Bad bushings - how to overcome

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Texatdurango

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I've read some answers lately that don't make any sense and would like some clarification.

I have read numerous posts where someone will say "I sand down to the bushings but when I assemble the pen, the wood is still too thick (larger diameter than mating kit parts)"

Many of the replies tend to go something like "That's why I don't rely on bushings, I use calipers and measure the blank and kit part and turn to those dimensions".

That's the part that's not making sense. How can you turn to a diameter that is smaller than the bushings you are using?

As an example, if you have a bushing that's .500" and the mating pen part is .492", you are going to have the wood .008" larger than the pen and will feel the difference when the pen is assembled.

So what exactly do you do when you have a .500 bushing and want to turn to .492?

When I find bushings to be too large, I just file them down to the correct diameter, am I missing something?

George
 
George,

The problem is MAYBE the bushing is not bad...MAYBE it is supposed to be 0.500" and the bad one is that particular kit. Of course it is also possible that the bushing is indeed oversized that you might have to sand down.

The reference to caliper is to make it a habit to measure regularly because you won't know when you get a bad kit.
 
If you are using a finish that builds up (CA, plexi, etc.) turning to the bushing dimension even if they are the correct size will yield a blank that is a larger diameter than the components. Since I use CA as a finish I will use calipers, measure the component diameters and turn under that dimension by about .003" to allow for the build up of CA. I also measure when I am sanding the CA down so that I end up at the right dimension, hopefully. [;)]
I will turn just under the diameter of even new bushing with a skew to get to the dimension I need and I don't generally hit the bushing with my tool.
What generally happens, new pen turners follow the instructions to the letter (I did). Turn to the bushing or near the bushing and sand to the final dimension (using the bushing as the guide). As you are sanding you are sanding off some of the bushing. If you "aggressive" with your sanding the dimension of the bushing will change rather rapidly so after a time the fit tends to go in the other direction, the blank diameter is smaller than the pen components.
Some guys here have a set of bushings for turning and a set for sanding, I do for the kits that I turn a lot.
Hope this helps.
 
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