Eternal Sadness - Broken Manix 2 (waved modded manix 2)

[crom]

Yo Mama, I have no idea how much pressure the handle was under when the OP was making the mod, how do you know that? Anyhow, to clarify my statement. I have never seen the polymer cage rod before and I would not trust that small rod to hold up over time given what is is made of. I don't care how tough modern polymers are the diameter on that rod looks to me 2MM at the most. I'll bet the grabbing of the cage to release the lock causes flex where it meets the rod, I'd be more willing to believe this is how it broke over the modification explanation. But then again, I wasn't there. I looked at this model against the Bone Collector (was looking for a Spyderco model, long story) and I made my decision on the BM because of the AXIS lock bar has greater surface contact on the tang vs. smaller (ball) contact area in the Manix. I know that sounds like i'm nitpicking but that ball gives too little contact area with the tang and doesn't give the feeling of assurance, IMO. After seeing this post, and kudos to Spyderco for going against its own policy, I will strike this model off of my wish list.

 

[jackthedog]

That is nice Spyderco came through for you.

 

[Yo Mama]

Yo Mama, I have no idea how much pressure the handle was under when the OP was making the mod, how do you know that? Anyhow, to clarify my statement. I have never seen the polymer cage rod before and I would not trust that small rod to hold up over time given what is is made of.

I don't know the pressure amount either, but it's 154cm, not exactly weak steel there. You'd have to put it in a jig, and with the grinding necessary I'm sure you're putting a lot of pressure on the mid section of the handle.

 

[J E M]

well first you put the knife in a 10 ton press and then get out the sludge and....

no pressure is involved. It is hand held the whole time and you have to go very slow, grinding bit by bit. Your worst enemy is heat. The more pressure the more heat. I stopped when the area being ground was almost to hot to touch and then allowed it cool down, if you dont you will destroy the heat tempering and thus the edge holding ability of the blade. The harder the metal the longer it takes to grind in this fashion. It took me about 6 hours including cool down to do what I did. So the joint received about as much pressure as holding the blade in hand.

Yo Mama, I have no idea how much pressure the handle was under when the OP was making the mod, how do you know that? Anyhow, to clarify my statement. I have never seen the polymer cage rod before and I would not trust that small rod to hold up over time given what is is made of. I don't care how tough modern polymers are the diameter on that rod looks to me 2MM at the most. I'll bet the grabbing of the cage to release the lock causes flex where it meets the rod, I'd be more willing to believe this is how it broke over the modification explanation. But then again, I wasn't there. I looked at this model against the Bone Collector (was looking for a Spyderco model, long story) and I made my decision on the BM because of the AXIS lock bar has greater surface contact on the tang vs. smaller (ball) contact area in the Manix. I know that sounds like i'm nitpicking but that ball gives too little contact area with the tang and doesn't give the feeling of assurance, IMO. After seeing this post, and kudos to Spyderco for going against its own policy, I will strike this model off of my wish list.

The polymer rod just acts as a guide for the spring much like a guide rod for the recoil spring in a glock (which is a polymer.) even if the guide rod fails in the glock the gun will still operate since the spring is still intact, much like my manix 2 still locks up and is holding at the moment.
the locking mechanism at least the negative pressure on the blade is handled by the ball bearing, much like the steel rod in the axis lock. For my view I dont see the ball bearing failing anytime soon. The ball is seated in a groove at the top of the handle. what i have lost faith in is the polymer housing for the ball bearing. if the polymer splits (like infamous manix 2 video on youtube) and the ball bearing falls out the lock will fail.

 

[jimnolimit]

here's an idea: glue the plastic piece back to the cage, go to a machine shop and see how much it would cost to have one made out of titanium.

 

[pretty-toney]

cool mod . sad to see the polymer failure. just got a used manix myself off ebay and while the knife itself looks very lightly carried the polymer rod was partially broken and retains about 2 coils of the spring. usually mechanically inclined to do repairs but think going to send mine in since the knife is like factory condition

pic of my polymer breakage


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[veeteetee]

It shouldn´t be much of problem to have the cages made of stainless steel - either by MIM on investment casting methods - by Spyderco. IMHO the plastic cage is an engineering error. Just my 5 cents.

 

[elkins45]

Fantastic job on the wave mod....I have a feeling my FS Manix 2 is going to be very unhappy that I saw your thread

Glad you got the replacement part.

 

[yoda4561]

I've never had one of these apart before, been wanting a blue lightweight but all these reports of cage issues worry me a bit. The plastic rod was originally part of the plastic thumb tabs right? If there's enough room I'd suggest trying to replace the plastic rod with a steel one, drill a hole and insert a steel rod, glue with epoxy. Maybe a small diameter rod with a stainless or brass tube fitted to it if there's not much room. Not much to lose by trying if you've already voided the warranty.

 

[J E M]

cool mod . sad to see the polymer failure. just got a used manix myself off ebay and while the knife itself looks very lightly carried the polymer rod was partially broken and retains about 2 coils of the spring. usually mechanically inclined to do repairs but think going to send mine in since the knife is like factory condition

pic of my polymer breakage


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

yep that is what happen to mine. although my factory spring has several more coils in it then yours, which your spring seems odd to me. good luck on sending it in. for me spyderco was real fast on sending replacement parts. i have placed the new cage in my manix and is operating like it should. i use this knife every day and i am happy with it, but the cage lock failure is still in the back of my mind.

It shouldn´t be much of problem to have the cages made of stainless steel - either by MIM on investment casting methods - by Spyderco. IMHO the plastic cage is an engineering error. Just my 5 cents.

couldnt agree more, wish it was. i was think about the MIM for this part the other day. heck i was wondering maybe carving one out of some hard wood, which might look kinda cool.

Fantastic job on the wave mod....I have a feeling my FS Manix 2 is going to be very unhappy that I saw your thread
Glad you got the replacement part.

thank you.

I've never had one of these apart before, been wanting a blue lightweight but all these reports of cage issues worry me a bit. The plastic rod was originally part of the plastic thumb tabs right? If there's enough room I'd suggest trying to replace the plastic rod with a steel one, drill a hole and insert a steel rod, glue with epoxy. Maybe a small diameter rod with a stainless or brass tube fitted to it if there's not much room. Not much to lose by trying if you've already voided the warranty.

well if my breakage happens again i probably will sent it in, like spyderco wants. although i must say i was think about something similar what you are suggesting, (maybe homemade axis like lock replacement?) but looking at the cage ball part the tolerances are very tight and would require very careful reverse engineering and fitting not to gum up the locking portion of the blade. honestly i dont think it would be worth the time spend for a knife that is 80 dollars. although it could be a fun pet project if time allowed.

 

[stickymeat]

Did you call or email? because me torx screw is stripped on one of mine, but dont want to send it in for 1 screw... How did you do it so they sent them to you? thanks

 

[J E M]

I emailed them at CustomerService@spyderco.com. Explained my situation and gave them pictures that are on this board. Charlynn is the one who wrote back to me, pretty quickly. here is my email convo in a nutshell.

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From: Jem
To: CustomerService@spyderco.com

So I have had this manix 2 for about 3 months. Recently the cage ball lock polymer broken. From my understanding this is a hard use rated knife, now this knife is no safe queen I use it for edc but it has never seen hard use, unless you count food prep and random cutting tasks around the house. The failure happen when I was opening the knife with the thumb hole. I do occasionally flick it open and close from fun. I notice that after about three open and closes the knife cage ball lock polymer developed ever so slight "play" that it didn't have before. At first I thought maybe the pivot screws came loose but after further inspection I found no "play" in the blade. After close inspection I found that the play was indeed the polymer. So I opened the knife up to find the polymer "guide rod" for the spring was broken at the hilt of the main body of the cage. Very disappointing for a hard use rated knife. The knife still locks up but I have lost confidence and wonder for how long..? I have modded this knife with a wave feature so I dont know this affects the warranty. I highly doubt this mod had anything to do with the cage ball lock polymer. I will be like a replacement part. but I prefer not to send my knife in since I can easily make the repair my self and if not, can I buy just the cage ball lock...?

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From: CustomerService@spyderco.com
To: Jem

Ball cages are not a part that we sell or generally send out as damage from disassembling the knife voids the warranty so we do not encourage that a knife is disassembled rather send it for warranty evaluation if you are having a problem. If you feel you can repair the knife I can send you the part if you reply with an address but please note that it’s not something we normally do and if it breaks again please send it in for warranty evaluation.



Thank you and have a great day,



Charlynn

Spyderco Customer Service/Warranty/Repair

 

[stickymeat]

Ok thank you very much for the information!