- Joined
- Mar 4, 2014
- Messages
- 3,646
From its super light (almost non existent)), detent. It was light when I received it, and after a number of flips (just about enough to barely break in any other blade), it all but disappeared. I sent it in to ZT with the standard warranty form describing the issue in detail. They sent it back a week later with nothing done, and no notes as to why, or what if anything was tried. But since the blade falls out with just a little bump if held blade down, and often came open in pocket, I just cannot risk carrying it that way. I know detent pressure is a touchy subject, but this one was pretty obvious, so I'm a little baffled as to why the warranty center didn't even try. It was also obvious that the blade was basically unused with the factory edge still pristine.
So started to examine a little more closely. It seemed that lock did not get sucked against the blade like my other ZT's, so it appeared the detent ball was not making it all the way into the divot when closed. Seemed like I hade two options, grind on the blade tang where it hits the stop, or file the stop pin. I opted for the stop pin as it would be cheap to replace if I messed up. But no matter how much I seemed to file off, it only affected the strength of the detent by a hair. But better than it was. At least at this point I had to flick it to do an inertia opening rather than mere gravity.
In my frustration I started to examine my 0450 closely. Noticed that on the 450 and 808, ZT has gone to a larger hole on the blade, but the detent ball looked pretty much the same. So I took a chance with my horrible eye hand coordination and put a tiny diamond grinder bit in a dremmel. Cheap bits vs Elmax, at first I thought the Elmax would win. But eventually I got the hole just a tad larger.
Yay, I put everything back together only to discover a perfect detent strength, but a little blade wiggle when closed. Crap! I know the wiggle would drive me nuts, but at least I could put it back in my pocket without worrying that every time my hand went in, it wouldn't be gliding down a razor sharp edge. This knife has already cut up a number of pockets, and required a few bloody triage events.
Then I remembered that I did flatten out part of the closed blade stop pin. So I revolved it back around so the normal thickness was hitting the flipper. And wa-la, nice snug blade when closed, and a nice poundage to break loose allowing a perfect snap to open. Similar to my 450.
Sorry for the long winded description. Just thought I would share in case others had the same issue or similar results from ZT's warranty. Just when I get back to my happy zone with this 561, I've started to really like how the 450 carries.....and I've got a 452CF on the truck right now. So it may be a while before I really try out this big 'ole blade again.
So started to examine a little more closely. It seemed that lock did not get sucked against the blade like my other ZT's, so it appeared the detent ball was not making it all the way into the divot when closed. Seemed like I hade two options, grind on the blade tang where it hits the stop, or file the stop pin. I opted for the stop pin as it would be cheap to replace if I messed up. But no matter how much I seemed to file off, it only affected the strength of the detent by a hair. But better than it was. At least at this point I had to flick it to do an inertia opening rather than mere gravity.
In my frustration I started to examine my 0450 closely. Noticed that on the 450 and 808, ZT has gone to a larger hole on the blade, but the detent ball looked pretty much the same. So I took a chance with my horrible eye hand coordination and put a tiny diamond grinder bit in a dremmel. Cheap bits vs Elmax, at first I thought the Elmax would win. But eventually I got the hole just a tad larger.
Yay, I put everything back together only to discover a perfect detent strength, but a little blade wiggle when closed. Crap! I know the wiggle would drive me nuts, but at least I could put it back in my pocket without worrying that every time my hand went in, it wouldn't be gliding down a razor sharp edge. This knife has already cut up a number of pockets, and required a few bloody triage events.
Then I remembered that I did flatten out part of the closed blade stop pin. So I revolved it back around so the normal thickness was hitting the flipper. And wa-la, nice snug blade when closed, and a nice poundage to break loose allowing a perfect snap to open. Similar to my 450.
Sorry for the long winded description. Just thought I would share in case others had the same issue or similar results from ZT's warranty. Just when I get back to my happy zone with this 561, I've started to really like how the 450 carries.....and I've got a 452CF on the truck right now. So it may be a while before I really try out this big 'ole blade again.
