Friction Problem

N

ncbcymtechie

Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
82
The Skyline that I used to own (alas, I've lost it) had an odd friction problem. I found that after frequent opening and closing, it would get progressively harder to open. I confirmed this by simulating openings in quick succession: I pinched the blade in one hand and the handle in the other and swung the blade open and shut 50 times in a row. The first opening was normal, and quite easy to open. By the fiftieth opening, the friction was so great that when I tried to deploy the knife with the flipper, it only opened about 30 to 45 degrees. The problem only seemed to happen when the ball detente touched the knife, not in the last portion of travel where it does not touch the tang. If I left the Skyline to rest overnight, the first deployment the following morning would be fine. I eliminated the pivot screw as a problem, since the blade was fairly centered and after a good night's rest it deployed normally. Bugged by this problem, I sent the knife to Kershaw and they fixed the problem. (I checked several times using my successive-opening method.)

Since I lost the Skyline, I've been delegated to using my Chill as my primary EDC and--say it ain't so!--this friction problem is happening to it, too. I've disassembled the knife, polished the washers, cleaned out excess dust, but to no avail. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know what it is? Can I prevent this problem from happening on future manual Kershaw flippers? And how can I make it go away so that I can enjoy my knife again? The Skyline and Chill aren't as fun to use when the flipper deployments don't work correctly...
 
same thing happened to me with my skyline so I cleaned it all out with wd40 then put a little gun oil on the pivot point to find it was still somewhat difficult, I found that the blade pivot screw will work itself out slightly, found the right torx bit and adjusted/played with it a little and got my skyline opening smoother than it ever has with perfect blade centering.
 
Interesting problem. Does the skyline have the poly washers? Just wondering if you create enough friction if they would expand and make it a little difficult to open if so? My zing has the polys and i haven't noticed any difficulty. But i don't open it 50 times, maybe more like 10-15.
 
I've had some detent ball friction issues before. I actually just dealt with one on my 0550. The pivot wasn't the issue, since it was smooth with out the pressure of the lock bar. Only when the detent ball was dragging on the blade did there come a nasty roughness. I put one drop of Tri-Flow oil in the divot on the blade tang that receives the ball detent, and opened and closed it a bit. Now it's absolutely smooth. The oil lubricated it, and as it dries it leaves a little coat of Teflon bits and remains smooth. It's been a couple days since I put that drop of oil on the tang, and it hasn't been rough at all. Obviously, don't over apply anything, and be sure to keep it from the lock face.
 
I used some WD-40 (since it's similar to 3-IN-ONE) and sprayed it on the part of the blade tang that comes into contact with the ball bearing. It's only been a couple of days, but so far, so good. Obviously, spraying it like that left a lot of excess lubricant, so I patted it with a tissue to remove what wasn't needed. I didn't wipe it, though--I tried silicone lubricant the day before I used WD-40 and whether it was the silicone or the fact that I wiped the excess off, it didn't work in reducing friction. (I made sure not to get any on the lock face.)

Thanks for the help, sticktodrum!
 
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