RPM
Member
I took advantage of BB's sale on streamline el grande kits a week or so back. Turned my first one last week.
Lessons learned - for those of you unfamiliar with this kit, it uses 3 tubes and the cap tubes are not glued in until after turning
- being anal and wanting to make sure that I had my drill press table adjusted such that I could change out the two bits for the cap without moving the table, I forgot to lock down the table and of course, it moved. I recovered from that and managed to center all of the holes. lesson - be sure table is locked down.
- when it came time to glue in the unglued tubes, I used thick CA to do the deed. all went well and I completed the assembly of the pen. lesson - be sure that the CA has totally cured (i.e. no fumes) before final assembly. I now know that CA fumes can effectively etch a Gold TI finish rendering it as scrap (fortunatly it was the nib, a screw in part).
Now that I have learned lessons, questions.
- After making this pen and having it come our fine, I see no reason that the parts could not be pressed in with the tubes glued into the cap. Am I missing something?
- Given my CA experience, what is a normal curing time to ensure that the plating is not etched (no noticable odor, x number of hours?)
Sorry for the long post, hope this helps someone else avoid these problems and I'm curious about my questions.
Richard
Lessons learned - for those of you unfamiliar with this kit, it uses 3 tubes and the cap tubes are not glued in until after turning
- being anal and wanting to make sure that I had my drill press table adjusted such that I could change out the two bits for the cap without moving the table, I forgot to lock down the table and of course, it moved. I recovered from that and managed to center all of the holes. lesson - be sure table is locked down.
- when it came time to glue in the unglued tubes, I used thick CA to do the deed. all went well and I completed the assembly of the pen. lesson - be sure that the CA has totally cured (i.e. no fumes) before final assembly. I now know that CA fumes can effectively etch a Gold TI finish rendering it as scrap (fortunatly it was the nib, a screw in part).
Now that I have learned lessons, questions.
- After making this pen and having it come our fine, I see no reason that the parts could not be pressed in with the tubes glued into the cap. Am I missing something?
- Given my CA experience, what is a normal curing time to ensure that the plating is not etched (no noticable odor, x number of hours?)
Sorry for the long post, hope this helps someone else avoid these problems and I'm curious about my questions.
Richard
