Blade Play

calypso699

• December 30, 2012 18:33

I'm curious how many of you have axis locks with a tiny bit of vertical blade play. It seems that on a couple of mine the axis bar doesn't sit all the way up on the tang and there is a tiny bit of wiggle I that can feel. If I force the axis bar up some more, the play goes away. At first I figured they just needed some time to break in, but it's been awhile and it's still there. I've actually sent a 615 into Benchmade multiple times for this issue, and it came back the same way each time.

I'm not too concerned with the play since I don't feel it's unsafe, but I was curious if any of you have the same issue and if you consider it normal.

0

• 

  thelastname

  • December 30, 2012 19:17

  My M390 AFCK does. It's not because the bar is too shallow on the tang but too far; the axis bar goes all the way through the channel and hits the end

  

  
  
  That's my only BM with vertical play, though.

  0
• 

  jnewell

  • December 30, 2012 19:26

  I've been buying Axis knives since literally the beginning and I've never had one with vertical play. I'm not saying it can't happen, because I'm pretty sure it could, but it's very uncommon. I don't think there's a safety issue but it'd bug the cr@p out of me - I'd send it back.

  0
• 

  calypso699

  • December 30, 2012 19:33

  Thanks guys. It really does bother me even though the knife is perfectly safe to use...must be my OCD kicking in LOL. Anyways, one of the knives I have this play on is my forum Rift. I honestly don't think Benchmade will be able to fix it based on my previous experience with my 615. It will have to go in for sharpening at some point, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to have them look at it but I'm not optimistic.

  0
• 

  tucker

  • December 30, 2012 20:03

  I had this vertical-play problem on a Skirmish a while back. Like Calypso, I took it into BM but was told it couldn't be fixed.
  
  But then a member here explained that (as I recall -- forgive me if I mangle the correct terminology) either the "stop bar" or the Axis lock bar were slightly too small in diameter. There was something about the stop-bar being hexigonal in shape so it could be rotated to fix this, but I didn't follow all that.
  
  In the end I took his explanation with me to BM, talked with a woman in CS, and presto-chango, it was fixed, sharpened and sent back. Probably sharper and better-polished than when it was new.
  
  As I say, I'm no engineer and didn't follow the terminology, but the logic made perfect sense. The tang pivots around and, at full extension, is blocked from opening further by a pin above it, and blocked from closing by the Axis pin. If either of them doesn't fit, there is going to be some extra play.
  
  Hope that helps...and makes sense!

  0
• 

  charloosi

  • December 30, 2012 20:22

  Surprisingly, I have been pretty lucky with all my knives in terms of blade play (being that there is none). Either that or I have been able to fix it by tightening the pivot screw or through general wear.
  
  I have been running into a little bit of off centered blades though (not a lot, eg. 1-4 degrees off), but I tend to be super OCD when it comes to knives.
  
  Best I can recommend for you is maybe lube it?

  0
• 

  jnewell

  • December 31, 2012 01:51

  quote:

  Originally posted by Tucker:
  I had this vertical-play problem on a Skirmish a while back. Like Calypso, I took it into BM but was told it couldn't be fixed.
  
  But then a member here explained that (as I recall -- forgive me if I mangle the correct terminology) either the "stop bar" or the Axis lock bar were slightly too small in diameter. There was something about the stop-bar being hexigonal in shape so it could be rotated to fix this, but I didn't follow all that.
  
  In the end I took his explanation with me to BM, talked with a woman in CS, and presto-chango, it was fixed, sharpened and sent back. Probably sharper and better-polished than when it was new.
  
  As I say, I'm no engineer and didn't follow the terminology, but the logic made perfect sense. The tang pivots around and, at full extension, is blocked from opening further by a pin above it, and blocked from closing by the Axis pin. If either of them doesn't fit, there is going to be some extra play.
  
  Hope that helps...and makes sense!

  
  
  Skirmish is a framelock, not an Axis lock - they are totally different locks. The fix, as Benchmade eventually realized, for vertical play in a framelock is a larger diameter stop pin.

  0
• 

  tucker

  • December 31, 2012 02:24

  JNewell -- Ooops! You're right, of course. Sorry if my earlier post mis-led anyone. I did say I was new to this????

  

  0
• 

  thelastname

  • December 31, 2012 02:28

  quote:

  Originally posted by JNewell:
  

  quote:

  Originally posted by Tucker:
  I had this vertical-play problem on a Skirmish a while back. Like Calypso, I took it into BM but was told it couldn't be fixed.
  
  But then a member here explained that (as I recall -- forgive me if I mangle the correct terminology) either the "stop bar" or the Axis lock bar were slightly too small in diameter. There was something about the stop-bar being hexigonal in shape so it could be rotated to fix this, but I didn't follow all that.
  
  In the end I took his explanation with me to BM, talked with a woman in CS, and presto-chango, it was fixed, sharpened and sent back. Probably sharper and better-polished than when it was new.
  
  As I say, I'm no engineer and didn't follow the terminology, but the logic made perfect sense. The tang pivots around and, at full extension, is blocked from opening further by a pin above it, and blocked from closing by the Axis pin. If either of them doesn't fit, there is going to be some extra play.
  
  Hope that helps...and makes sense!

  
  
  Skirmish is a framelock, not an Axis lock - they are totally different locks. The fix, as Benchmade eventually realized, for vertical play in a framelock is a larger diameter stop pin.

  
  
  True about it applying to the frame lock, but it also works with the axis. Changing the size of the stop pin influences where the axis bar sits on the tang. For instance, with my AFCK, I tried putting some JB Weld on the front side of the pivot pin (which has the same affect as replacing it with a pin with larger diameter), and it made it so the bar didn't bottom out in its channel. (Side note: JB Weld doesn't dry hard enough for that to work in the long term

  

  .)
  
  So for anyone with vertical play due to the axis bar traveling too far, putting in a stop pin with a slightly larger diameter can fix it. I imagine the same is true with the axis bar but haven't tried it myself.

  0
• 

  calypso699

  • December 31, 2012 13:14

  Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll try to lube the tang for now, and once it needs sharpening I guess I'll give Benchmade a shot at fixing it.

  0
• 

  jnewell

  • December 31, 2012 13:23

  quote:

  Originally posted by thelastname:
  Changing the stop pin in the Axis would be one way (and probably the cheapest/easiest) way to solve a vertical play problem, that's true. The tang ramp, lock bar and liners also affect lockup but the cheapest, fastest way to change lockup would be the stop pin. It would be interesting to know whether that's Benchmade's approach for this problem.
  
  

  quote:

  Originally posted by JNewell:
  

  quote:

  Originally posted by Tucker:
  I had this vertical-play problem on a Skirmish a while back. Like Calypso, I took it into BM but was told it couldn't be fixed.
  
  But then a member here explained that (as I recall -- forgive me if I mangle the correct terminology) either the "stop bar" or the Axis lock bar were slightly too small in diameter. There was something about the stop-bar being hexigonal in shape so it could be rotated to fix this, but I didn't follow all that.
  
  In the end I took his explanation with me to BM, talked with a woman in CS, and presto-chango, it was fixed, sharpened and sent back. Probably sharper and better-polished than when it was new.
  
  As I say, I'm no engineer and didn't follow the terminology, but the logic made perfect sense. The tang pivots around and, at full extension, is blocked from opening further by a pin above it, and blocked from closing by the Axis pin. If either of them doesn't fit, there is going to be some extra play.
  
  Hope that helps...and makes sense!

  
  
  Skirmish is a framelock, not an Axis lock - they are totally different locks. The fix, as Benchmade eventually realized, for vertical play in a framelock is a larger diameter stop pin.

  
  
  True about it applying to the frame lock, but it also works with the axis. Changing the size of the stop pin influences where the axis bar sits on the tang. For instance, with my AFCK, I tried putting some JB Weld on the front side of the pivot pin (which has the same affect as replacing it with a pin with larger diameter), and it made it so the bar didn't bottom out in its channel. (Side note: JB Weld doesn't dry hard enough for that to work in the long term

  

  .)
  
  So for anyone with vertical play due to the axis bar traveling too far, putting in a stop pin with a slightly larger diameter can fix it. I imagine the same is true with the axis bar but haven't tried it myself.

  0

Please sign in to leave a comment.