Can't smoothen/tighten Presidio

[Lennyo3034]

I have a presidio that I just can't seem to get as smooth or tight as much other benchmades. At the moment, it's still not as smooth as I would like for it to be, and has a bit of side to side play. I can't find a good balance. I have taken it apart and polished the washers, as well as the blade itself but its still no where near my other axis locks. Any suggestions on what I can do?

 

[Guy Vanderveken]

I have the same issue, just two days ago I received my Presidio and my Bone collector.

The bone collector is glass

The presidio is not where I recall the smoothness of the AXIS lock to be, I did the tighten and loosen too, I have put it back to the tension it was originally set at, I used Militec1, wiped it down - still no improvement, then tried nano oil, just a few hours ago and deffinitely feel an improvement, feels as if most of the grittiness has gone.
If I hold the AXIS Bar back and move the blade, it is smooth, though not glass, and there is a roughness on the blade or the lockbar. This and it feels that the washers or the back spacer are not KOSHER and in alignment, maybe it was a batch issue.
There is not a problem with the knife, I just feel that it could be smoother, thats all- especially when compared to the "cheeper" Bone Collector?
It does feel like it will smoothen out over time though-The 154CM blade is hard though, I can feel it on the Stones(DMT/Spydie).

 

[Dabakr]

i am starting to think these type of issues crop up in most (if not all) of these top-line brands as I recently found out with a brand new spyderco with the same exact problem you had and I took the same exact course of action and have the same exact results as you: much much better then it was but not quite as smooth as I expected. I don't want to start picking on one brand as I am just getting into the game of higher price-point blades with my 'best' blade being a 10yr old 'Leek'. If I read a lot more out-of-box experiences like yours (and mine) i might then have to consider what my motivations for getting into higher-end blades are in the first place since, for example, a 10yr old 'leek' has performed flawlessly. I have to assume that when I get the Benchmark I am eyeing (a Torrent at this point based SOLELY on its looks and what I've read about BM) it will perform as flawlessly as most BM knifes do. But posts like yours are exactly why I come onto forums like this. thnx

 

[jkarp_53]

Is your Presidio BK coated? My KW Limited 525-1101 is a lot slower on the draw then my older stock 525 is uncoated. Man, there are a lot of reasons and suggestions; the liners could be off from assembly, the stop pin (and this includes the set screw...) or Axis bar could be warped. The blade itself could be warped. If the blade Is coated, you could try removing it once again and polish the tang - I know you polished the washers, and now see you already did the blade...In the end, if you have no recourse, and it's not right (translated the same) as your other favorites...send it up under full warranty conditions and they most always send the knife back as smooth and tight as you would expect it to be. Good luck!

 

[d_clark]

I believe the pivot on the Presidio is different from the normal the Benchmade uses. My Mini has screws on both sides of the pivot. Try adjusting both sides instead of tightening on side down, any only adjusting one side.

 

[omaha-beenglockin]

Put Loctite on the screw and adjust it till it is just "so"----let it sit to let the Loctite dry then oil the mechanism---I use Break free

 

[Brad9660]

My brother has a Presidio, and it to doesn't have a sweet spot with a smooth action, but no blade play. I did notice that the blade stop pin that fits between the steel liners is not seated all the way. I then measured the space between the liners on the front of the knife even with the pivot, and the back, even with the pivot. It turned out the back, right next to the blade stop pin, was a much bigger gap. By bigger I mean in measurements of thousandths of an inch, not really noticeable eyeballing it. I don't remember the exact measurements, but it was more than I expected. You can check your knife by holing it up to a light source, and looking to see if light comes through the base of the stop pin(the part that should seat flush with the liner) and the liner. I tried squeezing and lightly clamping the scales to see if I could get the pin to seat flush with the liner, but it seems like the smaller diameter of the pin that is supposed to go into the liner is just a little to big.

 

[Guy Vanderveken]

Lennyo3034,

I must confess, my Presidio has started to smoothen up, not quite glass, but flicks, pops, and is a lot smoother to the fee, my real concern is the axis lock with the 1 mil disengagement?? what is with that?

 

[kniferbro]

My brother has a Presidio, and it to doesn't have a sweet spot with a smooth action, but no blade play. I did notice that the blade stop pin that fits between the steel liners is not seated all the way. I then measured the space between the liners on the front of the knife even with the pivot, and the back, even with the pivot. It turned out the back, right next to the blade stop pin, was a much bigger gap. By bigger I mean in measurements of thousandths of an inch, not really noticeable eyeballing it. I don't remember the exact measurements, but it was more than I expected. You can check your knife by holing it up to a light source, and looking to see if light comes through the base of the stop pin(the part that should seat flush with the liner) and the liner. I tried squeezing and lightly clamping the scales to see if I could get the pin to seat flush with the liner, but it seems like the smaller diameter of the pin that is supposed to go into the liner is just a little to big.

This video exemplifies your thoughts Brad. Also includes a how to remedy.
[video=youtube;nSrmTWo4mgY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSrmTWo4mgY[/video]

 

[Lennyo3034]

Lennyo3034,

I must confess, my Presidio has started to smoothen up, not quite glass, but flicks, pops, and is a lot smoother to the fee, my real concern is the axis lock with the 1 mil disengagement?? what is with that?

Mine has been a EDC for 6 months. While it has gotten smoother, I doubt it will go more so from just flipping.

 

[Lennyo3034]

So after watching the vid, I messed with it a bit. I took calipers to the liner to measure the distances. The top front (next to the spine when open) measured .177, the bottom .174 and the rear of the knife .167. I shimmed the rear and took it to .170 and it seemed to help a bit. I measured a 710 that is tight but butter smooth. The front measurement were exactly the same. I wish the lock bar could be used to tighten the liner

 

[kniferbro]

Lenny, I think the problem is in the difference between .177 and .174. Did you try cranking down the pivot like in the video to try and seat the stop pin? Also you may try loosening the screw holding the stop pin. If that screw was too tight it could cause the stop pin to tilt a little which could be causing the pin to not sit correctly

 

[Lennyo3034]

So I shimmed the backspaces with electric tape and that did the trick. It closed the gap towards the front of the knife. The lockup is now rock solid, better than most of my axis locks now.