Help needed with pen kit fitting diameters

[donwatson]

Hi All,
I have made and finished 2 pen blanks, 1 is 47.5 m/m long and the other is 44 m/m long. The bore in the brass tubes is 7.47-7.5 mm.
I haven't a clue how this happened as I thought I was making a slimline. My problem now is finding a 2 piece kit like the slimline that will fit the 7.5 m/m bore.
Anyone any ideas as to what kits may fit or how it may be possible to find this information.

take care
Don W
PS Had it been wood I would have binned it, but it is a beautiful purple acrylic colour and I hope to save it.

 

[Penpal]

In the USA IAP Library.

Peter.

 

[Phil Dart]

The wall thickness of a tube is usually about 0.25mm, so if the i/d is roughly 7.5mm, the o/d will be roughly 8mm. Therefore think 8mm tube kits - parker type Euro or and Flat top. Elegant American, Concavia etc. I'm afraid I don't know off the top of my head waht the lengths required for those kits would be.

Was this a case of the wrong tubes in the kit or some other mishap? You must have drilled at more than 7mm to get them in, so how did you you establish what drill size you needed for the tubes? Where did you buy the kits from? A look through other kits available from the same supplier or manufacturer may help you to track down what they actually do belong to.

 

[donwatson]

[MENTION=122]Penpal[/MENTION], hi Peter,I have copied the information off that site and am about to browse through it. Thanks for the help.
[MENTION=1110]Phil[/MENTION], It is a long story about how I ended up with the wrong tubes. Basically, JohnM brought 2 large boxes of fittings etc. that he uses for penmaking. He was showing JohnR how to make pens. After lunch we started on making a slimline and chose 2 tubes and roughed them up with some emery, I was taken away and I left them to carry on. I don't know how they managed to turn them on the 7mm mandrel as the tubes were 7.5mm So we now have 2 beautifully turned pen blanks with no fittings to make a pen.
I then find out he got a load of 8mm tubes "somewhere" (couple of dozen). I suggested throwing them out but said I would check if we could get anything sorted out first. And here we are.
I have downloaded the sheets that Peter mentioned and it is a mine of information but I can't see any kits that would do the job (so far).

 

[Phil Dart]

If they have been turned down to meet 7mm slimline bushes, I suspect that the finished diameters stand less than no chance at all of fitting any other kit, irrespective of what tube is inside. If they were drilled to 8mm and turned to slimline bushes, the walls you are left with on the blanks must be gossamer thin in any case.

 

[donwatson]

Hi Phil,
You are right, there would be no chance of getting a kit that fits the blanks at the size they have been turned to.
I was hoping to stick a slimline tub in the blank but there is a bit of a gap, I could maybe coat a slimline tube and glue it into the 8mm tube (7.5mm bore) ?
I will keep thinking

 

[wm460]

Hi Phil,
You are right, there would be no chance of getting a kit that fits the blanks at the size they have been turned to.
I was hoping to stick a slimline tub in the blank but there is a bit of a gap, I could maybe coat a slimline tube and glue it into the 8mm tube (7.5mm bore) ?
I will keep thinking

I have done this but there is a sight gap between the two tubes that makes it hard to get it square.

 

[donwatson]

Thanks for that Mark. I am still thinking