Splitting when fitting tip - Help

I have recently had issues with splitting when fitting the pen tip and was wondering if anyone can shed any light on why. It almost seems as though the tip is machined over-size for the brass barrel.

I have ensured that there is no glue inside the barrel prior to pressing the tip in, as I am aware that can cause this issue.

I have attached a photo of the two that failed yesterday. It is getting a little frustrating to put in all the work to have it fail at the last stage :~

Any help or advise is appreciated.

you hit the nail right on the head mate . i had the same problem a while ago . some of the cheep chinese kits are a shocking fit, i now make sure i only get the better quality kits .
what you will need to do to use those chinese kits is what i did, a chainsaw file and keep filing the tube and test fitting until they fit without to much force .
it is a pain i know , i actually threw out a heap of the cheep kits that because i could not be bothered messing about with them .
you will not have the problem if you stick with daycom only in the slim and streamlines its only the ring ins ( look alikes) that give the trouble .

johno

P.S. i bet the ink refill has no printing on the tube in the kits you are having trouble with.
also you may notice a difference in the nib and the cap where they go into the brass tube they are finished different to the daycom ones .

oh yeah forgot to mention some of the one's i had were that bad that the end cap would not fit through the ring in the clip . they all went to the dump a while ago .

johno

Thanks texx

I think you are right as I have to file the clip hole bigger to get the end cap to fit. I have purchased my pen supplies from an online source and no they are not Daycom. Might have to pay a bit more and get the branded type.

yeah mate i have found if they seem real cheap there is a reason .:2tsup:
i buy most of mine online but once bitten i am now carefull what i order .

johno

Thanks mate.....May I ask who you get your slimlines and streamlines through? If you don't want to post it here can you perhaps send me a PM with the supplier.

Perhaps if any of the suppliers are reading this they could have a look at the quality of their products with regards to my original posting. I am sure that I am not the first one to have these issues.

They may be a tight fit, those kits are not the only ones to have that problem. One way of overcoming this , is to make sure the inside is clean, slight cleaning with a rat tail file helps, then coat both the inside of the barrel and the fitting with a thin film of oil, I use BLO, then do the press fitting of the parts. Amos:):2tsup:

I had the same problem. It was pionted out me that I allso might be trying to put to much pressure on the fittings. Went along with the advice Amos is offering. Works for me.

respectfully
the kits he is talking about has nothing to do with cleaning the tubes , as he states he has got them nice and clean , with these kits in question the end cap wont even fit througth the ring in the clip without filing the hole in the clip ring out a little larger .
i think its the plating that is causing the problem in these particular kits.
and it is necessary to file some brass from the tubes or some thing will crack even with lube ( which i use on some kits )

johno

Thanks all however texx is right I have ensured the tube is very clean and free of burrs, glue and I use a countersink to smooth the edges. I also have to take a file to the clip ring to get the end cap through. I have not tried a little bit of lube on the two parts prior to pressing together. Will give that a go when I next get time in the shed.

Seems the quality of the machining is not to the tolerance it perhaps should be, or I guess you get what you pay for !

I have had this problem with quite a few of the kits I have bought and not just the cheap kits. I have found by applying a little lube to the offending part does help immensely and have always been able to assemble it without splitting the blank. Well so far that is :) It is amazing the difference it makes with a little bit of lube, Hardly any pressure needed to press the parts into place. I have had the problem of not being able to pass the cap through the clip hole but that is easily overcome. As I have said, this is not just a problem with the cheaper kits, it also happens with some of the more expensive ones. that's what I have found anyway.

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Originally Posted by munruben

I have had this problem with quite a few of the kits I have bought and not just the cheap kits. I have found by applying a little lube to the offending part does help immensely and have always been able to assemble it without splitting the blank. Well so far that is :) It is amazing the difference it makes with a little bit of lube, Hardly any pressure needed to press the parts into place. I have had the problem of not being able to pass the cap through the clip hole but that is easily overcome. As I have said, this is not just a problem with the cheaper kits, it also happens with some of the more expensive ones. that's what I have found anyway.

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i know what you mean with lube on some kits , but with these kits we are talking about lube wont fix it , the parts just do not physically fit and have to be modified .

johno

Texx, I usually get away with lubricant, but have on occasions(especially with high end kits) used a dremmel to slightly enlarge the the ring so the cap will fit through; I know the best answer is perfect manufacturing, but I doubt we will get that for the prices we pay, Amos:)

I have had the same problem with a batch of slimlines I got once. I also made sure everything was well cleaned out inside and chamfered the ends of the brass to ensure there were no burrs and then ran a gun barrell cleaning brush inside. This did not stop the faulty ones from cracking.
In desperation, I put a wooden disc on the face plate and drilled a small hole in it to accept the small tapered end of the nib. I put the live centre in the other end and pushed the nib gently into the wood to create a drive. From there I filed the offending diameter down to the same size as the ones I knew fitted correctly. I found that the faulty ones were about 4 thou too big. If you go a little bit too far on the filing and make them loose, you can add a bit of CA when fitting the kit together.