Executive pen kit giving me a fit

[ancientirmese]

Tried turning my 1st executive pen today. Now, this ain't my 1st pen; more like 200 to date, but this thing has got me beat. Everything went according to plan until I put the refill in. It goes in but it won't extend or retract. The blank is the exact length called for. Tried new refills, no luck. Took it apart and tried parts from another kit, no luck.

Ray Binnicker
Irmo, SC

[William Young]

It's never happened to me so I can only suggest you contact the supplier of the Kit.
What kit is it just in case I have made some of those. Or is "executive" the actual name of the kit. Sounds like a bad transmission.

Same here, around 200 pens without a bad kit. It must be a bummer when that happens.

W.Y.

[PaulD]

There are actually a couple possibilities here.

One is the possibility that when you trimmed the barrel you were slightly out of square and expanded the brass barrel inner diameter enough that there is not enough friction to grip the transmission properly. A dot of CA glue (slower, thick stuff) can solve this problem if that is what is going on.

There is a different problem with too much pressure in the lower neck of the cap portion of the pen in styles like the classic american models. This is the open metal bottom ring of the cap. A simple bit of round file work in the open base of the metal collor opens it up enough so the cap adheres properly without binding the transmission excessively.

I've not worked with the executive style pen yet (although I have a few kits in my inventory), but from what I know of the model I would lean toward the first solution.

A bad transmission is also a possibility, but I'd check out the other alternatives first.