Pen length question

[chazmonro]

So I've got a ton of pens I'm working on. One of the pen tubes somehow pushed out of the pen blank as the poly glue dried, about 1/16th of an inch or so. If I trim it off, is it going to still work for me? The blank isn't anything special, but I'd hate to just throw it out.

Have you guys run into this problem before? I can't be sure if it pushed out on its own or if maybe I failed to push it in all the way. I did glue up about 20 blanks that night.

Chuck

 

[Dario]

Some kits are more forgiving than others.

What kit are you working on? Top or bottom section?

 

[ctEaglesc]

What kind of kit?
With slimlines you can easily compensate.
If it is the upper barrel on some kits it can be worked around.
If it is a Parker style refill and the bottom tube you may need to get a tube stretcher.
The 1/16 th may not be of any consequence priding you didn't kiss the tube when you milled.
Sorry for the long evasive answer, but there are a lot of variables.

 

[chazmonro]

Its a slimline kit, I haven't tried any of the other pens yet, I'm going to stick to Slim Line pens this year. (christmas gifts)

So about "kissing the tube" When milling the end of a pen blank, how do you keep from kissing the tube? I trimmed about a dozzen blanks last night and each time I milled until I hit the brass. Most of the time it was easy, I had a piece of maple that was very hard and I think I chewed up the brass a bit. How am I supposed to be doing it?

Chuck

 

[Dario]

With slimline you will be fine. Just watch out how deep you drive the twist mechanism. If it is the top part...you don't have to worry about it too. []

 

[BogBean]

Are you using Elmer's Probond Poly glue? The reason I asked is I have always used Gorilla Poly until one day I got cheap and bought a bottle of Elmer's Poly and with the Elmer's I started to have tubes walking out of the blanks. I never had this problem with the Gorilla glue and so I went back to Gorilla glue and never had the problem again...

 

[Deere41h]

Why not part it off square and make your own centerband? Then you don't even need to worry about the center bushing. Drill a contrasting piece of material with a 7mm hole and cut it to the length you have of the exposed tube and glue it on and turn it down. Might need to square it up before you turn it.