Brass tubing

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
G

Graham Evans

Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
2
Location
Bristol
This is my first thread, so please bear with me.:eek:

I am looking for a supplier of the brass tube that is used in pen kits that I have been making for the last two years. Most kits, I believe come from China.
The sizes I have are: outside dia 6.8mm, inside dia. 6.25mm. So these are for use with the standard 7 mm drill bit pens. What I want to do is make things which are longer than the tubes provided but using some of the same 'press fit' components.
I live in the UK and have looked at various brass tube manufacturers, all to no avail.
Can anyone please help?
Bristolpenmanuk
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
exoticblanks.com, woodnwhimsies.com, and even pennstateind.com. Im sure there are others and I would use the first two if I had a choice.
 
You will find that most of the tubes are extruded and most of the kits are oddball sizes. Sometimes I think those oddball sizes is for job security ;) There are some that use standard tubing sizes, 7mm, 3/8 for example.
 
Most of the major pen kit vendors also sell spare brass tubes in 10" lengths.

I have found that traditional hardware stores here in the US carry brass tubing in longer lengths. This tubing tends to come in the standard imperial sizes - 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", etc rather than the metric sizes used by the Taiwanese pen kit manufacturers. More importantly, the material thickness is different from that used in pen kits - I bought some kits that used 3/8" tubes, and tried to substitute hardware store tubing, but found that the ID was slightly smaller which meant that the components wouldn't press into the tubing (at least, not without forcing something such that the tubing expanded and cracked the turning).
 
Another option I have used in the past is to drill the blank the length you want, cut the tube in half, and insert one part of the tube in each end. As long as your blank is relatively stable and you take care when turning, the small amount of extra support in the center is not the end of the world...

Plus, then you can do some unnatural things...

The%20Skinny%2001w.jpg


The%20Skinny%2002w.jpg
 
Have you tried penkitsuk.com yet? Shipping would certainly be cheaper than any of the US suppliers mentioned in this thread. I don't see long tubes mentioned on his web site, but it wouldn't hurt to contact him to check on whether he has them or might be interested in adding them. I've ordered a few things from him that I couldn't find in the USA & have had good experiences.

Or similar to what toddlajoie suggested, you can use two standard length tubes butted up against each other without leaving a gap between joints and cut off the excess from one of the tubes.
 
I don't want to give a name but there is a major pen kits supplier that is sending out junk replacement tubes buyer beware.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom