AXIS omega spring broke, trying to make one myself.

sogflash

sogflash

Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
1,595
it's very impractical for me to send my knife to benchmade, so I'll make the springs myself.

I have various guitar springs, and some regular springs, large and small.

any tips?
 
Just buy one of the china knock offs on that auction site we all use and snag one out of that. Just look up sanrenmu knives or one of others like Navy and you'll come across some axis lock models in all likelihood. Benchmade won't mail you springs and you voided the warranty if you took it apart to copy it. So about all you can do to get out of it cheap is buy one of the clones for a few bucks and some shipping.
 
I just made one out of guitar wire. it's a bit thinner than the original spring.

I had to make two because the first was to far from perfect. the lock works like it should.

now I just have to wait and see how it holds up.
 
Guess I can give some tips, I've done it a bit. Use the radius on the back of your pliers, and bend the wire over this. Gives you a good "hook" shape to put on the lock-bar, and you'll just have to snip off the straight section. Then to bend the radius which forms the spring, I usually just wrap it around my finger, and this will give you a good starting radius. Put the lock-bar in the liner, and press the hook up against it and then bend the wire at its tail end until it's inline with the hole you'll need to drop it into Make sure the bend in the wire is small enough to fit in the recess carved into the handle, then mark the wire where the hole is. Snip, bend, and it should pop right in.

I've had to do it a few times now, and yeah it's kind of a pain to get the wires bent right. Biggest challenge I find is making sure the bends don't make the spring tilt off-center to one side, since this will make it rub the liners and feel nasty. I just take them back out and fine tune them by putting them in the liner with the handles over, and seen how it feels to pull the lock-bar back and forth. Just bend and tweak until it feels good, so this way I can generally get the springs fit and mounted all in between disassemble and reassembly. Typically I find the most major tweak needed is to bend the tail where the notch goes into the hole, to be perfectly aligned with the hook that catches the lock-bar. If these aren't aligned, the radius that forms the spring will bulge out or inward and won't be smooth.

One thing I figured out that will save you some time, is to make a couple different sets of spring at one time. Next time you'll need to replace them, you'll already have them premade.
 
Skimo said:
If you are oversea, BM will likely mail you the springs.
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is that an assumptions or has it happened before?

I learned that the notch that goes into the hole in the liner had to be bent a bit sideways to prevent it from popping out when the spring is tightened.
 
They have sent them to people overseas. I've read where quite a few people have had it happen. Just bring up shipping costs and they will probably take care of you. They have one of the best warranty departments I have come across.

As far as making them its pretty easy. I use two pairs of needle nose pliers and use the good one to pattern after and just take your time. Only thing I suggest is to make two and replace both springs so they are about even in strength and load the lock bar evenly. I have only had one break but both springs are still going strong.
 
How do these homemade springs handle longterm use and hoe corrosion resistant ate they compared to the stock springs?
 
Mine have been going strong for a couple years. I also sent a pair to KennyB but don't know how they are doing. I would assume OK. I used what I had on hand in the right diameter which was steel MIG welding wire. It can rust but from Florida humidity and the occasional washing, I don't see rust on the little bit of the springs I can see. Maybe a little surface rust but it would take salt water to rust all the way through I would think. I got some stainless MIG wire from a friend if I ever need to make another. You can also buy stainless fishing leader material in all different diameters if worried about rust.
 
sogflash said:
is that an assumptions or has it happened before?

I learned that the notch that goes into the hole in the liner had to be bent a bit sideways to prevent it from popping out when the spring is tightened.
Click to expand...

It has happened several times, call them and explain that the shipping costs are too high for you to use warranty service.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
Mine have been going strong for a couple years. I also sent a pair to KennyB but don't know how they are doing. I would assume OK. I used what I had on hand in the right diameter which was steel MIG welding wire. It can rust but from Florida humidity and the occasional washing, I don't see rust on the little bit of the springs I can see. Maybe a little surface rust but it would take salt water to rust all the way through I would think. I got some stainless MIG wire from a friend if I ever need to make another. You can also buy stainless fishing leader material in all different diameters if worried about rust.
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Yeah, I remember you sent me three pairs. I think I've gone through two since then, but I had a bad habit of flipping--they seem to last longer than the factory ones though.

If you're really worried about them being corrosion resistant, try some guitar string. Most guitar strings are nickle/bronze plated and have to contend with corrosion from finger oils, so that would probably be your best wire for corrosion resistance.
 
So they actually broke? People have guessed that omega springs break because of the material they are made from. I guess that isn't the case because the wire I used seemed quite different than what the stock springs were made from. I'm a little surprised as a spring should last a long time as long as it's not going through plastic deformation, which omega springs shouldn't be from the small distance the lock bar travels.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
So they actually broke? People have guessed that omega springs break because of the material they are made from. I guess that isn't the case because the wire I used seemed quite different than what the stock springs were made from. I'm a little surprised as a spring should last a long time as long as it's not going through plastic deformation, which omega springs shouldn't be from the small distance the lock bar travels.
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I think what it is, is that instead of opening it all the way and closing it all the way, at times I would simply just press on the thumbstud and flex the spring over and over. I think this keeps the metal moving longer, and makes it fatigue faster, in a way that just simply opening and closing it normally wouldn't.

The last pair I put in have lasted about half a year now, especially since I've gotten better with not playing around with the lock.
 
KennyB said:
Yeah, I remember you sent me three pairs. I think I've gone through two since then, but I had a bad habit of flipping--they seem to last longer than the factory ones though.
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I find that interesting since I had a 710 that I bought back in 1999. I sold it in 2010 to fund a different knife and never did have to replace the springs.
 
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