CSUSA versions of this pen. I do not use PSI materials. But I think that Berea's quality is excellent and can stand up to others easily.

 

[Kevin M]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I am still not sure of this one and I too do not like the center band. In the future I will inspect the tubes better for glue residue, deburr the ends and wax the tube end that turns on the center band. You all are a great asset to those in need. I thank you and I will be sending another check to the IAP to help support this wonderful forum of information!