Lip Balm Holder Keychain Kit in Aluminum

If you accept going in that difficulty level on these is high you might like these. Here are some tips gleaned from my experience with a 5-pack starter kit.

First up, nylon or teflon bushings are essential for open-pore woods to prevent metal dust from staining (at best) or ruining your blank. None are offered by PSI, which I think is a huge mistake, so I had to make my own. This solved the problems with metal dust and prevented gluing the blank to the bushings.

Personally, I had a hard time assembling these without epoxy squeeze-out, and that stuff is tenacious. It is extremely difficult to remove from a barrel and scraping it off the aluminum can leave scratches. After a few attempts I just started covering everything in masking tape prior to assembly.

Personally, I had no issues assembling the spring, though I concede that this can be challenging. My last step of spring assembly is to use my lathe knock-out bar to press the inside-top of the spring against the collar so that it is round and properly seated.

My biggest issue with the kit is that if the barrel is trimmed to match the bushings it is very thin and fragile at the ends. One approach, as shown in the product listing photos, is to make the barrel oversize. That leaves exposed wood which in the product listing was left unfinished. Not cool. The other approach is to make the barrel, well, barrel-shaped. At least the middle will be strong. I didn't have any problem with the solid woods breaking but the laminated blank I tried split on the ends and had to be repaired. Twice. If I were to make these again I would DEFINITELY make the barrel oversized but I'd also finish the ends.

Having to choose a retainer ring size ahead of time was also an issue for me. When I give these as gifts I can't ask my recipients to pick a retainer ring and epoxy it in themselves so I just locked them into the brand I was able to test because we have it at home.

I did not find getting a lip balm out to live up to the "easy replacement" claim. Perhaps my spring was mis-aligned but in my case I took the time to properly seat the springs, orient them correctly, and ensure the tabbed-end was in the top. If this level of attention does not ensure a proper fit then I suspect a LOT of buyers will have this issue. I do not believe these are designed to push out from the bottom through the top and pushing down with no cap doesn't give you much to push against. Eventually I turned a dowel to the exact size that fit inside the aluminum cap and used it to ram the lip balm out.

When I tried to remove the dial cap from the lip balm, the retaining ring came unglued. On subsequent builds I used a bur bit on my Dremel to rough up the inside of the dial cap where the ring sits, and I roughed up the outside of the ring itself. After that, no issues. (And, yes, this was epoxy not CA glue.)

Here are some things that would fix the kit for me. I hope PSI takes this under consideration and offers a v2 kit in the future.

1) Sell some nylon or teflon bushings. Or advise buyers to steer clear of light-colored open-pore woods. Lack of these severely limits blank options - or worse buyers find out by ruining a blank.

2) Keep the inner part of the metal bushing the same size but expand the outer diameter by a few 32nds so the ends of the barrel are thicker and stronger. Or sell tubes. Or something. With this wall thickness I can't help but wonder how durable these will be in actual use.

3) Sell extra dial caps either as a kit add-on or replacement parts. Those of us making these for sale can then keep a few dial caps of each size in stock, and those of us giving them as gifts can include both caps. Anyone who is sure of the ring size needed can elect to not buy the spare cap.

4) Expand the instructions to clarify whether the empty lip balm is intended to be pushed out through the top or must be pushed back out the way it went in. If, as I believe is the case, it must be removed from the bottom maybe provide some suggestions on how to do that if the lip balm is not empty and the user doesn't want to destroy it.

I would GLADLY try these again if some of the issues were addressed because I like the idea of being able to clip these to a backpack, purse, golf bag, or wherever lip balm could come in handy. My biggest issue is the thin barrel ends and until that is solved I can't recommend them because I fear they won't hold up.

Gave my wife the first one I made because she likes to use chapstick. Her buddy at work saw it and asked me to make one for her. But she wanted me to leave out the spring. Said she wants it to keep stuff in. After considering the ramifications, I suspect that this type of application will be even more popular than lip balm. I just left out the spring and glued the two bottom metal parts together. I was a little nervous about assembly after seeing some of the other reviews, but I read the directions a few times before getting started and it went fine.