Flat Top American trouble...

[Dennis Peacock]

Greetings.!!!!

I am having sporadic problems with the FTA pens. Tollerances are very close for the top half of the pen. I usually cut at + Zero and up to a minus 1/64". However, I have a FTA that I just put together and it is "hard to twist". Is there a way to fix this? I have other FTA pens that I have made with no problems on the twistability of the assembled pen. I have turned over 200 pens in my short pen turning hobby and have sent in over 120 Freedom Pens in support of our troops.

I just don't get it on the FTA pens.!!! Am I doing something wrong to have one that is hard to twist? Can it be fixed as I hate to toss an otherwise perfectly good pen.?

Advice and pointers are welcomed.

Oh yea...sorry...I'm new here and thanks to other here who have already welcomed me to the forum.

 

[Guest]

Two thoughts come to mind from problems that I have run into concerning theses pens.
The first is the obvious,that the bottom half is not appropriate diameter to fit inside the ring while you are screwing the insert out.
The section of the pen below the ring will show a wear mark if this is the case.
The other cause is that the transmission fit inside the brass tube in the upper half with NO restriction.
I am guessing these are similar to American classics put out by Woodcraft.
The instructions for assembling the pen cautions this .
I skipped that part on a couple of pens and had the same trouble you describe.
In any case don't junk the pen they can be dismantled with some screws from a hardware store and a socket or a couple of washers.
After you screw on the transmission and before you press it in place ,slip in into the top half.If there is ANY restriction no matter how slight run a small round file in the brass tube of the top half.
That should solve the problem unless you have a defective transmission.Check that before assembly.

 

[Rudy Vey]

The "hard to twist" mechanism comes mostly from (very small) amounts of glue in the brass tube. I started to ream out all my uppers with a "L" drill bit to remove any glue residue prior to assembly and also check with the same bit for proper clearance after I press the centerband on. Another reason for hard twists can be that the lower barrel is too thick, make sure to turn down to the diameter of the connector/screw part. Also, I found that sometimes too thick of a CA finish may lead to some problems with tight twist.

You can dis-assemble the pen very easily:
drill a hole of the diameter of the brass piece that receives the finial in a piece of wood; use a piece of an "A" mandrel or similar diameter piece of rod and insert this from the lower end of the upper barrel and press the twist mechanism and the attached brass thingy out through the hole in the wood piece. I use an arbor press, but a drill press should work, too. Clean out the brass tube as described above and re-assemble. Note: not always gets the twister destroyed, sometimes it does and has to be replace with a new one.

HTH
Rudy