Refill won't extend

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Woodchipper

Woodchipper

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
7,031
Location
Cleveland, TN
Very frustrated here with cigar pen; Woodcraft 150867. I had to do a design modification with tubes that didn't come with the pen kit. I checked the tube length for the lower and upper blanks- 1.91 for the cap and 2.09 for the body. Carefully used pen mill and checked OAL with calipers several times to assure the lengths of the blank/tube. Got it assembled and the refill barely peeks out of the nib. Disassemble it and shorten the lower body? Take up needlepoint instead? Your help is appreciated as always. BTW, used bocote for the blank; fit and finish was perfect.
 
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Make sure you assembled it correctly. Cigar pens are notorious for getting the upper and lower tube mixed up. I did that to my first cigar.
 
What type of design modification did you need to make?
I dont think your tubes are the correct lengths according to the assembly instruction. The body blank length is 2 1/4" (2.25"). Since it is 3/16" longer than the Cap (2 1/16" (2.0625")) if the transmission is working correctly the refill should have stuck out way too much if the blanks were mixed.
You have the correct refill? Did you remove the little tip nub before putting in the refill?
Can you advance the refill using the the tranny by hand?
 
1. Refill is a Parker which came with the kit.
2. Removed the nub as I always check the refill before installing.
3. Don't have an extra tranny.
4. Extending the tranny manually does nothing.
5. Had to scrap the original blanks and tubes so I had to use tubes of the same size but one was a different length, a bit longer than the blank. Was careful to keep the two blanks separate. If it was the cap, the refill would be too long for the tranny.
Took the body apart but puzzled with removing the two part to trim the blank. Both are the same ID so to use a punch might be useless.
Two things here: find a way to disassemble the body and find Jimmy Hoffa.
 
This is usually how I check refill extension issues — I start simple.
First, with the body only, install the refill and spring and press the refill by hand.
If the refill gets stuck or doesn't extend freely, the body may be slightly out of alignment and causing binding.
Then install the transmission and test the advance. If it advances smoothly but the extension is short, the body/tube length is likely a bit too long.
Hope that helps narrow it down.
 
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