American Patriot Longer Cap Length

[randyrls]

Hello; Working on some American Patriot Twist Pens. I make a "Flag" pen with the Red/White stripes and Blue Star Field on the cap but never liked the short upper cap blank length. I sometimes extend the upper blank (it is a 3/8" brass tube), but this is limited to about 1-5/8" (41mm) Beyond that the cap and transmission do not engage and the cap just spins and falls off the pen. DAMHIKT As I was typing this the idea of an "extender" that is a press fit into the cap top assembly and engages the transmission occurred to me. I may try this and make another post in this thread.

 

[egnald]

Great idea. I've done something similar to add a spacer to the inside of the tube to help center things when I was making a Cigar style with only the little center band and not the big plastic piece. In my case I just cut a short length of brass tube then made a slit in it enough that I could press-fit/glue it inside the other tube. Maybe something like what you were thinking but for a different purpose. Here is the thread in case you are interested. - Dave

 

[egnald]

Just thinking "out loud" here:

I don't have the American Patriot kit, but assuming that the Parker style transmission is the same as what is in a Cigar pen, a 9/32 brass tube, might just work as an extension of the transmission along with a short piece of 8mm tube to act as a splice joiner.

The Cigar transmission I measured was 0.285" OD and a 9/32 brass tube is 0.281" OD.
A standard 8mm tube has an ID of about 0.288".
(On some kits, the 8mm upper tube is all that presses over a Parker transmission in order to make the twist mechanism work).

Or maybe you could just turn a small 0.285" (give or take) extender from acrylic that fits inside the piece on the cap and use a bit of 8mm tube to splice it on to the mechanism.

Good luck on finding a solution.

Best Regards,
Dave

 

[randyrls]

Dave; I looked at that mod to the Cigar pen. Looks good! It does a lot to slim down the rather "chunky" look of the centerband and highlights the wood grain.

The first thing I have to do is dig out my "pin gage set" and measure the diameters I am aiming for and see if I have a chunk of brass or aluminum in my stock stash.

 

[egnald]

Dave; I looked at that mod to the Cigar pen. Looks good! It does a lot to slim down the rather "chunky" look of the centerband and highlights the wood grain.

The first thing I have to do is dig out my "pin gage set" and measure the diameters I am aiming for and see if I have a chunk of brass or aluminum in my stock stash.

Now I'm jealous. I don't have a set of pin gauges. I had access to one in our receiving inspection room before I retired. - Dave