The agony of defeat (wifes claypen / diamond knurl RB)

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Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
267
Location
Kansasville WI 53139
Well, Linda loved the clay pens from Mrs. Ptownsubbie (sorry, name slips my mind right now)at the MPG She purchased one, along with the Diva no press in kit. Yesterday, she put it n the lathe, sanded it, and put on a pretty decent GluBoost finish and we put it together and it looks lovely. She also bought another very pretty clay blank set for a jr. series kit. While I was in one of the classes I told her to head over to Exotic Blanks booth to pick out whatever kit she wanted to use for it. John Underhill helped her decide on a kit that would really look nice with the clay tubes ( Thank you John for helping her with that). She got the antique copper diamond knurl RB. Tonight she got down to the lathe, and spent what seemed like eternity polishing and finishing the polyclay tubes. This is where things went awry. I printed out the assembly directions and was going to press the pen together. I did not study the directions enough, and I did not look at every piece to the kits before starting to assemble. I had a few little rings in the kit I am still not sure where they are supposed to go, and I either was missing a part, or like the dumbass I can sometimes be somehow got the part that is supposed to be on the upper end of the lower barrel crammed inside the top section between the black plastic piece, and the cap w/clip on it. I know I didnt misplace it anywhere else. I did not take inventory of the parts before assembling, but I know Ed is very accurate in putting the kits together, so Its got to be something I done.
Anyways, so I get the punches out and try driving the top half apart in the quest of finding that missing part. I beat the snot out of it trying to remove the clip end piece. I was hitting it firm and squarely, yet being extremely careful not to ruin the polyclay barrel. I beat it so much I drove the brass tube out of the clay without damaging the clay, yet the end piece (I think its called the finial?) did not move at all. I think if I am careful, and with a little luck ( something I dont have much of) I can slide a new tube up inside the clay barrel and still save the blank, but I will be making a trip out to Exotic Blanks to go buy her a new pen kit and hopefully put this tragedy behind me. Was a pretty frustrating evening here .
Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. Any helpful hints on assembly would be appreciated.
 

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
24,523
Location
Racine, WI, USA.
Unfortunately, experience can be frustrating!!

Fortunately, Dale lives close to us so we will be able to help "fix" the problem.

For anyone who has not made a lot of rollerball or fountain pens, there are two trim rings that go on the body of the pen.
Those rings are different sizes-one fits the finial side (the smaller diameter) and one fits the nib end (the larger diameter).
When I see the pen, I will give more info on how to avoid this problem!!
 
Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
267
Location
Kansasville WI 53139
Unfortunately, experience can be frustrating!!

Fortunately, Dale lives close to us so we will be able to help "fix" the problem.

For anyone who has not made a lot of rollerball or fountain pens, there are two trim rings that go on the body of the pen.
Those rings are different sizes-one fits the finial side (the smaller diameter) and one fits the nib end (the larger diameter).
When I see the pen, I will give more info on how to avoid this problem!!
Thank you Ed, I will drop you a message when I know I can make it out by you. Your the best!
 
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