... Or is it a quality control issue? And no, this is not about the wire cutters.
So this interesting video showed up, and at the time I am posting this topic, the video only has a little under 400 views. I have to commend the guy who posted it for doing a great job of getting an extended close-up view of the issue.
What appears to be going on is the portion of the frame of the Arc which engages with the back of the pliers when you open them has been worn down from repeated opening and closing of the multitool. The frame itself appears to be too soft to withstand the friction of the pliers rubbing against it when you open them, so over time the frame has been ground down and the pliers no longer stay locked open as firmly as they used to.
If my description of the issue isn't good enough, have a look for yourself:
As you can see, there are even metal shavings that have collected from when they were ground off of the frame by opening and closing the pliers.
Now the question is, is this a quality control issue? Or is this a design flaw which only shows up from extended use or excessive repeated opening and closing of the pliers over a relatively short period of time? I can see arguments coming down on both sides. For example if I were to sit there and just open and close the pliers all day because I'm using the Arc like a fidget tool, then that mechanism would get worn down quicker than if I was just using the tool to do the occasional task on a job or around the house. But how quickly would that happen exactly?
I have questions. Is the frame supposed to be heat treated, and would that heat treat stop this kind of thing from happening as rapidly? If this is a QC issue, then over the long term how long would it take for this to happen normally if QC wasn't a contributing factor?
Keep in mind, while warranty should and does cover things like this, it still costs money to ship your tool back to Leatherman, and during the time it takes to arrive and be serviced and sent back, you don't have your Arc for which you paid 230 usd or more depending on where you live.
On a personal note, what also bothers me is how small the portion of the frame is that engages the pliers. I think this could have been made more substantial and probably should have been.
What do you think? This is the first time that I have seen anything like this, but the Arc has only been out for a relatively short period of time. The Free series that it's based on has been out for several years, and I am not aware of similar issues showing up. Maybe it has but it didn't get any attention. Like with the wire cutters having been redesigned for a few years now, but nobody really noticed it until the Arc came out. I think it's possible that because of the hype around the Arc and it's high price tag, things like this are likely to get more attention than they otherwise would have.
So is this a QC issue or is it a design flaw, or perhaps a little bit of both? I am very curious to hear other people's opinions about this.
So this interesting video showed up, and at the time I am posting this topic, the video only has a little under 400 views. I have to commend the guy who posted it for doing a great job of getting an extended close-up view of the issue.
What appears to be going on is the portion of the frame of the Arc which engages with the back of the pliers when you open them has been worn down from repeated opening and closing of the multitool. The frame itself appears to be too soft to withstand the friction of the pliers rubbing against it when you open them, so over time the frame has been ground down and the pliers no longer stay locked open as firmly as they used to.
If my description of the issue isn't good enough, have a look for yourself:
As you can see, there are even metal shavings that have collected from when they were ground off of the frame by opening and closing the pliers.
Now the question is, is this a quality control issue? Or is this a design flaw which only shows up from extended use or excessive repeated opening and closing of the pliers over a relatively short period of time? I can see arguments coming down on both sides. For example if I were to sit there and just open and close the pliers all day because I'm using the Arc like a fidget tool, then that mechanism would get worn down quicker than if I was just using the tool to do the occasional task on a job or around the house. But how quickly would that happen exactly?
I have questions. Is the frame supposed to be heat treated, and would that heat treat stop this kind of thing from happening as rapidly? If this is a QC issue, then over the long term how long would it take for this to happen normally if QC wasn't a contributing factor?
Keep in mind, while warranty should and does cover things like this, it still costs money to ship your tool back to Leatherman, and during the time it takes to arrive and be serviced and sent back, you don't have your Arc for which you paid 230 usd or more depending on where you live.
On a personal note, what also bothers me is how small the portion of the frame is that engages the pliers. I think this could have been made more substantial and probably should have been.
What do you think? This is the first time that I have seen anything like this, but the Arc has only been out for a relatively short period of time. The Free series that it's based on has been out for several years, and I am not aware of similar issues showing up. Maybe it has but it didn't get any attention. Like with the wire cutters having been redesigned for a few years now, but nobody really noticed it until the Arc came out. I think it's possible that because of the hype around the Arc and it's high price tag, things like this are likely to get more attention than they otherwise would have.
So is this a QC issue or is it a design flaw, or perhaps a little bit of both? I am very curious to hear other people's opinions about this.
