Keeping the Sierra from untwisting

[Misterturner]

Brian,

I had this happen to me one of the first time's I made one of these (I wasn't thinking, but easily got it out with needle nose pliers), so I can imagine it being a problem when a customer has the same experience. If it happened to anyone or worse, one of us, it can happen again, so best to anticipate that. I applaud you for trying to find a way to prevent it from happening.

I just read through this thread and thought about it for a few seconds. It seems to me that the real problem here is the fact that there is RESERVE space in the finial. How about measuring that space and turning a wood (or maybe acrylic would be a better idea) plug that you can glue inside. With it in place, no one should be able to shove the mechanism up higher than we'd like.

Jason

 

[bkersten]

This has had me looking at options/solutions on mine as well for a long time. I even had on the instruction/care card to turn the clip end away from you as you look at it to your right, and pull to seperate at the same time - then reassemble. Unless I'm missing something on the mechanics end here, I think Jason may have solved this as good we'll get unless there is a major change to the manufacturing process. Even if the buyer untwists it they will still be able to reattach it without any probing for it. Fool/tamper proof, well, I'll not go that far because somewhere out there is Murphys law, something will happen totally unforseen again. I know I'm going to give it a try, maybe another step, but, maybe that personal visit of "somethng happened here" wil not surface again. Whoever gets the measurement first, how about posting a figure.

Bob

 

[Misterturner]

I thought about posting a measurement with my first reply, but then thought better of it. It has to be pretty precise and there are so many Sierra's/Vistas/Elegant this and that's/Wall Streets/Gatsbys/Tropical somethingorothers that one size may not fit all (length OR diameter) and production tolerances might wreak further havoc.

Another consideration is that because of this reserve space in the cap, the exact barrel length can be determined by the individual penturner (within reason) when making one of these pens. I know that I have that flexibility whenever I make one of these (so let my hair down) and don't fret over a little bit of the end of the blank getting trimmed away during that part of the process. Its actually a joy to make one of these, as other pens are less forgiving, and you end up with too much of the cartridge tip protruding out the nib or something else is affected if the barrel ended up any shorter than the size of the original tube.

So, if anyone is going to try this method, they'll have to incorporate their final barrel length into the calculation before measuring the right plug length - if it ends up being shorter than the length of the tube that came with the kit, then the plug should be that much shorter as well.