brass tubes don't fit

[SantaEric]

i did some casting using PR an alumilite on some sierra brass tubes that i got from craft supplies USA....came out great and made some beautiful pens....so i made a few more to sell....then PSI had their gatsby's on sale so i bought a mess of them....word to all, the sierra brass tube from craft supplies and the gatsby brass tubes, while both require a 27/64 drill bit for the hole in the blanks, the inside diameter is different. on the craft the ID is 9.8 mm and the ID on the PSI gatsby in 9.88....a sierra tube on a gatsby kit is too loose and will not work.....so if you buy a sierra or any other brass tube...you need to find out the ID for the project you are working on.

 

[Smitty37]

i did some casting using PR an alumilite on some sierra brass tubes that i got from craft supplies USA....came out great and made some beautiful pens....so i made a few more to sell....then PSI had their gatsby's on sale so i bought a mess of them....word to all, the sierra brass tube from craft supplies and the gatsby brass tubes, while both require a 27/64 drill bit for the hole in the blanks, the inside diameter is different. on the craft the ID is 9.8 mm and the ID on the PSI gatsby in 9.88....a sierra tube on a gatsby kit is too loose and will not work.....so if you buy a sierra or any other brass tube...you need to find out the ID for the project you are working on.

That is not really unusual. The best idea is to do your casting on tubes for the specific kit you are using. Some of them are length sensitive as well. This is not necessarily the case for every style pen kit but there are a lot of "sierra" from a number of different manufacturers.

 

[Kenny Durrant]

I never had that problem but probably because I decided I liked the Sierra better. At first the only difference was the Gatsby used the cap to operate the transmission while the Sierra used the tube and cap. At first I liked the Gatsby because of the cap rotating until I shaved a little too much off trimming the ends and the ink cartridge wouldn't retract completely. Since then I try to stick with the Sierras.

 

[original frodo]

sometmes when brass is cut, it leaves a ridge on the tube where the machine cut it

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.uM8lzwC/fmpc2m4ozV2bhA&pid=15.1

useing a copper deburring tool will get rid of the ridge

 

[resinman]

I always drill a test hole in a piece of scrap and check the tube fit