Blade Binding with scale replacement

M

MAD1982

Joined
Mar 1, 2023
Messages
3
Hello from Nebraska.

I am troubleshooting some issues I am having with my mini freek. I have replaced the carbon fiber scales with a set of AWT scales. They look very cool and are machined very well. I have run into a problem. If I tighten the stop pin screws then my blade would binds and does not move freely. If I remove the pivot screw, leaving the female portion in place, this resolves. If I leave to stop pin screws loose then I can replace the pivot screw appropriately and blade does not bind. As soon as I tighten the stop pin screws, then the blade binds. The liners seem to be true as well as the scales. I am perplexed? Anybody have any ideas?
 
i don’t own a mini freak, but with other axis knives i’ve taken apart i’ve found that unless the stop pin is fully seated it can pinch the blade. does it bind up at any particular point as it opens? & does it have full or partial liners? never actually seen one in person
 
With the AWT scales you have to be dead on putting it together. There’s really no “flex” like there is with other handle materials. I’d suggest just taking it apart and putting it back together again (carefully). That would probably resolve it.
 
Double check that everything is seated properly into the scales. Make sure the pivot is in the correct side and is pressed all the way in. Check the two halves of the knife press together all the way.
Flip the stop pin over if it doesn’t fit properly.
 
The thing about pivot screws/barrels is that the balance is delicate. If the barrel is a hair too long, then the screw can never be tight enough and the blade will always wobble. If the barrel is too short, then you end up not really being able to tighten the screw without seizing up the knife blade.

Since you are dealing with the pivots that came from the factory, we can assume that they are all the correct length. The fault must be with you. Did you mix up any of the pivots by accident? Are you absolutely sure that you are using the right one for the knife pivot? Is everything seated correctly?
 
Awesome. Thank you for all the pointers. I will sit down and make sure I try all of them and will post update. Thank you again👍!
 
Not sure if this is what's happening, but sometimes you just can't crank the pivot down "tight." Assembling correctly is most important, but you may have to locktite the pivot (blue not red) at the appropriate place. This is just part of the tuning process. Tighten snug, then back off slowly until you have the action you are looking for.

Caveat here is that this is for small adjustments. If you have a bunch of blade slop in order to get smooth action, there is something else going on.
 
I had issues with some flytanium micarta scales on a pm2. The screws weren't seating right and I ended up having to over tighten them and back them off to seat them. It wouldn't center and would bind if I got it to hold center. I think sometimes stuff like that takes some tinkering. I had the stock scales back on it and it working good. Switched back to the flytanium scales n kept trying stuff until I figured it out. I'm probably gonna pull it apart again and polish the pivot washers so it has the action, centering, and blade play I want.

You mentioned action. There's good advice up there too but here's mine.

Blade play is next important to me. You check that by pushing sideways on the blade with it opened or closed. Watch the pivot and you'll almost always see some play. I try to get them as tight as possible and still have good action. With axis locks I can normally get the blade pretty tight and still have one handed action.

Centering is checked by looking at the blade closed and seeing if it's off to one side or the other. It's easiest to see at the tip. I'm pretty sure it's only an issue if it's extreme and hitting the scale. It's normally easy to adjust but it's better to watch a video. It'd be hard to explain.
 
I took it apart, cleaned everything and put together loose. Slowly I tightened each screw a little bit at a time. Slow pivot screw adjustment last of all. No binding and works great. Not sure what exactly I did wrong the first time. But I am thinking I was having some seating issues with the liners in the scales. Thanks for the pointers.
 
MAD1982 said:
No binding and works great. Not sure what exactly I did wrong the first time.
Click to expand...
Well that's good to hear. 👍
Whatever it was, I'm glad you got it sorted. I was starting to wonder if maybe it wasn't just the aftermarket scales being a tad too thick.
 
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