I heard that some of these Sierra-type pencil and click pen kits are due to get some updates with better click mechanisms. I forget where I read that, but it was only about a week or so ago. I think they are going to be getting one of the Schmidt mechanisms.
One critique about the pens. There is some noticeable inward bowing near the clip/finials. I had that problem a lot myself recently, and I found that it stemmed from insufficient stability of the tail-stock end when turning. I have used several different mechanisms to attach the bushing at the tailstock end, including normal mandrels, the PSI TBC system, true TBC with just the bushings and two 60 degree centers, and even TBC without bushings at all. The only truly stable option was TBC sans bushings.
TBC with bushings is quite stable, although for a while I was using a live center that actually had a slightly soft/loose bearing, and it was wobbling, causing vibration. I replaced that with a better live center, and most of the vibration is gone. The PSI TBC also has a soft/loose bearing, and it can cause quite a lot of vibration. All my normal pen mandrels seem to have less than perfectly strait shafts, and my mandrel-saver live centers all seem to have soft bearings as well (blows my mind that no one seems to be able to manufacture a live center with a properly tightened (not overtightened, not undertightened) bearing). So of course, those have vibrations as well.
I kept getting that bowing, as I was trying to turn the tailstock end of the blank "down to the bushing", which ends up being pretty much impossible when its vibrating. Even if I purposely left some bulging in the blank, I would still end up with out of round/non-concentric blanks when fully turned, because you can actually only turn to the outermost reach of a vibrating bushing.
It was only when I started doing true TBC, with the bushings just set between two 60 degree centers, than I finally was able to turn the tailstock end of my blanks down to the bushing, properly round, without that inward bowing (which, I think, is a consequence of trying to turn the blank down properly and not actually being able to when the bushing is vibrating...either that, or over-sanding trying to compensate for the vibrating when I start the sanding process.) Its very important to have stable, non-vibrating bushings at both ends to be able to properly turn the blank. Even a small amount of vibration, a deviation of say not even half a millimeter, can lead to problems. Since changing my process to use just bushings between centers, and then for my final turning I actually take the bushings off, put the brass tube with the blank directly between centers, and turn it down to the final size that way, I've been able to get much better results, perfect matching between the blank and the pen kit parts, and even turn the blank slightly thinner than normal if using a CA finish (I generally prefer an alternative kind of finish if possible, something that doesn't turn my beautiful wood into plastic!)
