Trustone Cracking during Assembly

[StuartCovey]

Ok, so I have been turning some trustone lately and the last 3 pens I have made have ended up cracking during assembly. The components went straight into the tube. They werent crooked or anything. I usually never have any problems with cracking during assembly with wood and acrylics, it's just the trustone.

Is this something I'm doing? Do I need to make the male part of the components smaller so it doesn't expand it as much?

Fortunantly I was able to recover two of the pens by filling the cracks.
Thanks in advance,

 

[CaptG]

Hey Stuart,
Been there, done that. Trustone is brittle and cracks easy. I use a dremal with the small sanding drum on the inside of each end untill the mating part is almost a slip fit. A drop of loc-tite will hold it really good and no off gassing fumes from ca glue putting that white film on everything inside the pen. Hope this helps.

 

[Gary Beasley]

The brass tube does expand significantly when a component is pressed in so if you want a tight fit without locktite, which is a good solution by the way, you need to ream out a little room in the truestone on each end to allow room for the expansion.

 

[StuartCovey]

Hey Stuart,
Been there, done that. Trustone is brittle and cracks easy. I use a dremal with the small sanding drum on the inside of each end untill the mating part is almost a slip fit. A drop of loc-tite will hold it really good and no off gassing fumes from ca glue putting that white film on everything inside the pen. Hope this helps.

Ok, I figured something like that would be the solution. I will try that.

Thanks

 

[ed4copies]

The brass tube does expand significantly when a component is pressed in so if you want a tight fit without locktite, which is a good solution by the way, you need to ream out a little room in the truestone on each end to allow room for the expansion.

Although this WILL work, the downside is it increases your risk of having a "catch" as you do final turning to diameter. Be aware of this and, I suggest, do "fine tuning to final diameter" with sandpaper.