Absolutely makes perfect sense Butch, thank you. My only question is the clip hole, you must have drilled it out with a non-bradpoint 10 mm bit? If so, I'll have to invest in a new drill bit, but that's ok.
I do not understand the part about how to turn the ring bigger, but I did have a chance last night to fuss around for 30 minutes, and then had to drive 350 miles, which gave me lots of contemplation time, so I now have a very simple way of replacing that ring for a larger transition. I will post the so simple solution, with pics, probably Sunday when I have time to actually build the ring and photo it. This is such a grand idea that others might really start to think about as well. Why a larger transition ring? Well, you know already that a cigar is one of the meatier pens to build, but imagine what you could do if you could make it even more meaty? You wouldn't want to go too overboard of course, but lets just say you want to wrap and cast a tube with 18 guage stranded copper wire. The wire will fit everywhere but at the nib it will be just a hair too thick. Maybe you are casting some flowers..well if the casting can remain thicker, you will be able to capture more petals. Anything you cast, whether in a blank, or right on to the tube is limited by the amount of meat you can keep. I can't think of any other kit, other than a cigar, that has a transition piece that is easily replaced without building a whole new nib. The cigar might actually be more versatile than a slim. Imagine if you could come up with a tap that matches the threads on the nib coupler! You could rebuild the entire nib, install and remove it with ultimate ease for repair or for ink replacement, and now you could build the nib any size or shape you want too! The removable nib option eliminates the need to pull the pen apart, which means you can make it all one barrel and not have to worry about the ink cartridge...how you'd change a cartridge in a slim built with a finial twist..don't know, can't be as easy. Now if someone doesn't want to go so far as a finial twist, just adapting the nib transition, and eliminating the centerband coupler will still give them the bulk necessary for certain projects. I have a very special plan for this pen, and I am not saying what I am going to cast, but that's the reason for the nib transition resize.
I also like the bulk of the nib itself in a cigar. Bulkier nibs are easier for a do-it yourselfer to rebuild. You could build a new nib of wood and it would be stronger than a slim nib because it would be thicker. And of course, if you re-do the entire nib, you don't need the transition piece at all.
If anyone knows where to get a tap to match the nib connector..I'm all ears!