Slimline transmission

[paramount Pen]

What makes the slim lines retract while you are writing with them and is there anything that can be done to stop this from happening?
Thanks for reading and thanks for any feedback in advance.

 

[renowb]

Are the threads on the refill good and tight and not slipping? May be a bad tranny too.

 

[soligen]

Low quality transmissions.

I have this problem with the Funlines from PSI. I bought tranmissions from woodcraft to replace them. The replacement transmissions cost more than the original kits .... lesson learned.

 

[Jim15]

Also if the bottom blank is a little to short it won't let the refill extend fully and when you put pressure on the nib it will retract.

 

[Chasper]

As mentioned, the usual cause is that the bottom section is a little short and the refill doesn't get fully extended and locked into place. Also cleaning off the grease will cause them to retract. If you have been wiping them with Acetone or giving them a shot of WD-40 to make them work better, they are at risk of not locking into place.

 

[RichB]

I had it one time or more that the refill hits or bottoms out inside the nib because the refill was a little different or, like what has been said a short lower half. I fixed it by drilling the step inside the nib a little deeper. I doesn't take much.

 

[thewishman]

Also if the bottom blank is a little to short it won't let the refill extend fully and when you put pressure on the nib it will retract.

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

Am I missing something in my assembly?

 

[soligen]

Also if the bottom blank is a little to short it won't let the refill extend fully and when you put pressure on the nib it will retract.

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

Am I missing something in my assembly?

The refill should always be fully screwed in. If you un-screw it a little, then it will be loose and move. Set the extension to nominal with the refill fully screwed in - the extension isn't intended to be user modifiable.

 

[Dan26]

I had the same thing happen to me at work this past week. The pen was good, the operator was not so good. I was writing some notes and using the computer mouse to open reports, never putting down the pen. Apparently everytime I used the mouse and went back to writing, the pen twisted and the refill ever so slowly retracted. Not sure if this is a similar case with you, just thought I'd pass it on.

 

[Smitty37]

I expect --

What makes the slim lines retract while you are writing with them and is there anything that can be done to stop this from happening?
Thanks for reading and thanks for any feedback in advance.

If you are having the problem with more than one pen I suspect you are not seating the transmission correctly and the refill is not fully extended and locked when you begin writing. If it has happened with only one pen it is probably a bad transmission.

I make it a practice to check that every transmission works before I install it. They really seldom fail.

 

[its_virgil]

Regardless of the length of the lower barrel the total length from the end of the nib to the end of the transmission needs to be 3 15/16" or 3.9375"... generally speaking, of course. I use this length on all slimlines from the various suppliers and it works well for me.
do a good turn daily!
Don

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

 

[Jim15]

Also if the bottom blank is a little to short it won't let the refill extend fully and when you put pressure on the nib it will retract.

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

Am I missing something in my assembly?

Chris, you are probably right when I think about it. I must have my pen styles mixed up. It's been quite awhile since I've done it. Thanks.

 

[Lenny]

Regardless of the length of the lower barrel the total length from the end of the nib to the end of the transmission needs to be 3 13/16" or 3.8125"... generally speaking, of course. I use this length on all slimlines from the various suppliers and it works well for me.
do a good turn daily!
Don

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

... and to add to what Don said, you can cut a block to that exact length and use it as a stop (rip a V notch and lay the pen in it) as you press your pen together.... no worries about going too far that way!

 

[its_virgil]

Note corrected dimensions: 3 15/16" or 3.9375"
Good tip Lenny. A block cut to the required length works quite well.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Regardless of the length of the lower barrel the total length from the end of the nib to the end of the transmission needs to be 3 13/16" or 3.8125"... generally speaking, of course. I use this length on all slimlines from the various suppliers and it works well for me.
do a good turn daily!
Don

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

... and to add to what Don said, you can cut a block to that exact length and use it as a stop (rip a V notch and lay the pen in it) as you press your pen together.... no worries about going too far that way!

 

[TBCbushings]

Nice tip....

 

[Silver]

I agree with Smitty, if you push the transmission in too far inside the bottom tube it will not lock in to position and hence automatically roll back inside the nib when writing.

This can be rectified by dissembling the bottom tube.

Replace the nib then try replacing the tranny but don't push it in as far.

If you have a "guide" for pushing in the trannies then I would suggest that you make one a little longer then you can "tweak" the tranny until it fits correctly.

Hope this helps.

Eamonn

 

[Silver]

Regardless of the length of the lower barrel the total length from the end of the nib to the end of the transmission needs to be 3 13/16" or 3.8125"... generally speaking, of course. I use this length on all slimlines from the various suppliers and it works well for me.
do a good turn daily!
Don

Maybe I do it the wrong way. I press the transmission in until the refill extends fully - Then I show the customer to unscrew the refill until it extends the amount they prefer.

The length of the blank shouldn't matter. If it is short, adjust the depth of the transmission.

... and to add to what Don said, you can cut a block to that exact length and use it as a stop (rip a V notch and lay the pen in it) as you press your pen together.... no worries about going too far that way!

Don't need a Vee notch, just drill a spare pen blank down the middle at 8 to 10mm, then cut the blank in half lengthways, cut to the correct lenght you then have a guide ready to use and a spare in case you loose one..

Eamonn

 

[ossaguy]

What makes the slim lines retract while you are writing with them and is there anything that can be done to stop this from happening?
Thanks for reading and thanks for any feedback in advance.

Awhile back I bought 15 or 20 kits for like $1.70 each,and every trans did that.They were super easy to turn and had no detent,just twisting them in your hand out of the bag.I tried making 2 pens,they would retract just writing with them normally.

These I noticed had no grooves on the outside of the trans,on the end that you press it in.

All the ones from the Artisan line at CSUSA and the ones from Rockler have 2 grooves in them,and work properly.

Any chance that yours have no grooves in them?

When Rockler had a super sale on those kits,I bought about 15.It was only about .50 more each than buying just the trans.Plus I have lots of spare refills.

I don't buy the cheap kits anymore because of that.


Steve

 

[its_virgil]

What makes the slim lines retract while you are writing with them?

Not all do. I've not had a slimline do this and I have made more than my share in the last 15 years. I've purchased from all of the suppliers but stay away from the really cheap kits. Maybe there is a bad production run if your kits were not the really cheap ones.

Awhile back I bought 15 or 20 kits for like $1.70 each,and every trans did that.

...and these kits were purchased where? Its OK to say. I certainly would if for no other reason than to warn others of what is available. If we stop buying inferior kits then maybe the quality would improve or at least these inferior kits would leave the market place. But as long as they continue to sell...


Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[paramount Pen]

I purchased them from WoodWorkersParadise.com in Lumberton TX. They get all their stuff from PSI. These were funline kits.

 

[paramount Pen]

What makes the slim lines retract while you are writing with them and is there anything that can be done to stop this from happening?
Thanks for reading and thanks for any feedback in advance.

Awhile back I bought 15 or 20 kits for like $1.70 each,and every trans did that.They were super easy to turn and had no detent,just twisting them in your hand out of the bag.I tried making 2 pens,they would retract just writing with them normally.

These I noticed had no grooves on the outside of the trans,on the end that you press it in.

All the ones from the Artisan line at CSUSA and the ones from Rockler have 2 grooves in them,and work properly.

Any chance that yours have no grooves in them?

When Rockler had a super sale on those kits,I bought about 15.It was only about .50 more each than buying just the trans.Plus I have lots of spare refills.

I don't buy the cheap kits anymore because of that.


Steve

I never noticed if they had grooves or not. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ossaguy]

I purchased them from WoodWorkersParadise.com in Lumberton TX. They get all their stuff from PSI. These were funline kits.

I got mine from Woodturningz,the labels looked like PSI numbers. For the cheap price they must be the same Funlines,is my guess.I liked the different platings,like the antique brass & gun metal so they have made nice pens with the Rockler trannies.

Steve

 

[Smitty37]

Not necessarily -

What makes the slim lines retract while you are writing with them?

Not all do. I've not had a slimline do this and I have made more than my share in the last 15 years. I've purchased from all of the suppliers but stay away from the really cheap kits. Maybe there is a bad production run if your kits were not the really cheap ones.

Awhile back I bought 15 or 20 kits for like $1.70 each,and every trans did that.

...and these kits were purchased where? Its OK to say. I certainly would if for no other reason than to warn others of what is available. If we stop buying inferior kits then maybe the quality would improve or at least these inferior kits would leave the market place. But as long as they continue to sell...


Do a good turn daily!
Don

The problem is not associated with the price of the kits...I've sold 10s of thousands of "really cheap kits" with few transmission failures - well under 1% (I will replace any of my transmissions,or anything else in my kits that fails free of charge).

 

[Sylvanite]

The problem is not associated with the price of the kits.

I agree. I've gone through thousands of slimline transmissions making bullet pen kits and have seen lots of bad ones. Some simply would not turn. Others turned but wouldn't stop turning (even after the refill was fully extended or retracted). Some had bad threads so a refill wouldn't screw in. Others were too large in diameter to press in. Some were loose on the upper barrel fit. One didn't even have the raised nubs on the top. Different ones have the raised nubs in different places. Some need to seat deeper than others.

Although I've noticed at least 4 distinctly different designs, none are failure-free. A few years ago, I had a bad run where I discarded about 10% of the slimline kit transmissions. I'm probably back down around 1% now. The best performing transmissions in my current stock are the ones I bought in bulk from Smitty.

Even within the same brand, seating depth can vary slightly from transmission to transmission. I use a jig for initial placement (which I set a little long), and nudge it into place using the refill as the final guide. Even that is not perfect, as I've also found that cross-style refills vary a little in length. I check all mine and cull the long and short ones. Then I seat the transmissions deep enough that if the end customer buys a replacement, then a short refill will work. A long refill can be backed out about 1/4 turn and still write well without coming loose.

Regards,
Eric