Father Sing Kit problem

[bnoles]

I ordered a hand full of the Father Sing pen kits and a set of bushings a couple of weeks ago to try out. The kit and bushings came from the exact same source and sold together. Tonight I got a chance to turn a blank down and assemble my first kit of this style. I found about a hog's hair thickness of wood above the center band and pen tip and the cap. I know I had that blank dead flat to the bushing surface and the transition should have been smoother than glass. Looks like perhaps bad bushings for this style.

My question is, what can I do to smooth the transition out for the rest of the kits. I know you cannot turn below the bushing or you face a real mess for sure. There must be something simple I can do to compensate for this little lip of wood.

Any ideas?

 

[TAld]

Bob
Don't know if you read my post title "Lathe Help Please" but I had to finish that "hogs hair" off by manually sanding (with lathe off and w/the grain). Not fun but works until you find the problem.
Tom

 

[bnoles]

Thanks, Tom. I'll go look for the thread and see what I can learn.

 

[mrcook4570]

Measure both the bushings and the pen hardware with dial calipers or micrometer. If the bushings are consistently larger, you can send them down to size. I've even turned them to proper size with a parting tool. Tolerances on bushing measurement is often not very tight.

 

[leehljp]

I am starting to use my calipers more, when I have time to turn, which is rare these days. But one thing I picked up on this forum is that many of the professional quality pen turners rely on the calipers rather than on the bushings. Takes more time but it insures a higher quality fit. I think that many do not use the calipers also, but they are experienced and naturally talented. Some people have an "eye" for that.

I have a tendency to over sand some bushings, so I learned to use and rely on the calipers more. Stan above wrote: Measure both the bushings and the pen hardware with dial calipers or micrometer. This is some good advice that helped me a lot. It made me aware that good fit is ultimately the responsibility of the turner. It would be nice to depend on the bushings, but if I want a good fit, I have to take the responsibility for insuring that. If I can depend on the busings, great, if not, there are ways around it (calipers, micormeters).

Just be assured that this is probably not the last set of bushings that you will purchase that will be off a hogs hair. With calipers or micrometer use, it won't slow you down one bit. I just finished 5 fountain/caligraphy pens using the wrong bushings. I could not find the ones purchased for the FP, so I had to use something similar but used the calipers more. It worked fine.

 

[bnoles]

Great advice guys...... I think I've just learned a lot from y'all.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help.