Design Flaw in Leatherman Core

colubrid

colubrid

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
5,125
If you take out the medium sized screwdriver out from your leatherman and close it squeezes the pliers inbetween the awl and large screwdriver and you cannot close it. There is just enough room for the pliers to fit and get jammed in it. When you open it there is a loud POP and it scrtaches it up. I went to 2 Walmarts and tested 11 Cores and they all do the same thing.


Core breaks on the same side as the medium screwdriver:
(I only have one hand for pics. So imagine my hand on the other handle as I am breaking it down)
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It does not matter if the pliers are open or closed. The force of the breaking side pushes the pliers between the large screwdriver and awl.
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STUCK!
Now to open it causes scatches and there is a pop.
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Before going in:................
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...........and with a very small amount of force......................



...VIOLA'. ..........................Jammed in there real good:
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completely stuck inbetween:
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Compare the space between the phillips side and the medium screwdriver side:
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This is the space bewteen the screwdriver and awl. As you can see there is not enough spacde for the pliers to fit. Just enough to jam inbetween:
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this is the phillips side. See the larger space that comfortably fits the pliers in:
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the scratches it causes.
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and the other side:
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I scratched all the ones at Walmart and the employee behind the desk said they are all going back. They tried them as well and the same thing happened to all of them.
 
I found a similar problem on the Juice series; you can jam the plier head in the flat screwdrivers if they are not fully closed in handle. I find that this sort of flaw on Leatherman tools in general; they have lots of inovative idea's that don't always fit well in the tool, they compromise the fit of the tool for functionality.
 
This is a little bit diiferent problem from the Juice series (I have two of them). The Core is not able to close unless you can break down both sides of the pliers before folding them down. This is not an easy thing to do.
 
Hey Guy's I hate to throw 5,000 gallon's of water on your Camp Fire but, these are last ditch tools to save your arse's. They are in No way designed to replace Dedicated Tool's! There is no way ever... these Multi-Tools will ever replace the Dedicated Tool's for the job at hand!
 
I realize that pogo. But for the price we pay for a Leatherman they should at least have their design team test them out before manufacture. This is a simple problem that could have easily been avioded. Even the chinese ripoffs can do better than this.
 
pogo said:
Hey Guy's I hate to throw 5,000 gallon's of water on your Camp Fire but, these are last ditch tools to save your arse's. They are in No way designed to replace Dedicated Tool's! There is no way ever... these Multi-Tools will ever replace the Dedicated Tool's for the job at hand!
Click to expand...

Who is talking about replacing dedicated tools? It is not fuctional problem, but a shoddy design and testing issue. Leatherman tools are not cheap as colubrid said, so for the premium price I expect a top quality product. That is why I refuse to purchase any of Leatherman's larger tools - every time I have looked at them is a store I have found a destinct lack of quality. There are better quality multi tools.

I have issues with the Juice line too, but for me they fit a need that no other multi tool manufacturer fills - and none of my Juice's where purchased at full retail price.
 
Thanks for the pics colubrid now I see how you have been doing that. It doesn't happen for me if I acces the srewdriver this way: I open the core from the fully closed position, get out the medium screwdriver, adn close it with the plier jaws closed. That's how I've always accessed it and never had a problem. Mine does want to do what yours does though if I do it like you showed.
 
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I see what you are saying about opening halfway (it is impossible to access the tools while the Core stays closed, so I assume thats what you mean), but on mine it still falls inbetween the two tools. Probably because it is still new and still a little stiff. It also is not the way others would naturally acess the tools on the core..most open it up all the way. When I am working on something, I am usually in a hurry and I don't have time to diddle with opening the LM half way. Usually I try to open it with one hand while my other hand is busy. Then if even one side locks in the open position you are screwed.

I did try opening and closing it about 400 times to see if it loosens or if I could get the oposite side to break. But after visting Walmart and testing their tools it does not matter what side breaks first. The pliers still get stuck after opening the medium screwdriver.

I sent the tool back to LM who said they will move the tools around to see if this solves the problem. They are going to move the awl in the middle where the medium screwdriver was. They said it will make it easier to access the medium screwdriver but will probably still cause problesms if I use the awl . I told them I would use the medium screwdriver waaay more than the awl.

Also another person on this forum suggested to me that LM should have done to the Core with what they did to the Surge , which is put a small bridge in the middle. Problem solved, but that not what I am getting from LM.:(
 
received this letter from LM today:


Thank you for your suggestions regarding our CORE product. You recommendation to add a support to the CORE similar to the one in SURGE is an excellent idea, however it is not as simple or as feasible as it appears. Not only would we need to create a brand new component (the support), but we would need to modify several other components (handles, screwdrivers, etc) to make it function correctly. In this case, adding one more piece would force a considerable redesign of the entire tool.

I'm not sure how you opening your tool when you want to use the Medium Screwdriver, but here's a helpful hint. Don't completely open the handles onto the jaw when you want to use a tool. Closing the tool from this position when the Medium Screwdriver is out forces the jaw tip into the crack (between the Large Screwdriver and the Awl) and wedges. Instead, open the tool just far enough to unfold the Medium Screwdriver and then close the tool. When using the tool in this fashion, the jaw should slide using the two side components as guides and the tool should close completely (without wedging).

I hope this helps satisfy your concern. Thanks again!

Jeff Caniparoli
Design Engineer
Leatherman Tool Group
 
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