# Masking tape is a must!



## Woodchipper (Nov 17, 2018)

Masking tape is a must on any workbench. When I built custom fishing rods, the practice was to use layers of masking tape to fill in the spaces between the rod blank and the reel seat. I have an old aluminum arrow that I'm going to use for a Slim Line pen. The tube will go into the arrow shaft and has some space between the two. I do need to mike the nib and the arrow shaft OD (2117) to make sure it's a match. I realized today that the space between the tube and the shaft or other non-turned or machined blank could be filled with turns of masking tape. It is a practice to leave 1/4 to 3/8 inch between wraps. Fill in the gaps and coat the tape also. Hopes this helps someone down the road.


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## ed4copies (Nov 17, 2018)

OR to fill the gap,  you can use heat shrink electric tubing.  This will give you a uniform dimension around the brass tube, so everything stays on center.


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## Woodchipper (Nov 18, 2018)

Good idea, Ed. Never thought of that. I used masking tape for seven years and it is possible to keep the reel seat centered, just have to be careful. Actually, the two ends were the most critical. If there was space in the middle, epoxy filled it in.


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## TonyL (Nov 18, 2018)

Thank you. I want to take advanced of the idea, but can't interpret the advice. What exactly doing with the tape or shrink-sleeving? Thank you.


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## jttheclockman (Nov 18, 2018)

I picked up the idea of the shrink tubes back when the bullet cartridge pens came on scene. We would solder the tubes on the cartridge but had to keep things centered and it was brought up by someone to use shrink tube and worked great. Oh those were the days. Now they sell bullet kits.


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## TonyL (Nov 18, 2018)

Hi JT...what is the purpose of the shrink tubes and/or masking tape for pen turning please? Thank you.


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## Curly (Nov 18, 2018)

Tony in this case it is to center the pen tube in the bigger arrow shaft. The tape or shrink tube acts As a spacer so they can be epoxied into place permanently.


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## TonyL (Nov 18, 2018)

Thank you Pete.


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## jttheclockman (Nov 18, 2018)

Yes Tony Pete said it well. Basically it is to center the tube in a larger tube or my case the cartridge and the OP case an arrow shaft. You can adhere the tube in with various methods. With a shrink tube the spacing is equal all the way around. With masking tape one side will always be thicker because of the last lap but it is so miniscule it does not matter much.


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## Woodchipper (Nov 19, 2018)

Two part epoxy will coat the tape and make it hard as a rock.


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## mick (Apr 25, 2020)

ed4copies said:


> OR to fill the gap, you can use heat shrink electric tubing. This will give you a uniform dimension around the brass tube, so everything stays on center.


I use heat shrink on the lower tube of my one piece slimlines. If I happen to use a 9/32" drill bit there's always some slop. 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


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