Originally posted by Randy_
Originally posted by avbill
After I glued in the tube into a blank drilled for a sierra pen I milled the ends. I used a 7mm with a acrylic sleeve. After finishing and polishing the blank I started to install the pen's hardware. Both ends are so loose that neither are anywhere close to a fit .
id of tube .3970
id of new tube .3950
od of nib .3890
od of top .3930
I can take a new tube .4105 od and .3875 id of the tube and it slips over the hardware also. any suggestions
Got out my caliper and measured the first kit out of my box"
OD = 0.408"
ID = 0.390"
CLIP/Finial = 0.389"
Nib = 0.386"
First off, Bill, as was suggested before, only one end of the tube is supposed to have a snug press fit......the finial end. Where the tube slips over the nib end, the fit fit should be close; but not tight. The tube should rotate freely with out any noticeable friction between the tube and the nib. The "connection" between the nib and the tube is made at the finial end where the end of the transmission is a snug fit into the open end of the finial.
The finial should be a tight press fit into the tube; but the Sierra kit is well known for being loose at this juncture. A drop of CA is used by many to be sure the finial is well anchored in the tube; but you have to be careful to let the CA cure for a day or two in the open or the CA fumes may cause a white powdery coating on your exterior metal surfaces. That being the case. it might be just as well to use epoxy to glue in the hardware rather than CA.
As you can see from the tube measurements I posted, it looks like the tube you are having problems with is a little over-sized in its ID. The tube may have been bad from the start or maybe you reamed it out just a hair to much when cleaning up the excess from the gluing process??