How to keep slimlines barrels aligned?

[ossaguy]

The only thing I I don't like about making slimline pens,is if I just assemble the pen as normal,if you the least bit heavy handed,you can twist the pen to far,so the upper barrel slips,resulting in mis-aligning the wood grains.It's not a problem on burls,but on straight grained wood it is.

Early on,I learned not to use loctite,as those were impossible to separate to change the refill.

So there is that tricky balance...you want it to separate good,but not slip when it's twisted.

Any hot tips on what works good?

Thanks for any feedback!

Steve

 

[toddlajoie]

Knowing how to pull it apart, line it back up, and press it back together works for me... You need to take it apart to change the refill anyway, so any owner should know how to do it....

 

[Dale Allen]

:wink:Use solid color plastics for the blanks!:biggrin:

 

[ofd8001]

I believe I saw on a You Tube video where someone makes little tick marks on the brass tubes with a fine point Sharpie to help alignment.

 

[its_virgil]

You can't keep the top and bottom aligned since the cap can be rotated freely. You just gave to live and deal with it and keep aligning them over and again. If it really bothers you that much use materials that don't need to be kept in alignment. That is one reason is have moved from strong grained woods when i make slimlines. Just my thoughts.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[1080Wayne]

If you like your slimlines aligned when they are closed and you get too enthusiastic when opening , force it back into alignment by over closing it by the same amount . Conversely , if you want alignment with the nib extended , and you get it out of line by over closing , over open it the next time to regain alignment .

 

[SteveG]

To me it seems quite simple to "force twist" the cap end to bring the grain pattern into alignment. It is actually on the reverse stroke (closing the refill) that shows the alignment when it is correct. When I used to sell the the slims, I would intentionally force the grain out of alignment, then show the customer how easy it is to realign. For this reason, I never saw grain alignment as a problem...just something easy to do to keep that custom pen looking it's best.