Thread: Sierra Conundrum

Sturina, welcome to the Forum, a picture of the pen would be helpful in giving advice in this instance, often acrylic can be polished with a car Plastic Polish, with an excellent shine.Amos

sturina The Barrel does revolve around the nib section ,the cap end holds things together and turns the activator .Try pulling the two halves apart and try activating by hand .If it still doesn't come out fully ,unscrew and make sure you have the return spring around the right way, The slightly bigger end of the spring should be closest to the nib, if its around the wrong way it can jam up. Hope that puts you in the right direction cheers ~ John

Thanks guys, advice has made how the system works a bit clearer and hopefully I have attached some photos.

I understand the barrel rotates around the nib section however the problem is the barrell does not seem to grip the nib section sufficiently to turn the pen past (best term i can think of) dead centre (the point where the twisting pressure reaches its peak before locking in?). When i dissasemble the pen and twist the mechanism it works fine, and if i put the pen togther with the point extended it retracts fine.

What i need is a way of getting the pen tube inside the barrell to grip a fraction better to the twisting section in the cap end.

You have made a nice job of the pen.. Well done.

Not all tolerances for our pen kits are spot on ,this is one example . A couple of things I have done in the past ,gently squeeze the silver part of the activator ,the part that goes into the cap end ,to make it ever so slightly oval and increase pressure to make it turn, doesn't need much at all, best to do it opposite the two little raised bumps . You can also carefully apply a couple of drops of medium CA close to the bumps to increase the dia slighty .let it dry properly before testing with this method hehe ,else it may become a permanent fix . Another alternative is to try another activater if you should happen to have one handy from another kit , You will find a way that works for you ,this is why we like to think of ourselves as pen makers not assembly workers lol. Cheers John

Like the job you did on that one Sturina!!

Thanks guys. I did fix the problem. I didnt try anything too fancy just wrapped a tiny bit of celotape around the top to make the fit tighter and bingo! Looking forward to trying with something else tomorrow.

Good effort for a first. Might pay to paint your tube or the inside of blank so as to hide brass tube. Or both even. Another can of worms for you to contend with.
Love the kit. Suits the blank
Kim

Well done that is a fine pen.

Well done for your first Sierra.
Fit and form look great.

Les