Rocker pen kits - Poor Instructions (long rant)

[Adam Bauer]

So this weekend Rocker had a pretty good sale on their European pen kits. So I bought some since the price was right. Now, be advised I am about as novice as you can be while still having used a lathe. In total I've made two pens and they were both at a woodcraft freedom pen turn-a-thon and both pens were just regular slimlines. So anyhow, I look at the bushings and all three are different. No documentation comes with the bushings so I assume that the pen kit instructions tell me which bushing goes on the tip, middle, and clip ends of the blanks. No such luck! All that is on the instructions is a generic how to make a pen instructions that I assume are on the back of all the rocker pen kit instructions. Additionally, the instructions tell me to leave a tenon on the end of the upper section for the center band to go over. Now my assumption of how the bushings work is that the bushing is how small you can go and still have the blank match up with the hardware. Also by the wording of the kit it made me assume that the tenon would be smaller than the bushing size. However, this leads to two problems. There were two different sized barrels in this kit but nowhere in the instructions does it mention which is the top and which is the bottom barrel. Second, I compared all of the bushings to the center band and all of bushings could be put through the center band from the kit. If I was to make a tenon smaller than the bushing it would definately be too small for the kit.

I'm just a beginner like I said so maybe these are all non-issue type of items but for a new person they are definately annoying and will cause me to rethink the purchase of any futher pen kits from Rockler. I've looked at the instructions for the penn state euro kits and they are a ton more detailed.

Has anybody else found instructions on pen kits to be sub-par or is this just a case of my being too inexperienced?

[TYLER WOOD]

I know the kit you are talking about. It is a mont blanc kit. This was the first pen I ever turned and I did it Saturday:) . I was confused like you, but mine was because I had no instructions at all. I think I got lucky more than anything. All except a little crack in the pen and gluing my self to it while trying to fix the crack it went relatively smooth!:D

You use the longer barrel for the lower portion of the pen. The tenon is turned so the middle band fits over it. the uppoer portion of the lower end it turned to be slightly smaller than the middle ring so that is can slip over it. Both top and bottom ends of the pen are turned down to the bearings. I did not have any instructions with mine or the correct bearings (the set I bought did not come with bearings, so I created a gap in a board and used it as calipers (I don't have those either). I set the gap in the board a little larger than the pieces that fit into the wood so I would have sanding space. Take the center ring and glue it to the lower portion of the upper end of the pen and install the clip and end to the upper portion. Install the end piece on the lower portion of the lower end of the pen, then using a pen press or a pipe clamp (I don't have a pen press either) install the pen innerds. Twist the pen to check if it deep enough, adjust as necessary. Then just press the upper and lower sections together!

I hope this helps, and I understand the rant!!!! I was throwing a fit too when I saw the longer barrels.

[Bill Blasic]

If I'm not mistaken you can find instructions on the web sites like Penn State Industries or Craft Supplies etc for all the kits that they sell. There is a bushing kit for the Mont Blank that has a sliding bushing that makes sizing for the band very easy. Hope this will help.