Thread: Problems with Sierra pen kits

I do a lot of the original Sierra's and haven't run into any issues yet.
I know there have bee issues with some of the Sierra knockoff's.

Les

Yeah, I have had no issues with sierras - I think even the cheaper kits have been churned out in so many thousands that the factories have it down to a fine art. Length issues in particular are a bit surprising, because there is a bit more length tolerance in the sierra design than some others due to the way the mechanism pushes into the top.

When you say a short extension, do you mean the nib never fully retracts, or that it doesn't extend quite as far as it should? Might be worth double checking the length of your the pen body (the bit you turned that includes the tube)?

It doesn't extend as far as it should. I haven't turned the blank as yet, I just installed the mechanism into the front of the pen with the ink in & twist it on. I'm striking it with two different suppliers. Most will extend to just past the line on the ball point but some I'm getting are struggling to even make it to the line. The ones that extend properly are fine but the ones that fall short are not extending enough for my liking.

Interesting - only thing I can think of is that maybe when the mechanism gets pressed into the top of the pen, that could deform the inside diameter of the mechanism enough to push the refill further forwards. I've never tried it to see!

That's assuming you are testing without the mechanism pressed into the top of the pen - if that's in place then something beyond my (fairly short!) experience is going on. Wiser heads than mine may have other ideas...

I have made many Sierra type pens, I can't recall seeing one that didn't extend the refill out far enough. Lately I have been seeing some pens that extend the refill out too far, by 1 or 2mm, looks unsightly. This can be fixed by taking to the inside of the transmission with a drill bit, handheld and carefully twisted to remove a bit of plastic, but it seems an unnecessary nuisance, quality control is not very good it seems.
But it will be a bit harder to remedy the ones that are too short inside. Maybe you should try some pen kits from different suppliers until you find some that are better.

As Sierras are basically fully made by the manufacturer there is nothing that you could do in the making that will effect the projection of the refill.
One thing to check is that the mechanism is fully screwed together. There are 2 parts that screw together, one being the part you screw on that holds the refill in and above that there is a brass section that is also screwed in. Occasionally I have found that the brass section is not fully screwed in and tightened.

Here are a few photos with varying refill projections.

This is Lazerlinez pen, this is what I would consider not quite enough projection, I sold this one as-is, but I wouldn't have let it go if it was any shorter.
DSC_8920.jpg

I consider this to be just right, (to me it looks right anyway).
DSC_7561 - Version 2.jpg

This is still OK, but I don't like it sticking out any further than this. If it was projecting further than this I would have modified the transmission as I outlined in my other post.
These 3 pens only vary about 1mm, but to me anything outside these projections don't look right to my eye.
DSC_6307.jpg

Thanks for the photos. Very nice pens by the way.
With these two Sierras, the top pen looks fine to me but the bottom pen is what Im getting a bit of lately. The extension is just not enough.
20170108_111353.jpg

I agree, the top one is good, but the bottom one is too short.

If you still have those pens, would be a good idea to swap parts about to try and isolate what part is causing the problem.
There are 3 possible parts that could cause the problem, the nib section, the transmission, and the refill. Swapping the parts around one at a time should help you work out which it is.
Not sure if you are aware, but different brand refills can be different lengths, and can cause this problem.

In my experience the length of the nib projection can't be easily modified.

One issue I have found with kits from one vendor is that the transmission fails altogether because the transmission is not assembled (pressed together) correctly. On the upper section (chrome) of the transmission there is a "crimped" groove which secures that section to the inner workings. On some kits that "crimp" is not fully formed, hence the transmission does not operate correctly and then slips on the inner.

More a quality control issue I feel, as I had one batch of five Sierra kits that had three faulty transmissions. Replacement transmissions are readily available.