Loctite'd pivot screw removal.

[Fascion]

Howdy folks,

I've had this here Spyderco Dragonfly II for about a year now. I'm not sure if these come Loctite'd from the factory or I managed to do it somewhere along the way (probably the later, as I seem to recall dismantling it at one point for cleaning.) Either way, it's bad times; the pivot screw on this model (not sure about Spyderco's as a whole, as this is my first and only) must not be the D-shaped type that have that bit of flat area to aid in removal, as it just keeps spinning and spinning.

In my attempts to break the seal, I have tried both the rubber band trick, as well as heating the pivot in near-boiling water for a few minutes, neither with any luck.

Anyone have any other ideas?
If it is my own doing, it was Loctite 242. If it was factory, ???

 

[enix]

I know you said you tried heating it in hot water but you may want to try using a soldering iron on the head of the screw. More heat, better focused. It's worth a shot IMO.

Good luck, let us know what finally works.

 

[Fascion]

I guess I am more surprised that I actually still have one of those than I am that the stubborn screw remains in place.
It definitely got the pivot significantly more hot than did the boiling water. It got it so hot, in fact, that the rubber band actually melted just a little bit on the last attempt.

On the plus side, all of this has removed a good bit of the grit I was looking to clean out; half of the reason for this disassembly.

At this point, I don't know if heat alone will do the trick. I shutter the thought, but it might be that I have to take the Dremel to it. Cut a line across the back of the pivot for a flathead to prevent the spin.

 

[Fascion]

I mentioned that cleaning was half of the reason for wanting to disassemble this knife. The other reason was that I wanted to investigate the possibility of customizing it a bit. So, in the spirit of knife-modification (and not wanting to screw up the temper) I decided the heck with it and broke out the Dremel. I now scoff in the face of pesky pivots!

Now that I've finally gotten it apart, I can safely say that I have never had the pivot out on this knife before. In fact, I don't see any signs of Loctite period. Even more interestingly, the pivot actually is D-shaped. The FRN, however, is not. Compounding the issue is that the threading on the female part of the pivot appears to be damaged, which is why it was so hard to remove. Bad times, indeed!

The lockback bar pivot, though... it has both a D-shaped screw assembly and a matching notch in the FRN handle. That, I may never comprehend.