Pressed twist mechanism in a bit too far

[drewdin]

Hi Guys,

I was making some pens yesterday, when I was pressing the twist mechanism into the barrel the first time it was a bit short so I tried a second time to press it in a tiny bit and it went in too far!

Now when retracted the tip of the pen sticks out and when extracted, its way too long.

I tried pulling it out with my hands but it was too tight, any suggestions how to pull it back a hair or do i just rip it out and but a new pen for the twist mechanism?

Thanks,
Drew

 

[C. Scott]

Happens to everyone at least once.

You'll need to knock out the tip with a piece of 1/8" round bar. Go through the tranny while holding the pen and then sharp taps with a hammer. Make sure you do this over something soft to catch the tip.

Then you can take a 1/4" bolt 4" to 5" long and from the tip end (now open) insert the bolt and tap out the tranny. It will be harder than the tip. The real challenge is not to tear up the barrel.

Give it shot!

 

[drewdin]

Thanks, Ill give it a try today

 

[monophoto]

Drew

We've all had this problem at one time or another. There are solutions that don't involve destroying the transmission.

Option 1: try to pull the transmission out of the blank by hand. The major challenge is that it is small and slippery - try wearing a nitrile glove on the hand that you use to grip the transmission. You don't need to remove the transmission completely - just back it out of the blank about a milimeter.

Option 2: I'm pretty sure that there is something in the library describing this process, but I couldn't find it when I looked a few minutes ago. So here's a summary of the process.
1. Drill a 1/4" hole through a scrap of hardwood. Then, saw a kerf from the outside of the hardwood scrap in to the hole - don't go all the way through the scrap, only as far as the hole.
2. Find two flat washers with holes slightly larger than 1/4" holes. Insert the transmission through the two washers, and then into the hole in the scrap of wood. Lock the wood in a bench vise with the pen body pointing up. Essentially, the block of wood acts as a collet to hold the transmission. Position the pen body so that there is a gap of about 1/8" between the two washers.
3. Insert two flat-blade screwdrivers into the gap between the washers, with the screwdrivers positioned on opposite sides of the block of wood.. Twisting the screwdriver blades will force the washers apart. Since the transmission is clamped in the wood block collet, that means that the upper washer will force the pen body to slip off the transmission. You don't need to remove the transmission entirely; just reposition it by about a milimeter so that the nib will be drawn completely into the cone at the end of the pen when it is withdrawn, and yet will extend appropriately when positioned for writing.

Option 3: if the wooden collet trick doesn't work, then a fallback is to use transfer punches to disassemble the pen. This should not damage the pen body or transmission, but I suggest opting for this approach only if less 'vigorous' methods don't work. You first have to remove the cone from the nib end of the pen. That will require inserting a thin transfer punch through the transmission and then knocking out the cone. Then, insert a larger transfer punch through the open end to knock out the transmission.

 

[stonepecker]

If you are not selling this pen or giving it away........How about backing the refil off just a little bit?
As long as it is yours, and you know what is happening, you can deal with it.

JMHO

 

[rd_ab_penman]

1. Place an appropriate sized Flat Washer over the transmission.

2. Install the transmission into a 1/4" Collet in a Beall Collet Chuck

3. Tighten the 1/4" collect around the transmission

4. Use two screwdrivers and evenly pry on opposite sides of the Flat Washer against the Collet Chuck to move the transmission out to where it needs to be re-seated or remove completely.

Les

 

[mredburn]

The article you were looking for is under the technics section
http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/removing_tranny.pdf

 

[Sabaharr]

And if all that STILL does not work you can buy just the pen transmission for under a dollar from one of the kit suppliers the next time you order some kits. Until then "Borrow" one from another kit you have on hand. Then take the vice grips to it and teach it not to go in too deep ever again.

 

[Edgar]

All of the approaches described above are good.

Mine is similar, but doesn't require any jigs. I first tap out the tip with a 1/8" rod or transfer punch also, but then I simply slip a spare tube over the transmission all the way up to the blank. Then I stand the spare tube upright on a hard metal surface (like my table saw table or the lathe ways) and tap lightly on a transfer punch to push the transmission down a bit.

If the transmission is only pressed in a smidge too far, one or two light taps is usually all it takes to back it out enough. The spare tube fits perfectly up against the tube in the bottom blank, so that protects the blank. The spare tube can usually be pulled off the transmission quite easily if you only had to move it a mm or two.

Save the spare tube after making the adjustment for future use. Be sure to mark the ends so that you orient the tube the same way next time. The end that was placed on the hard surface will likely deform slightly, so it might not perfectly mate up to another tube. If you keep the orientation the same, you can reuse the tube a number of times.

Worst case, if you drive the transmission too far into the spare tube to pull it off, just finish driving the transmission all the way out & discard both the old tranny & the spare tube.

 

[Kragax]

As I have done this myself recently I appreciate these suggestions. In fact I have one to do in the shop now. You folks are great! Sorry didn't mean to hijack a post.

 

[WriteON]

7mm? PSI dis-assembly kit. Made to push the twist out.