Making 1st Pen & Pencil Set and have a question

[Raymond Fries]

I have read many posts where people have had small gaps when pressing the parts together because the blank was not sanded exactly 90 degrees to the tube. I drilled my blanks on the lathe and sanded the ends on the lathe as well with sandpaper attached to a mandrel and the blank on a drill bit in the tailstock chuck. The material is acrylic. I have turned the blanks and there are no gaps between the blanks and any of the bushings. Can I assume that the pen will be gap free when I press it together?


I have to deliever on Saturday for a birthday gift so it has to be perfect or I guess I will go to plan B and buy a different gift.


Thanks for any advise.

[Jim Burr]

It should be Raymond. The two schools of barrel trimming are; perfect 90 disc sanding or barrel trimmer. I like a barrel trimmer. Pick what works best for you. Some kits are more forgiving on the gap issue than others.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Assuming that when you sanded the ends, the tubes were glued in, you should be fine. If the tubes were not in, you could still get gaps. The ends of the blank must be square to the tube, not the hole in the blank. Those two things are the same most of the time. But if the hole was a bit big for the tube, or a bit oval, then squaring the end of the blank to the hole can be different than squaring it to the glued-in tube.