Help! cross mechanism broken inside brass tube.

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TonyL

TonyL

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Well, after reading all of the advice on "finishing", I made a beautiful trim line for my mom (thanks for the finishing advice, pen came out great!). It's now 2:30 am and to make a long story short, the Cross-type extension mechanism is broken inside the brass tube. There is about 1/8 to a 1/4 inch sticking out of the brass tube (inside of the finished lower barrel). Please tell me that I can remove/fix this.
Pen is a trim line acrylic.
Thank you!
 
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Ok :) The recommendations worked great except the 7mm brass tube also came out, but my finished lower barrel is still fine.

Next question please: is there a way to neatly insert and glue another brass tube without destroying the finish of the acrylic?

Thanks folks for all of your help!
 
Depends on how careful you are reinserting the tube and what you glue it in with. I've never been that lucky and have had to refinish mine.
 
Thank you. I used the medium viscosity CA, applied it to the inside of the barrel (from the top down), and inserted a new sanded brass blank. I made two small drops of the cured CA on the outside of the finished pen which came right with the BG's rouge and buffing wheel. I am a luck man. Special thanks to Heather of Peachtree Workworking Supply in Norcross for the words of encouragement and sanity check. Peachtree WS has some real nice folks there!.
 
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This is the one many of you (especially) Old Man helped me salvage

Made this for my mom. Pen number 9 for me. I will never make it as a hand model (or photographer). Separately, I have noticed that two of the two WC trim line kits that I bought (they were the inexpensive $5 kits) were a real struggle to get the center piece over the twist mechanism. That's what started my initial problems. It could easily just be me :).
 

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What you need to address for future pens Tony, is why the barrel came out in the first place. Couple of thoughts...make sure you have a correctly sized round hole in the tube...some bits can wobble and brad points have been known to wander though their travels. Roughed up tube...I like to score it horizontally...just my preference. Thick CA or epoxy...the time for that argument isn't in this post. Cure over night regardless. Trim with your preferred means, again...not the place and seal the ends...only important on wood. Make sure the barrel is clean and free of reside, turn at will! Hope that helps or it could be totally useless!!
 
Good work Tony. I have 2 sets of those transfer punches they have more uses for pens than you can shake a stick at. I use them at least twice on every pen I make!
 
I have just filed off the broken part flush with the top of the tube and pressed the remaining portion down in the lower barrell. Put in another transmission and you are good to go.
 
Thanks folks! I still need ot work on my finishing. I am near-scratch free, but not 100% scratch-free. I also used DNA and learned that it smears some of the "artwork" on the acrylic. Live and learn! Have good night guys :)
 
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