Tube out of round.

[dubdrvrkev]

I was doing my first el Grande today and found the cap tube to be .010" out of round. Has anyone noticed this before? I haven't had anything this noticable before, I had to do a little massaging to get the bushings to fit in the tube.

 

[vick]

I never has that happen on an el grande, but if you nedd to you can borrow a tube till Mr Bill sends a replacement.

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by vick
<br />I never has that happen on an el grande, but if you nedd to you can borrow a tube till Mr Bill sends a replacement.

Those tubes are not the sturdiest items in the world..Fact is, I'm a bit surprised that more of them don't get squished in handling and end up in the shop a little elliptical??

The problem that I see with trying to reshape them is the following. You might get them back to nearly round....not quite but close enough to glue them in a blank and get them on a bushing for turning. But if the tubes were a few thousandths out of round, when you pressed in the nibs and couplers, the tubes would be forced to round and there might be some cracking of wood or stresses set up that would cause future cracking. I'm just sort of talking to myself, here. Never had a wood pen crack from a tight tube fit so I don't know how much movement a wooden barrel can tolerate. However, I have lost a couple of Corian barrels where the fit was tight so I'm real careful, now, to be sure they are a loose fit.

 

[dubdrvrkev]

I went ahead and turned it but I may not assemble it. We'll see how I feel about it when I get it finished. My thought was that the bushings would put some pressure on it and it may crack while turning. But it turned okay, I should just get some replacement bushings and chalk this nice burl blank up to a loss. I wish I would have noticed the tube before I glued it, come to think about it thought the tube was a little tight fitting. I just thought that it would be a better CA joint.

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by dubdrvrkev
<br />.....I just thought that it would be a better CA joint.

Kevin: I read somewhere that you could soak a blank with a CA glued tube in acetone and the tube would come out. Not sure if the cost of the acetone would be worth the cost of the blank; but it is something for you to think about.

 

[dubdrvrkev]

Not really worth it. If is wont assemble well I'll just add it to the wall of shame. It won't be the only blank hanging up there.

 

[bigvoots44]

Kevin. why not drill the tube out of the blank and glue a new one in. the drill should follot the hole in the old tube and be centered. you can protect the blank with a piece of cloth. good luck.fred