Pen Kits

[Cuthriell]

My son used some old kits that were here to make some pens for friends. He needed more and bought several styles from PSI. He noticed that the new kits had mechanisms that were hard to press in. Like very hard. All of them were that way and he worked around it by removing a bit from the diameter of the brass piece on the twist mech. Has anyone seen this or have any idea if we are doing something wrong? Or is there a brand of kit that is any better? He was using the tailstock to press them in. The difference between ID and OD was about 0.003".

 

[Leviblue]

ExoticBlanks, Ed and Dawn, sell quality kits. I like their basic kits better than PSI.
Haven't had an issue with pressing them in, but its been a few years since I've turned anything.
What kits was he using, slimline, Jr Gent, etc?

 

[SabertoothBunny]

Sent you a PM. I do a lot with pens and know a number of people in that world that sell kits. Without more information I'm not sure how to answer your question.

For the record, Exotic Blanks gets their pen kits from the same places that PSI does and they even sell PSI kits on their site. Most large sellers of kits have the exact same kits renamed or relabeled for a variety of reasons, many even do bulk orders together when their stock is low. Ultimately, they pretty much all sell the same quality kits but some of the finishes vary which is the plating on the components that show.

 

[kserdar]

Back when I was turning pens. All the kits needed metric drill bits for the center. They weren't common at the time and I purchased them with the kits.
Did he use the correct size? Dull bit? An imperial sized bit will be close but would make inserting the brass tubes very hard.

 

[Cuthriell]

Thanks. He is using a 7mm bit and the brass tubes are easily installed. The problem occurs when pressing the twist mechanism into the tubed barrel.