Pen assembly help.

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Wood Knot

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2026
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4
Location
Southern Ohio
I am new to pen turning and need some help with assembly.

How far should the wrighting tip of ink pen refill stick out of the end of the pen tip?

Thanks very much!
 
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As woodchopper said, it would be ideal to know that kit. But if for a slimline, for example, the twist mechanism has a small indentation just above where the brass and steel meet. That's typically right around the sweet spot, but I always stop before and check - you can always press it in farther, a lot harder if you push too far and have to dissemble and try again. You just want to make sure that the pen refill fully retracts under the tip when not in use.
 
Take a look at some photographs showing how far the tip extends. Once you have done a couple you will know what looks right. It doesnt really matter which kit, though I'm assuming that it is a Slimline type. The indentations are just a rough guideline.
 
They are PSI pen kits, I've made a couple of the Foot Prints In The Sand and a couple of the Designer NT pens.

I was mostly having trouble with the designer pen from PSI, it said to leave 13/16" of the twist mechanism exposed. I inserted exactly 13/16" as stated but the writing tip did not stick out far enough from the tip, I ended up pressing the twist mechanisms in just a smidget more and everything work fine.

Thanks everyone!
 
Wood Knot said:
They are PSI pen kits, I've made a couple of the Foot Prints In The Sand and a couple of the Designer NT pens.

I was mostly having trouble with the designer pen from PSI, it said to leave 13/16" of the twist mechanism exposed. I inserted exactly 13/16" as stated but the writing tip did not stick out far enough from the tip, I ended up pressing the twist mechanisms in just a smidget more and everything work fine.

Thanks everyone!
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There can be a slight variation in the tube lengths .....barrel trimming for example, can slightly shorten the length of the tube.
As stated previously, just use the transmission marks as a rough guideline......as you now have done.
 
Wood Knot, I advance the transmission a tiny fraction at a time, insert refill, turn and check. The instructions have illustrations for Short, Long, Just Right. Kind of like Goldilocks.
From a former Buckeye.
 
Woodchipper said:
I have found over the years it is easier to take your time in assembly than getting frustrated at disassembling a pen. Some pens are almost impossible to disassemble.
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I'd say disassembling a pen would be challenging. The pen press that I bought is really nice, it let me make very fine adjustments when installing the twist mechanism.
 
As you've seen above, there isn't a hard and fast rule for the length, it's much more about what looks appealing to your eye. That said, if you overtrim a barrel and wind up with the end of the refill exposed all the time it's not a good thing
 
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